Once I thought that you could boast
Such a perfect southern sky,
Flecked with summer clouds at most;
Always sunny, always dry,
Warm enough, perhaps, to grill an
Englishman, O muddy Milan!
Now I find you soaking wet,
Underneath an English sky;
Pavements, mediæval yet,
Whence mud splashes ever fly;
And, to make one damp and ill, an
Endless downpour, muddy Milan!
Though you boast such works of art,
Where is that unclouded sky?
Muddy Milan, we must part,
I shall gladly say good-bye,
Pack, and pay my little bill--an
Artless thing--and leave you, Milan.
* * *
AT BOULOGNE.--_Ted_ (_to 'Arry_). What's the meaning of "avis" on
those placards?
_'Arry._ There's a question from a feller as 'as studied Latin with me
at the Board School! 'Ave you forgotten all about the black swan? It's
a notice about birds, of course!
[Illustration: _She._ "So, dear baron, you are just come down from the
mountains. What lovely views you get there, do you not?"
_Herr Baron._ "Most lofly!"
_She._ "And what delicious water they give you to drink there!"
_Herr Baron._ "Ach, yes. That also haf I _seen_."]
[Illustration: A CHOICE OF IDIOMS
_Mr. Brown._ "I say, Maria, what's the meaning of '_Sarner fairy
hang_,' which I hear you say in all the French shops, when they
haven't got what you want--which they never have?"
_Mrs. B._ "Oh, it only means '_It's of no consequence_.'"
_Mr. B._ "How odd! Now _I_ always say '_Nimport_'! But I dare say it
comes to the same in the end."]