THE FUNNY MAN AGAIN!

NZ Truth, Issue 174, 17 October 1908, Page 5

THE FUNNY MAN AGAIN !

Trips Harding of the ."Post."

Porirna a Good Place for " M.8.5."

The following senseless verse appeared m a recent issue of the Wellington "Evening Post," over the signature of "M.8.5." :- .j • EQUINOX, , The cleansing wind rips off the last dull grey . Worn shreds of Winter's cerements, and, 10, • /i- ■ ■•■ •..'• The fair youth, Spring (that simpled ingenu !) . ■ . Smiles gently through the cloud-rack of these days . Of dear awakening ! So' it seems that I May shed the sadness of cold Sorrow's pall, And know, as Hope's suave breezes to me steal, ' ; : , The precious, promise of awakening joy. Come, winsome winds, to hearten me ; for, 0, 'Tis good at length your .searching strength to feel Stirring my heart, that seems ;so .cold, and dead j Peal, ; gracious gales, your grand anathema Of all the miseries of those aching months Of icy desolation i Bid my pains. Begone !• But leave their memory; and, '■■ ah, '..,-., . ■ ". ' • Spare me my poignant torture's chimera! Whisper to sweet white Sorrow tha* of "' ' her "'"".' ' '" " ' ■■•' I have .no thought reproachful or unkind! Blow, gracious gales, and purge my sou] ; for I Thirst mightily to see the flowers again And catch the' message that the wise birds sing ! ■ By taking the last letter of each line this "Poem" pans out thuswise— "You silly old ass, Harding:" This paper does not know .whether Harding, is a silly old ass, or an ass of any sort, but it does know that the . coot • who takes the trouble to string jingle together for such a paltry effect ,is an ass of the first degree, and likewise a goat, or any other old animal that is supposed to be deviod of brains. No doubt "M.8.5." thinks himself' clever, but -what has he accomplished — a paltry joke and a chunk of senseless verse, that hasn't even the merit of being clever." .But then, with some' editors, high sounding phrases that iare absolutely meaningless are taken as '"•eiassy" and likewise tripe of the above character. If they will insult their readers with such trash, they can't squeal if a reader hits back occasionally.