Page:Backblock Ballads and Later Verses (C.J. Dennis, 1918).djvu/141

 Rh

Joseph Jones, serene and smiling, Took all Wombat to his heart. "Ah," he said, his "blood was b'iling"— He declared it "made him smart" To reflect how they'd been swindled; and he cried in thrilling tones: "Gentlemen, your bridge is certain if you cast your votes for Jones!"

Joseph Jones and Peter Dawking Strove in an election fight, And, when they had finished talking, On the great election night They stood level in the voting, and the hope of friends and foes Hung upon the box from Wombat, where the Muddy River flows.

Then the Wombat votes were counted; Jones, two hundred; Dawking, three! Joseph, proud and smiling, mounted On a public balcony, And his friends were shrill with triumph, for that contest, shrewdly run, In the House gave Jones's Party a majority of one.