The Project Gutenberg eBook, Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 156,
Jan. 1, 1919, by Various, Edited by Owen Seamen

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Title: Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 156, Jan. 1, 1919

Author: Various

Release Date: February 6, 2004 [eBook #10964]

Language: English

Character set encoding: US-ASCII

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI,
VOL. 156, JAN. 1, 1919***

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PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

VOL. 156.

JANUARY 1, 1919.

TO AN UNKNOWN COLLEAGUE.

_(Inspired by the exchange of Minutes in Government Departments.)_

He was my friend--if friendship's proof
Be sympathy profound and sweet;
Eight months we toiled beneath one roof,
Yet somehow never chanced to meet.

So near and yet so far! I own
We may have passed upon the stair;
Yet, if we did, we passed unknown;
No tremor told me he was there.

He knew not it was I. Alas!
With such community of souls
That he and I should blindly pass
And live as sundered as the poles!

For I, when darkness sealed my eyes,
Would place my judgment in his hands,
Would ask him humbly to advise
And yield myself to his commands;

Just hinting what my view might be
(If asked) on this or that affair,
But never in undue degree
And with a deprecating air.

And he, thus modestly addressed,
Would wield an amicable pen
And say he thought my view was best
In full nine cases out of ten.

And so in deep harmonious flood
Our friendship flowed, and proved, I think,
Though water be less dense than blood,
Yet blood is far less dense than ink.
* * * * *
And now, when things are somewhat slow,
My leisure moments I beguile
By re