POETRY.

HOD GE ON FREE EDUCATION. FREE Eddicashun cummin', an' noboddy's 'odd to be broke ; Noboddy voatin' agen it ! an' noboddy putt in a spoke ! Cats lick kittens to shape a bit at a time, they say : But 'ere's a Revolashun, an' hall of it dun in a day !

Not as I've ort agen it; but hup at the 'Plow' wan night Jim an' me wos a-drinkin', an' Jim wor a leetle tight : An' Jim, he sod, 'twor cummin' ; so I up an' I cracks 'is 'edd ; (Quorrilsum feller is Jim, Zara,) an' he lay good wile as ded.

Couldn't yer tell us afore, Gem men, when so yer meena change ?

Turnin' round that stiddin, it inks so orkerd-strange.

Du, like wethercock yonder, as shows wot 'er meens to be! An' then foke gets 'em reddy, an' turns thare hay, yer see.

But it isn't as I'm agen it. As long as yer left it free, Skoolin', or stayin' at home, why o' coorse I paid yer fee. Bat wen yer Bed, "Must 'ave it ! and wether ye will, or nay," Then, Zurs, that's yore matter; it's you as is bound to pay.

Aye, but it were a startler ; an' Parson he did ink queer : An' Squoire he bust out horful—'twos Simon as 'erd 'im sweer. An' Parson he cura'd to see me—I meets 'im thare by the mill : An', sez he. its dainjerus times, Richard : an' wot d'yer think o' the Bill ?

An', sez I, I hain't a man, Zar, as oilers likes things new, But I luks at things permiskus-like from a famully point view : An' ere's Sue, an' Dick, an' Bob, and Sal, an' I doant know 'ow many more, Sloapin' down like a roof o' tiles, or pots on a green'ouse fore.

An', yer see, zum things is bad, Zur ; dare's pizon, as Farmer Jones Drunk wan night in 'is loshun : 'twos pitehus to 'ear 'is groneFr. An' others, agen, is middlin', as ain't verry good nor ill, As spiders', an' dirt, an' wether, an' Jim, an' a mildish pill.

An' others is as yer take 'em, as wunce I sed to Sal — Givin' a flip o' the cheek—take that, it's love, ole gal ! Which zum how she didn't see it, but made a blessid to-do; So I 'ad to give it 'er 'arder, an' hadded a word or two.

An' that's wot I think o' the Bill, Zur : it's ment in love, yer see, A-givin' poor folk thare skoolin', an' givin' it gratis, free; And if yer set yer back up, why, p'r'apa they'l cum zum day, Just as I did wi' Sal, Zur, an' giv' it a 'arder way.

An' er went away. An' I stud thare a-thinkin' wot I wood do Wi' sixpence a week—that's thrippence for Dick, an' the same for Sue—

An' it's just a ounce o' baecy, an' a pint an' a 'alf of beer ; An' it's jolly to drink an' smoak wi' Jim, no squorlim' hinfants user.

But, 'ang it ! Sal has her noshuns ; she wonts it all for shoos : For children must go dasent now, not rags, like haythen Joos So then, thare's thrippence a week for Sal, and thrippence for Jim an' beer,

An' thrippence agen for baccy—wot ? No baccy ! All gon' ! 0 dear !

So, I sez, that same's a puzzler, I'll wait till I meets wi' Jim, (We're frends agen), an' I met 'un, an' pats the case to 'im : An', sez he, as clever as Parson, at wunce, as it's his hidear, -"It's tuppence apeece for each on 'em, for baccy, an' shoos,

an' beer."

An' er went 'is way. An' Parson cum srai]in.'—" All right, my frend ! "

Sez he. "No good to grumble until yer 'ave seen the end !" (As the ass who found 'is load woe hay.) "And, Richard, I've read in books, (As I've 'erd it o' zum wan else in black), " foke ain't so bad as they looks."

"An' they've bin an' squared it rite, they 'are, them Parlament gents in Town, An' I 'ear it's the Hinfluenzer as made 'em swoller it down." An' if it's the Hinflnenzer, Zur, sez I, vri' a sort of a leer, Then I wish they'd a Hinflaenzer at least wance hevery year.

An' Squoire he too cum ridin', as jolly as nuts in May ; An', sez he, "A capital Bill, Richard ! The yang 'uns have nort to pay : An' now yer can pay more rent, Richard, as yer know it's terribull low, Or at least yer can save yer money, my man, an' pay the harrears yer owe."

Dom 'im ! An' ow about baccy, an' beer, an' Sal, an' shoos ? An' goin' to skool so dasent, no longer as haythen Joos P But p'r'aps he ware only a-larfin' ; or else—I believe, it's Jim, As set the ole Squoire upon it. I'm hod for a crack at 'im.

[Exit.