A PSALM OF LIFE UP-TO-DATE.
the heart oj the pessimistic Young Man said to Bowdler Junior.) Tell me not in moral numbers Life is mainly meant for toil. For you only rob your slumbers When you burn the midnight oil. Life is but a passing spasm, Which, so brainy folks agree, Some archaic protoplasm Handed down to you and me. Not employment, and not pleasure. Matter them a little jot ; But if I prefer my leisure. Why the dickens should I not? Art is now a finite matter. Practised best by rolling logs. Dining out and talking patter, Painting girls and puppy dogs. In the world of books and pictures Be not anxious then to shine. Spite of long-haired humbugs’ strictures Be a rampant Philistine. Trust no woman, howe’er pleasant,Only, be she great or small, Always let the one that’s present Think you love her best of all. Lives of plodding smugs remind us We can be supremely dull, And departing, leave behind us Other people’s pockets full. Full of what some bland promoter, Making all our toil in vain— Some ingenious swindle floater — Will appropriate again. Let us then sit down and simply Treat existence as a joke ; Living pleasantly and limply, Learn to slumber and to smoke. Bowdler Junior.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZGRAP18950413.2.44.1
Bibliographic details
New Zealand Graphic, Volume XIV, Issue XV, 13 April 1895, Page 360
Word Count
211A PSALM OF LIFE UP-TO-DATE. New Zealand Graphic, Volume XIV, Issue XV, 13 April 1895, Page 360
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Acknowledgements
This material was digitised in partnership with Auckland Libraries. You can find high resolution images on Kura Heritage Collections Online.
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