Classic Poem

WASN'T it a good time,
Long Time Ago —
When we all were little tads
And first played " Show " —
When every newer day
Wore as bright a glow
As the ones we laughed away —
Long Time Ago!

Calf was in the back-lot;
Clover in the red;
Bluebird in the pear tree;
Pigeons on the shed;
Tom a-chargin' twenty pins
At the barn; and Dan
Spraddled out just like " The
" Injarubber"-Man! "

Me and Bub and Rusty,
Eck and Dunk, and Sid,
'Tumblin' on the sawdust
Like the A-rabs did;
Jamesy on the slack-rope
In a wild retreat,
Grappling back, to start again —
When he chalked his feet!

Wasn't Eck a wonder,
In his stocking-tights?
Wasn't Dunk — his leaping lion —
Chief of all delights?
Yes, and wasn't " Little Mack "
Boss of all the Show, —
Both Old Clown and Candy-Butcher —
Long Time Ago!

Sid the Bareback-Rider;
And — oh-me-oh- my! —
Bub, the spruce Ring-Master,
Stepping round so spry! —
In his little waist-and-trousers
All made in one,
Was there a prouder youngster
Under the sun!

And NOW — who will tell me, —
Where are they all?
Dunk's a sanatorium doctor,
Up at Waterfall;
Sid's a city street-contractor;
Tom has fifty clerks;
And Jamesy he's the " Iron Magnate "
Of " The Hecla Works. "

And Bub's old and bald now,
Y et still he hangs on, —
Dan and Eck and " Little Mack, "
Long, long gone!
But wasn't it a good time,
Long Time Ago!
When we all were little tads
And first played " Show! "