Page:Rudyard Kipling's verse - Inclusive Edition 1885-1918.djvu/521

 INCLUSIVE EDITION, 1885-1918 503

I was a young un at 'Oogli,

Shy as a girl to begin; Aggie de Castrer she made me,

An' Aggie was clever as sin; Older than me, but my first un

More like a mother she were Showed me the way to promotion an' pay,

An' I learned about women from 'er!

Then I was ordered to Burma,

Actin' in charge o' Bazar, An' I got me a tiddy live 'eathen

Through buyin' supplies off 'er pa.- Funny an' yellow an' faithful

Doll in a teacup she were, But we lived on the square, like a true-married pair,

An' I learned about women from 'er!

Then we was shifted to Neemuch

(Or I might ha' been keepin' 'er now), An' I took with a shiny she-devil,

The wife of a nigger at Mhow; 'Taught me the gipsy-folks' bolee; 1

Kind o' volcano she were,

For she knifed me one night 'cause I wished she was white,

And I learned about women from 'er!

Then I come 'ome in a trooper,

'Long of a kid o' sixteen 'Girl from a convent at Meerut,

The straightest I ever 'ave seen. Love at first sight was 'er trouble,

She didn't know what it were; An' I wouldn't do such, 'cause I liked 'er too much,

But I learned about women from 'er! 1 Slang.