THE BAD RECORD.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 20058, 22 September 1920, Page 6

THE BAD RECORD.

(By WALT MASON.)

The liens I stole long years ago have ruined my career, for everywhere I chance to go, their phantoms reappear. Oh, men forget the things I’ve* clone, of which I may be proud; and they ignore the fame I’ve won competing with the crowd. They spread th,e tale with tongues ami pens, send it from group to group: “This is the man who stole tlio liens from Widow Whitesmith’s coop.'’ A hundred widows l have helped when they were out of luck; and hungry orphans, v'hen they yelped, from me could draw a buck. I’ve made a. point of being goody from one sin to atone, hut all in vain, my crime has stood triumphant and alone. The weary years have slipped away, in units and in tens, and still I hear my neighbours say, “Ho swiped a, widow’s hens." Some day a monument will rise above ray pulseless breast; the legend on it, I surmise, will say I’ve joined the blest ; but men will on that granite gaze and idly stroke their wens, and say, “ How, hollow is such praise 1 He pinched a widow’s hens..”