WATER BABIES.

Waipa Post, Volume II, Issue 50, 6 October 1911, Page 3

WATER BABIES.

[Contributed.] Last night, wid me poipe, O’i wus comferauly sit tin’, * And Biddy had put ail th’ childiier to bed ; When Oi sez to her, “Darlint, don’t take up yer knittin’, Read me ouid ‘TeAmuty,’me jewel, instid." “Indeed, thin,” sez Biddy, “Oi’m ready to heed ye, ’Tis a change fromdivoorces and rnurdhers galore —• An’ seein' OTve somethin’ interestin’ to read ye, Ye can.tin up the pail from th’ tank by the dure." She read me the Leader, the news, and each letther, From beginnuT to end, most religiously through; An’ remarked that th’ Chamber of Commerce did betiher, Indeed, than the things we had hoped it would do. “Always ready” wants chape, pure wather ler dhrinkm’, Fer cieansm’ ana usin' in cases ox io:re, “And indeed, linn," sez Biddy, “to my way or thinkm’, The chap that wrote that is by no manes a nar i” A shlight noise caught me ear, and Oi turned to the cable, Where shtood the oig bucket wid watherfor tea; An’ over it’s side, bright and Joively, and able, Hopped .th’ quarest wee crathers yez iver diu see! “Run quick, fer his Rivirence,” f cried out to Biddy, “An’ beg he’h corne quick, ere yer Michaci be dead — Tis a caii that Oi’ve got, dear, ye’il soon be a widely, An’ strugglin’ yir lone, wid the bairns wantin' bread.” At the head of th’ crowd wuz a wobbly felly, Wid a long forke’t tail shwingin over his arm, In the way Biddy carries her broken urabreily, An’ although Oi’m no coward, Oi shook wid alarm. For they all joined hands and come dancin’around me, Wid a horrible grin on each wee divii’s lace, As they gibbered andsquaked —“Ha! ha! we have found ye, \ An’ at last ye shall hark to the roights of th’ case. For years ye’ve been atin’ and dhrinkin’ our brothers, An’ ye’li shwallow us npw, in shpite uv our shapes; An’ through Te Arnuty, there’s hundreds of others, Who are dom’ the same, widout hope of eshcape. I am the dread Typhoid, and this, is Diptlieria,” He pnsented his friends wid a shmirk and a bow—“We dwell in your tank’s very dirty interior, An’ pour from its tap, when you draw us, as now.” He ran over their names, they all bowed most politely, Wid their long twisted legs, and their quare crooked backs; But I could’t remember the half of thim rightly, Though they constantly cause epidemic attacks. “ Your doctors have towld ye of germs and bacilii, When ye pay thim their fees, and ye give thim due thanks; Thin ye straightway forget, ye’re so cussediy silly, An go on imbibin’ us, straight from the tanks. But yer doom’s come at last, say yer prayers and make ready, We shall enter your veins by the million and more!” Thin me Biddy’s shwate voice broke in, “ Steady, now, steady, Drat ye, Michael, ye baste, yer a beggar to shnore !” MICHAEL O’RAFFERTY. Te Awamutu, Sept. 30th, 1911.