COMING EVENTS: APRIL, 1876.

Globe, Volume III, Issue 254, 5 April 1875, Page 3

COMING EVENTS: APRIL, 1876.

The following lines were circulated among the members of the Provincial Council, on Friday;— I stood on the bridge at midnight, as the clocks were striking the hour, And a vision came upon me, a vision of mighty power: I thought that there filed before me some men whom 1 had known, And each as he passed emitted his own particular moan. First marched our respected Super, and his brow seemed racked with pain As he muttered “ I’m well nigh cracked with Executives on the brain: They chop and they change from year to year without consulting me, And nobody cares which side I prefer, for they know that I am not free: And if by chance for a few short months some little qu et I get With office all in the hands of men of my own particular set, In some queer way we set things wrong, and people growl and complain, And my friends go out and my foes come in, and I’m all in a mess again. I’m only a slave and my hands are tied, I’ve masters above and below. For I may not move or hand or foot till Vogel says yes or no ; And whatever my Council decree I must bow

to the stern behest, And never a jot of credit I’ve got, for I am but a puppet at best.” So he maundered on as he wandered away, and I pitied his sorry case, As I turned to the next who came sauntering by with a grin upon his face. It was Jollie the gay, the joyous, so brisk and so debonnair, Yet on his brow, too, I marked the lines, the wrinkles of sorrow and care. “ Oh, where,” said he, “ are the days gone by, the days so full of glee, When I could laugh at all the world and everyone laughed with me! Of old I ruled the Super and the Super ruled the rest, And if members wanted to know too much I could turn it off with a jest, But now they’ve found, as I always knew, that whilst I laugh and joke There isn’t a man knows better than I how to do the “ Government stroke ”: The Council’s proud, and the Super’s cowed, and I think I’ve bad my day, For laziness wont go down as it used, and a man must work for his pay. So he strolled away with a downcast air, and presently Maude came by With a face hard set, but a hare-like look of terror in his eye : And the pallid hue of fear was there which is ever upon his cheek Till the Council session he dreads so much reaches its final week. “ It’s coming,” he said, “ as I knew it would, they are going to drive me out, I never can get a twelvemonth’s peace from that opposition rout: It’s cruelly hard on a man like me, whose only and constant prayer, Is to get into office by hook or crook, and be left in quiet there. Why should we want any sessions at all 1 They don’t do me any good ; There are always a lot of inquisitive beasts who will be nasty and rude, Questioning, growling, nagging away at every conceivable thing, Treating me worse the more they see how hard to my place I cling ; And all I get when once turned out as a balm to soothe my pain Is to turn to my old congenial work and scheme to get in again.” So he went away and he wrung his hands with an aspect all forlorn, Yet I could not look on his misery without some touch of scorn : For nothing but disdain befits the greed of place and pelf, And no one pities the man who falls, if he works but for himself. Then I turned and watched the next who came with heavy and solemn stride, With regal mein, but a look that told of disappointed pride, With head erect and hands deep down in his breeches pockets diving, And a roll in his gait of an old sea dog to keep his balance striving, And I knew by the supercilious glance of that cold imperious eye That this was the greatest of all the crowd, our William Mount Flummery. “ Can I believe it ?” he muttered low—“ am I too sinking down, I who so long in the Council Hall have ever held my own ? I who almost of my own sweet will made Supers stand or fall, Who curbed the might of Moorhouse, and withstood the charge of Hall ! Once, when I spoke the “ Guvment” voice no member dared gainsay, In hushed and rapt attention then the House confessed my sway ; But now no meek obedience holds their upstart rudeness down, And I like Frankenstein must cringe to a monster of my own. Last year I brought two favorite Bills, 1 nursed them both with care, I spoke, God knows how often, with my most

impressive air ; But with new fangled impudence the members dared rebel, Till, like a flimsy house of cards, each scheme to pieces fell; And the vile populace, taking heart when the leaders broke their chain, Rose up in wrath and hounded me from my hold on the Domain. Must it be always henceforth so? Shall I thus tamely fall Without one stroke, although I stand singly against them all 1 What though I be a windbag ! What though they recognise That with all my solemn pompousuess I am not so very wise ! For years 1 have hoodwinked them all, and shall I now not dare To borrow from defeat itself the courage of despair ?” So, with head erect and his hands deep down in his breeches pockets diving, He stalked along the bridge, his plans for the coming fray contriving : But I thought how futile they all might be, how possibly each new year Might more and more from his real deserts the veil of prestige tear, For merit bears not always aloft the blazon of success, And the more a puffer puffs his wares men trust them less and less. Then I pondered over in my mind the words ot the phantom four As I sauntered homeward over the bridge, and the clocks rung out a new hour.