TUSSOCK AND ASPHALT RHYMES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2251, 22 April 1897, Page 47

TUSSOCK AND ASPHALT RHYMES.

By David M'Kee Weight.

ISO. 10.-BAKING DAY.

Out of toil and tribulation come a blooming lot

of things Of the style of faith and patience and the stuff

a poet sings ; But for agony of spirit, straight and downright,

be it said, Nothing licks our own dough-banger when in

travail for his bread. If you only came his way in the throes of baking day,

You would wonder, as you never did before, How the very bread you eat comes through sorrow, sweat, and heat, - With a wild refrain of " Shut; that blooming

door ! " When the sun is fairly baking on the brown and

faded plain, And the heat is making prophets falsely haver

about rain ; When there isn't half the whisper of -the tail-

end of a Ijref zi, Aud the station hands have visions of long beer 3

and Bhady trees ; Then just come along his way, &c. Every chink aud every crevice theu is blocked

with flower bags, AnJ the stove i« like, a furnace, and the keyhole

stuffed with rngs ; And the energy ot Sampson must be centred

on the trough For the mixing of the flour and the banging of

the dough. If you only came his way, &o. It's a fearsome opi-ratiou by which good, white

camper's roado, And a kind of bl&ck enchantment hovers round

about" the trade ; While the jokers there iv Etna forging {hunder-

bolts v. ould look Only quiet, one-eyed grafters by our demon

of a cook. If you only came his way in the stress of baking day,

You would wonder, as you never did before, How the very bread you ett comes through

sorrow, sweat, and heat, With a wild refrain of " Shut that blooming thov ! " Duneoin, Apiil 1897.