Page:Backblock Ballads and Later Verses (C.J. Dennis, 1918).djvu/24

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Haw! Ai do deserve some gratitude from Paw. To think what Ai've gone thro' foah him to-day! Mixing with the lowah classes And Ai never saw such masses Of disreputable creatuahs, Ai must say. Impostors, Ai've no doubt, if most of them were but unmasked. And then, the most humiliating questions Ai was asked!

Yes, he forced me to admit it was foah Paw. Asked me, brutally, if it was foah mai Paw. Some low-bred official fellow, Who conversed in quaite a bellow, And he patronised me laike a high Bashaw. And his questions, rudely personal, Ai hardly could enduah. The Government should teach its people mannahs, Ai am suah!

Haw! Ai'm glad we've got the pension foah pooah Paw. His maintenance has been—O, such a strain. Ouah establishment's extensive And exceedingly expensive, As mai husband has remawked taime and again. It's quaite a miracle how Ai contrive to dress at all. He cut me dahn to twenty guineas for last Mayoral Ball!