_A Christmas Carol for the Comfortable Classes._
Old Father Christmas came once more,
His eye was bright if his hair was hoar,
And the old old gifts on his back he bore.
With the old loved legend now as then
The pleasantest ever inscribed by pen--
"Peace upon earth, goodwill to men."
What was it the good old greybeard saw?--
War's iron teeth, greed's gaping jaw,
And shaken order and broken law.
Each land ringed round with a fence of steel,
Each party snarling at other's heel;
None seeming loving, few looking leal.
Poverty spreading athwart the land,
With mutterings few dared understand,
Though they palsied Charity's helpful hand.
And the good old greybeard stood and gazed
At the thousand hearths where no Yule-fire blazed,
At the hate-led nations, the classes crazed.
"And oh!" he cried, "is it come, the time
When the land low grovels in greed and grime,
And heeds no longer my cheering chime?
"Is it past, all prospect of love's increase?
Is it time my rallying cry should cease--
'Peace and Good-will! Good-will and Peace!'?
"Is it fled, the hope that my heart has buoyed?
Is it finished, the labour in which I joyed?
Am _I_ the chief of the Unemployed?"
* * * * *
THE DEAR DEPARTED.--He has departed, and he was dear--at the price, was
the poor little Gorilla! He died at the Zoo just ten days ago. Was it
owing to his being so generously dieted, and never getting "Monkey's
allowance?" Jenny the Baboon refused to attend the funeral, which was
strictly private. Her conduct has created some astonishment among the
officials. A jarring note was struck by the Hyæna, which could not
repress its laughter. He died intestate. The Gorilla's decease makes no
change in the government of Monkey Island.
* * * * *