| |
| | Walpole talks of “a man and his price.” |
| List to a ditty queer— |
| The sale of a Deputy-Acting-Vice- |
| Resident-Engineer, |
| Bought like a bullock, hoof and hide, |
| By the Little Tin Gods on the Mountain Side. |
BY the Laws of the Family Circle ’tis written in letters of brass | |
| That only a Colonel from Chatham can manage the Railways of State, | |
| Because of the gold on his breeks, and the subjects wherein he must pass; | |
| Because in all matters that deal not with Railways his knowledge is great. | |
| |
| Now Exeter Battleby Tring had laboured from boyhood to eld | 5 |
| On the Lines of the East and the West, and eke of the North and South; | |
| Many Lines had he built and surveyed—important the posts which he held; | |
| And the Lords of the Iron Horse were dumb when he opened his mouth. | |
| |
| Black as the raven his garb, and his heresies jettier still— | |
| Hinting that Railways required lifetimes of study and knowledge— | 10 |
| Never clanked sword by his side—Vauban he knew not nor drill— | |
| Nor was his name on the list of the men who had passed through the “College.” | |
| |
| Wherefore the Little Tin Gods harried their little tin souls, | |
| Seeing he came not from Chatham, jingled no spurs at his heels, | |
| Knowing that, nevertheless, was he first on the Government rolls | 15 |
| For the billet of “Railway Instructor to Little Tin Gods on Wheels.” | |
| |
| Letters not seldom they wrote him, “having the honour to state,” | |
| It would be better for all men if he were laid on the shelf. | |
| Much would accrue to his bank-book, an he consented to wait | |
| Until the Little Tin Gods built him a berth for himself, | 20 |
| |
| “Special, well paid, and exempt from the Law of the Fifty and Five, | |
| Even to Ninety and Nine”—these were the terms of the pact: | |
| Thus did the Little Tin Gods (long may Their Highnesses thrive!) | |
| Silence his mouth with rupees, keeping their Circle intact; | |
| |
| Appointing a Colonel from Chatham who managed the Bhamo State Line | 25 |
| (The which was one mile and one furlong—a guaranteed twenty-inch gauge), | |
| So Exeter Battleby Tring consented his claims to resign, | |
| And died, on four thousand a month, in the ninetieth year of his age! | |
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