| |
| | Old is the song that I sing— |
| Old as my unpaid bills— |
| Old as the chicken that kitmutgars 1 bring |
| Men at dâk-bungalows—old as the Hills. |
AHASUERUS JENKINS of the “Operatic Own,” | |
| Was dowered with a tenor voice of super-Santley tone. | |
| His views on equitation were, perhaps, a trifle queer. | |
| He had no seat worth mentioning, but oh! he had an ear. | |
| |
| He clubbed his wretched company a dozen times a day; | 5 |
| He used to quit his charger in a parabolic way; | |
| His method of saluting was the joy of all beholders, | |
| But Ahasuerus Jenkins had a head upon his shoulders. | |
| |
| He took two months at Simla when the year was at the spring, | |
| And underneath the deodars eternally did sing. | 10 |
| He warbled like a bul-bul 2 but particularly at | |
| Cornelia Agrippina, who was musical and fat. | |
| |
| She controlled a humble husband, who, in turn, controlled a Dept. | |
| Where Cornelia Agrippina’s human singing-birds were kept | |
| From April to October on a plump retaining-fee, | 15 |
| Supplied, of course, per mensem, by the Indian Treasury. | |
| |
| Cornelia used to sing with him, and Jenkins used to play; | |
| He praised unblushingly her notes, for he was false as they, | |
| So when the winds of April turned the budding roses brown, | |
| Cornelia told her husband:—“Tom, you mustn’t send him down.” | 20 |
| |
| They haled him from his regiment, which didn’t much regret him; | |
| They found for him an office-stool, and on that stool they set him | |
| To play with maps and catalogues three idle hours a day, | |
| And draw his plump retaining-fee—which means his double pay. | |
| |
| Now, ever after dinner, when the coffee-cups are brought, | 25 |
| Ahasuerus waileth o’er the grand pianoforte; | |
| And, thanks to fair Cornelia, his fame hath waxen great, | |
| And Ahasuerus Jenkins is a Power in the State! | |
