Classic Poem

In the days when twenty fellows
Drank out of one large mug,
And pewter were the dishes,
And a tin can was the jug; —
In the days when shoes and boots were
Three times a week japanned,
And we sate on stools, not sofas, —
There were giants in the land!

When new boys on the pump were
Set to pelt at and to sing,
Or sent from the close to Pendred's
For a penny-worth of string;
In the days when fags a long hour
In the passage had to stand,
In the days of happy night-fags, —
There were giants in the land!

When Sixth and Fifth-Form fellows
Had all been duly " chaired",
And he who told a falsehood
Was " cobbed" and never spared;
And we walked around the School-field
With our breakfast in our hand,
Ere the days of tea and coffee, —
There were giants in the land!

In the days when meat was sold in
The good old dirty shambles,
And the Dunchurch line of houses
Was a hedge of briars and brambles;
Ere Eldon Row was thought of,
Ere Union Street was planned,
Ere the Bilton Road was built on, —
There were giants in the land!

When the Eagle was a posting place
Of eminent renown,
And not a single boarding-house
Had yet walked out of town;
Ere fellows took to cut-aways
And rings upon the hand,
Ere frock coats were in fashion, —
There were giants in the land!

When Composition Tutors
Were happily unknown,
And a penchant pour la poesie
Was a thing you did not own;
When the fags were told to bag the flowers,
And bagged them at command;
When the Island was an island, —
There were giants in the land!

Ere the days of white brick houses,
Ere the streets were made so clean,
Ere the chapel was erected
Where bloomed " the tree of Treen",
Ere they built the National School-room
Where the horse-pond used to stand,
In those days — oh! in those days
There were giants in the land!