Page:Backblock Ballads and Later Verses (C.J. Dennis, 1918).djvu/147

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As a lad young Thomas Trimmer longed to serve the Commonweal; To devote to great reforms his manhood's prime. Oh, he yearned to serve his country with a patriotic zeal; And proposed to give the matter his whole time. You will note the youthful ardour—His whole time, he said, no less. His time ! No task or trouble would he shun. (We shall call this "whole" a unit to avoid untidiness;    And to represent it use the figure "1.)

Therefore "1" denotes labour that young Trimmer meant to give To his country as a maker of its laws. But he saw that if in politics he ever meant to live It was wisdom to espouse some Party cause. Wherefore,Thomas joined a Party and became a Party Man; He secured the nomination later on, And he won in the election when he subsequently ran. Which was excellent—so far as he had gone.

Now, when Thomas entered Parliament he found that half his job Was to keep himself before the public eye; And he had to make good running with the fickle-minded mob Lest his Party should disown him by and by.