ARE WE ANY BETTER OFF?
Ere the world had caught the taint That our higher notions give. Happy in their skins and paint Our ancestors used to live. Now we have advanced apace. And we laugh at them and scoff: But. when we review the case. Are we any better off? True, we live beneath a roof Where our fathers had a cave. And our costume is a proof Of the ‘higher culture' wave; But our culture brings us grief. Bitter with the sweet we quaff. And we yearn for some relief — Are we any better off? Nothing moved the early man Save an inter-tribal war: Or a forage he would plan When exhausted was his store. Sanitation moved him not. And he hardly knew a cough: What he needed, soon was got— Are we any better off? Though we have advanced a deal. Something still Is out of gear: Time can many aliments heal, But the poor are always here. So. unto the early man We our hats must humbly doff: Thinking when his state we scan— Are we any better off? ALEX. B. McCREADY. Christchurch, N.Z.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZGRAP18980129.2.5
Bibliographic details
New Zealand Graphic, Volume XX, Issue V, 29 January 1898, Page 115
Word Count
188ARE WE ANY BETTER OFF? New Zealand Graphic, Volume XX, Issue V, 29 January 1898, Page 115
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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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