 | Messrs Bat and Ball |  |
50
THE PROTEST
Since even Virtue could at times
Depart from what alone was fitting,
And sneer at Cautionary Rhymes
In praise of hymnal and of knitting,
We scarcely wonder when we note
Disfigurements by age allotted
To that on which we mean to doat,
However badly blotted.
Depart from what alone was fitting,
And sneer at Cautionary Rhymes
In praise of hymnal and of knitting,
We scarcely wonder when we note
Disfigurements by age allotted
To that on which we mean to doat,
However badly blotted.
The sun himself, perhaps in sport,
Allows his planetary creatures
By smoky glass to view a wart
Or two upon his handsome features;
And Cricket, our athletic sun,
Is faulted by alarming patches
Of blisters due to what is done
To-day in County matches.
Allows his planetary creatures
By smoky glass to view a wart
Or two upon his handsome features;
And Cricket, our athletic sun,
Is faulted by alarming patches
Of blisters due to what is done
To-day in County matches.
Conspicuous in the list of fads,
Developed till they rank as vices,
Are legging balls with super-pads
And sitting doggedly on splices.
Such Bats as dim the Cricket Star
Supplied with flame by Thornton, Hayward,
And Victor Trumper, seem, and are,
Objectionally wayward.
Developed till they rank as vices,
Are legging balls with super-pads
And sitting doggedly on splices.
Such Bats as dim the Cricket Star
Supplied with flame by Thornton, Hayward,
And Victor Trumper, seem, and are,
Objectionally wayward.
51
Macartney of the Southland lives
To sparkle as the Drive's supporter.
With pen and spoken words he gives
The killers of the Game no quarter.
A pastime that was brought to birth
In England by heroic hitters,
And travelled sinewy round the earth,
Can spare deflecting Sitters.
To sparkle as the Drive's supporter.
With pen and spoken words he gives
The killers of the Game no quarter.
A pastime that was brought to birth
In England by heroic hitters,
And travelled sinewy round the earth,
Can spare deflecting Sitters.
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