ONE THOUSAND FAMOUS THINGS 20
God Bless These Poor Folk
GOD bless these poor folk that are strivin9
By means that are honest and true,
For summat to keep 'em alive in
This world that we're scrambling through.
Owd Time he's a troublesome codger
Keeps nudgin' us on to decay,
And whispers, " Thou'rt nobbut a lodger ;
Get ready for going away." Edwin Waugh
The Last Words of the Last Englishman's Wife
I AM afraid that nothing I can say will wean the Englishman from his
teapot.
I have a vision of the day when England shall have at last really
declined and fallen, and I see her last inhabitant and his wife sitting
on the ruins of the Tower of London viewing the remains ; but they
will view them over the edge of a teacup, from which the fumes, as of
wet straw, will ascend to their nostrils, and one may be sure that even
in that dim day they will conduct themselves with decorum. The
last Englishman's last wife's last words will be : " My dear, can I pour
you another cup ? " From the Atlantic Monthly
The Admiral Knocks at the Door
IHEABD a gentleman say, who was in the ship with him about six
years ago, that as they were sailing over against the town of
Hastings in Sussex, Sir Cloudesley Shovel called out, " Pilot, put
near ; I have a little business on shore."
So he put near; and Sir Cloudesley and this gentleman went to
shore in a small boat; and, having walked about half a mile, Sir
Cloudesley came to a little house in All Saints Street. *' Come (says
he), my business is here ; I came to see the good woman of this
house."
Upon this they knocked at the door, and out came a poor old
woman, upon which Sir Cloudesley kissed her, and then, falling down
on his knees, begged her blessing, calling her mother. He was
mightily kind to her, and she to him, and after he had made his visit
he left her ten guineas ; and took his leave with tears in his eyes, and
departed to his ship. From an old diary
The Divinity Within Us
np HEEE is surely a piece of Divinity in us—something that was before
JL the elements, and owes no homage to the sun.
Si? Thomas Browne