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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of More Cricket Songs, by Norman Gale
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: More Cricket Songs
+
+Author: Norman Gale
+
+Release Date: August 13, 2004 [EBook #13167]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MORE CRICKET SONGS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Michael Ciesielski, Cathy Smith and PG Distributed
+Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+
+MORE CRICKET SONGS
+
+by Norman Gale
+
+Author of "Cricket Songs" "Barty's Star" "A Country Muse" And other
+works.
+
+1905
+
+
+
+
+DEAR JOHN DENTON,
+
+Not long ago you reminded me that once, when you were a boy and I was
+a schoolmaster, I was angry with you because you pouted all through a
+lesson in arithmetic. Let bygones be bygones, and accept as a proof of
+my continuing friendship the dedication of this little volume, in
+which there are no other sums than those of the Telegraph.
+
+Most sincerely yours,
+
+NORMAN GALE.
+
+
+
+
+ Here's to the lad with his useful Fifteen,
+ Here's to the Bowler that's thrifty,
+ Here's to the Bat who is Lord of the Green
+ With his frequent and thundering Fifty!
+
+
+
+
+For their courtesy in allowing him to reprint some of these songs the
+Author thanks the Editor of _The Westminster Gazette_, Prince
+Ranjitsinhji, Mr. James Bowden, the Editor of _The Country_, and the
+Editor of _The Sun_.
+
+
+OILING
+THE GOLDEN GAME
+THE FEMALE BOY
+THE DARK BOWLER
+UNCLE BOB INDIGNANT
+THE TUTOR'S LAMENT
+A WIGGING
+THE TWO KINGS
+THE APPEAL
+THE OLYMPIANS
+THE OLD PROFESSIONAL
+FIVE YEARS AFTER
+DOCTOR CRICKET
+PHILOSOPHY
+THE ENTHUSIAST
+CRICKET AND CUPID
+A BOUNDARY
+THE COMMENTATOR
+LUCKY LADS
+CRICKET IN THE GARDEN
+THE PRINCE, BATTING
+THE REASON
+A LONG GRACE
+REMEMBER, PLEASE!
+THE FORERUNNERS
+NET PRACTICE
+THE CATCH OF THE SEASON
+
+
+
+
+
+OILING.
+
+_(A Song In and Out of Season.)_
+
+
+ Excuse me, Sweetheart, if I smear,
+ With wisdom learnt from ancient teachers,
+ Now winter time once more is here,
+ This grease upon your lengthy features!
+ Behaving thus, your loyal friend
+ No whit encourages deception:
+ Believe me, Fairest, in the end
+ This oil will better your complexion.
+ Fairest, believe!
+
+ Did you imagine in the bag
+ To sleep the sleep of Rip Van Winkle,
+ Removed from sunshine's golden flag
+ And duller daylight's smallest twinkle?
+ Well have you earned your rest; but yet,
+ Although disturbance seem uncivil,
+ Unless your cheeks and chin be wet
+ With oil, your beauteousness will shrivel.
+ Rarest, believe!
+
+ Absorb, that, when for our delight
+ The May unpacks its lovely blossom,
+ With beaming face, with shoulders bright
+ You leave the bag's congenial bosom.
+ Then shall the Lover and his Lass
+ Walk out toward the pitch together,
+ And, glorying in the shaven grass,
+ Tackle, with mutual faith, the leather.
+ Dearest, absorb!
+
+
+
+
+THE GOLDEN GAME.
+
+
+ If ever there was a Golden Game
+ To brace the nerves, to cure repining,
+ To put the Dumps to flight and shame,
+ It's Cricket when the sun is shining!
+ Gentlemen, toss the foolscap by,
+ Gentlemen, change from books to leather!
+ Breathe your fill of the breeze from the hill,
+ Thanking Bliss for the great blue weather.
+
+ If ever there was a bag could beat
+ The box possessed by Miss Pandora,
+ 'Tis that in which there cuddle neat
+ The tools to shape the flying Fourer.
+ Gentlemen, watch the purple ball!
+ Gentlemen, keep your wits in tether!
+ Take your joy with the heart of a boy
+ Under the dome of the big blue weather.
+
+ If ever I feel my veins abound
+ With zealous blood more fit for Twenty,
+ 'Tis when upon the shaven ground
+ Fair Fortune gives me runs in plenty.
+ Gentlemen all, while sinews last,
+ Bat ye, bowl ye, friends together!
+ Play the play till the end of your day,
+ Mellowest mates in the big blue weather!
+
+ But ever the ancient tale is told,
+ And History (the jade!) repeated:
+ By Time, who's never over-bowled,
+ At last we find ourselves defeated.
+ Gentlemen all, though stiff we be,
+ Youth comes along in finest feather,
+ Just as keen as we all have been
+ Out on the turf in the great blue weather!
+
+ There's ever the deathless solace left--
+ To gaze at younger heroes smiting,
+ Of neither grit nor hope bereft,
+ Up to the end for victory fighting.
+ Gentlemen all, we taste delight,
+ Banished now from the stream and heather,
+ Calm and cool on an old camp-stool,
+ Watching the game in the big blue weather!
+
+
+
+
+THE FEMALE BOY.
+
+
+ If cursed by a son who declined to play cricket,
+ (Supposing him sound and sufficient in thews,)
+ I'd larrup him well with the third of a wicket,
+ Selecting safe parts of his body to bruise.
+ In his mind such an urchin King Solomon had
+ When he said, Spare the stump, and you bungle the lad!
+
+ For what in the world is the use of a creature
+ All flabbily bent on avoiding the Pitch?
+ Who wanders about, with a sob in each feature,
+ Devising a headache, inventing a stitch?
+ There surely would be a quick end to my joy
+ If possessed of that monster--the feminine boy!--
+
+ The feminine boy who declines upon croquet,
+ Or halma, or spillikins (horrible sport!),
+ Or any amusement that's female and pokey,
+ And flatly objects to behave as he ought!
+ I know him of old. He is lazy and fat,
+ Instead of this Thing, fit for punishment drastic,
+ Give, Fortune, a son who is nimble and keen;
+ A bright-hearted sample of human elastic,
+ As fast as an antelope, supple and clean;
+ Far other than he in whose dimples there lodge
+ Significant signs of inordinate stodge.
+
+ Ay, give me the lad who is eager and chubby,
+ A Stoddart in little, a hero in bud;
+ Who'd think it a positive crime to grow tubby,
+ And dreams half the night he's a Steel or a Studd!
+ There's the youth for my fancy, all youngsters above--
+ The boy for my handshake, the lad for my love!
+
+
+
+
+THE DARK BOWLER.
+
+
+ I know that Bowler, dark and lean,
+ Who holds his tongue, and pegs away,
+ And never fails to come up keen,
+ However hard and straight I play.
+ Spinning and living, from his hand
+ The leather, full of venom, leaps;
+ How nicely are his changes planned,
+ And what a lovely length he keeps!
+
+ Because he pulls his brim so low,
+ However earnestly one tries
+ One never sees the darkling glow,
+ That must be nimble in his eyes.
+ The fellow's judgment never nods,
+ His watchful spirit never sleeps.
+ There was a clinking ball! Ye gods,
+ Why, what a splendid length he keeps!
+
+ At times he bowls an awkward ball
+ That in the queerest manner swerves,
+ And this delivery of them all
+ Takes most elastic from my nerves:
+ It comes, and all along my spine
+ A sense of desolation creeps;
+ Till now the mastery is mine,
+ But--what a killing length he keeps!
+
+ That nearly passed me! That again
+ Miraculously missed the bails!
+ Too good a sportsman to complain,
+ He never flags, he never stales.
+ Small wonder if his varied skill
+ So fine a harvest daily reaps,
+ For how he marries wit and will!
+ And what a deadly length he keeps!
+
+
+
+
+UNCLE BOB INDIGNANT.
+
+_("Flannelled fools at the wicket")_
+
+
+ Come, poke the fire, pull round the screen,
+ And fill me up a glass of grog
+ Before I tell of matches seen
+ And heroes of the mighty slog!
+ While hussies play near mistletoe
+ The game of kiss-me-if-you-dare,
+ I'll dig for you in memory's snow,
+ And where my eager spade shall go
+ Uncover bliss for you to share,
+ My Boys!
+
+ As sloppiness our sport bereaves
+ Of what was once a glorious zest,
+ And female men are thick as thieves,
+ With croquet, ping-pong, and the rest,
+ Prophetic eyes discern the shame
+ Shall humble England in the dust;
+ And in their graves our sires shall flame
+ With scorn to know the Nation's game
+ Cat's-cradle; Cricket gone to rust,
+ My Lads
+
+ Ah, for a winged and wounding pen,
+ In vigour dipped, to pierce the age
+ When girls are athletes, not the men,
+ And toughness dwindles from the stage!--
+ When purblind poet cannot see
+ That in the games he wishes barred,
+ Eager, and hungry to be free
+ As when it triumphed on the sea,
+ The Viking spirit battles hard,
+ My Sons!
+
+ If you have need of flabbier times,
+ Colensos, Stormbergs, Spion Kops,
+ Tell cricketers to take to rhymes,
+ And smash at once the cross-bar props.
+ _When_ sportsmen, tied to sport, refuse
+ To offer lead the loyal breast,
+ To tramp for miles in bloody shoes,
+ To smirch their souls, to crack their thews,
+ _Then_ let the poet rail his best,
+ My Hearts!
+
+ Aye, if our social state be planned
+ Devoid of giant games of ball,
+ Macaulay's visitor will stand
+ The earlier on the crumbled wall.
+ Nerve, daring, sprightliness, and pluck
+ Improve by noble exercise;
+ The wish to soar above the ruck,
+ The power to laugh at dirty luck
+ And face defeat with sparkling eyes,
+ My Braves!
+
+ By George, there goes the supper-bell!
+ And yet your duffing Uncle Bob
+ Has never told you what befell
+ When all his team got out for blob.
+ So much for bad poetic gas
+ That gets my ancient dander up!
+ Well, to the banquet! What is crass
+ Shall deeply drown in radiant Bass
+ While we as Vikings greatly sup,
+ My Hearts!
+
+
+
+
+THE TUTOR'S LAMENT.
+
+
+ I refuse to find attractions
+ In the ancient Roman native;
+ I am sick to death of fractions,
+ And of verbs that take the dative:
+ It is mine to be recorder
+ Of a boy's congested brain, Sir,
+ With the pitch in perfect order
+ And the weather like champagne, Sir!
+
+ I--the sport of conjugations--
+ I am cooped up as a lodger
+ Where I serve out mental rations
+ To a proudly backward dodger.
+ While the two of us are dreaming
+ Of the canvas and the creases,
+ Close we sit together, scheming
+ How to pull an ode to pieces.
+
+ Even now in London's gabble
+ Memory's magic tricks the senses!
+ Plain I hear the streamlet babble,
+ Smell the tar on country fences:
+
+ Down the road Miss Grey from Marlett
+ Skirts the fox-frequented thicket,
+ In her belt a rose of scarlet,
+ In her eyes the love of cricket.
+
+ There's my mother with her ponies
+ Underneath Sir Toby's beeches,
+ Pulling up to share with cronies
+ News of grapes and plums and peaches:
+ Many a gaffer stops to fumble
+ At his forelock as she passes,
+ While the children cease to tumble
+ Frocks and blouses in the grasses.
+
+ Though my body stays with duty
+ Here to work a sum or rider,
+ Mother's magnet and her beauty
+ Draw my soul to sit beside her!
+ Ah, what luck if I were able
+ There to play once more in flannels,
+ Free from all this littered table,
+ Virgil's farmyard, Ovid's annals!
+
+ There's a loop of leather handle
+ Peeping underneath the sofa!
+ Is tuition worth the candle
+ When the conscience turns a loafer?
+ 'Tis the rich and backward Boarder
+ Proves indeed the Tutor's bane, Sir,
+ When the turf's in ripping order
+ And the weather like champagne, Sir!
+
+
+
+
+A WIGGING.
+
+
+ "To throw your hands above your head
+ And wring your mouth in piteous wise
+ Is not a plan," the Captain said,
+ "With which I sympathise.
+ And with your eyes to ape a duck
+ That's dying in a thunderstorm,
+ Because you deprecate your luck,
+ Is not the best of form.
+
+ "The fact is, Johnson, I am tired
+ Of all this posing for a faint,
+ Because you think the stump required
+ Another coat of paint.
+ As greatly would you vex my soul,
+ And drag decorum from the Game,
+ If in the block your head you'd roll,
+ Or stand upon the same.
+
+ "This trick of striking attitudes,
+ Inelegant for men to see,
+ Will, to be candid, foster feuds
+ Between yourself and me.
+ On manners of the best this sport,
+ By right of glory, makes a call,
+ And he who will not as he ought
+ Should never play at all.
+
+ "Now Luck is lean, now Luck Is fat,
+ And wise men take her as she comes:
+ The Bowler may be sure the Bat
+ Will share the sugarplums.
+ So never wriggle, nor protest,
+ Nor eye the zenith in disgust,
+ But, Johnson, bowl your level best,
+ And recollect, what must be, must!"
+
+
+
+
+THE TWO KINGS.
+
+_(Written for W.G. Grace's Fiftieth Anniversary.)_
+
+
+ When Arthur and his Table Round
+ Thought lusty thumps the best of sport, Sir,
+ And cups and cuffs, for all but muffs,
+ Were just the code the nobles taught, Sir,
+ Their jests were coarse, and swift their coursers,
+ Their throats were hoarse and strong as hawsers;
+ And they would shout a loud refrain
+ The while they pricked across a plain,
+ Observe this phrase just once again--
+ The while they pricked across a plain.
+
+ Then 'twas the sport of Arthur's Court
+ To hammer friendly helms with zeal, Sir,
+ Lo, sounding clear for all to hear,
+ The Tourney rang with lyres of steel, Sir!
+ These demigods of matchless story
+ For Love laid on, laid on for Glory!
+ Their horses flew like thunderbolts,
+ Or cut a brace of demi-voltes.
+ Observe this phrase. The mettled colts
+ Would cut a brace of demi-voltes.
+
+ When Arthur and his Table Round
+ Had lain in dust for many years, Sir,
+ Came cricket bats and beaver hats,
+ The stumps, the ball, the burst of cheers, Sir!
+ Thus horse-play broke on Time's rough breakers
+ And gentler games were hero-makers.
+ Men ceased to crave for olden times,
+ Whose daily deeds were modern crimes,
+ But guarded stumps, and wrote their rhymes,
+ And helped to keep the land from crimes.
+
+ While Arthur and his Table Round
+ In dreams were jousting once again, Sir,
+ The wit of man conceived a plan
+ To marry willow-wood and cane, Sir.
+ Thereat the Stung became the Stinger;
+ Thereat arrived the Century-Bringer!
+ Mere muscle yielded to the wrist
+ Poised lightly over clenching fist.
+ Observe the phrase. I here insist
+ Mere muscle yielded to the wrist.
+
+ The knights of Arthur's Table True
+ Wore helmets, gorgets, plumes, and greaves, Sir;
+ While Tourneys stayed, big sport was played
+ Without the joy of turned-up sleeves, Sir!
+ But Cricket showed in armoured showing
+ Without these noble players knowing,
+ For when at Beauty's door they tapped
+ They oft were at the wicket snapped.
+ Be sure of this. With rage was mapped
+ Each face when at the wicket snapped.
+
+ Remembering the Table Round,
+ Cricket at last begot a King, Sir.
+ One day was born the Bowler's Thorn,
+ The Bat of Bats for Rhyme to sing, Sir.
+ As for the Lady Ball, he swept her
+ From pole to pole with willow sceptre!
+ Old Mother England was the place,
+ The pitch the throne, the monarch Grace!
+ Off with your hats! Your brims abase
+ To greet his Royal Highness, Grace!
+
+ Ah, for some kingly match in Town,
+ To give the scene its fitting ode, Sir!
+ Could Pindar fire the athletic lyre,
+ A truant from his bright abode, Sir,
+ How would he chant the Chief heroic,
+ The trundler's hope become zeroic,
+ The drives from liberal shoulders poured,
+ The changing history of the Board!
+ Long may the champion's pith be scored
+ In figures leaping on the Board!
+
+ Strong in the arms as Hercules,
+ For club, a bat within his hand, Sir,
+ Behold him there, the foe's despair,
+ Persuade the bowling to the stand, Sir!
+ What if some wrinkles now take leases
+ Upon his brow? He's used to creases!
+ And, young in muscle, still can laugh
+ At fifty on Time's Telegraph.
+ This Toast, good comrades, let us quaff--
+ Three figures on his Telegraph!
+
+
+
+
+THE APPEAL.
+
+
+ My boy, bethink you ere you fling
+ Upon my heart a cloud of gloom.
+ Pause, pause a moment ere you bring
+ Your father to an early tomb
+ By playing Golf! For if you seek
+ To gravel your astounded sire,
+ Desert the wicket for the cleek,
+ Prefer the bagpipes to the lyre!
+
+ My boy, along your veins is poured
+ Heroic blood full fit to boast;
+ For annals of the scoring-board
+ Have made our name a cricket Toast.
+ If now in pride or pique you choose
+ To make this scandalous default,
+ How many bygone Cricket Blues
+ Will issue, raging, from their vault!
+
+ My boy, the game that's big and bright,
+ The game that stands all games above,
+ And towers to such a glorious height,
+ Deserves the summit of your love!
+ Is this a time for dapper spats,
+ When foes arrive to test our worth?
+ Beg pardon of your gloves and bats,
+ And play the kingliest game on earth!
+
+
+
+
+THE OLYMPIANS.
+
+
+ Let those who will believe the Gods
+ On high Olympus do not travel
+ Along the lane that Progress plods,
+ The tricks of mortals to unravel:
+ Let them believe who will they shun
+ The average of C.B. Fry,
+ Or never from their lilied park
+ A little nearer Clifton run
+ To watch with joy the crimson lark
+ By Jessop bullied to the sky.
+
+ They love the Game. So warm they glow,
+ Not seldom rise imperial quarrels;
+ And not so many moons ago
+ Jove boxed with zeal Apollo's laurels.
+ The question ran, Was Arthur Mold
+ Unfairly stigmatised by muffs,
+ Or did he play a dubious prank?
+ Venus herself began to scold,
+ And Gods by dozens on a bank
+ Profanely took to fisticuffs!
+
+ When on the level mead of Hove
+ Elastic-sided Ranjitsinhji
+ With bowlers neatly juggles, Jove
+ Of clapping palms is never stingy.
+ Ambrosia stands neglected; wine
+ To crack the skull of Hector spills
+ While Lockwood cudgels brawn and brain;
+ And when the Prince leaves ninety-nine,
+ The cheers go valleywards like rain,
+ And hip-hurrah among the hills!
+
+ Prone on the lawn in merry mobs,
+ They note the polished art of Trumper,
+ The Surrey Lobster bowling lobs,
+ The anxious wriggles of the Stumper.
+ 'Tis not (believe me) theirs to sneer
+ At what the modern mortal loves,
+ But theirs to copy noble sport;
+ And radiant hawkers every year
+ Do splendid trade in bats and gloves
+ With Jupiter and all his Court!
+
+
+
+
+THE OLD PROFESSIONAL.
+
+
+ Sixty years since the game begun, Sir,
+ Sixty years since I took the crease!
+ Sixty years in the rain an' sun, Sir,
+ Death's been tryin' to end my lease.
+ Oh, but he's sent me down some corkers,
+ Given me lots of nasty jobs;
+ Mixed length-balls with his dazzlin' Yorkers,
+ Kickers an' shooters, grubs an' lobs!
+
+ Here I've stood, an' I've met him smilin',
+ Takin' all of his nasty bumps;
+ Grantin' at times his luck was rilin'
+ When reg'lar fizzers tickled the stumps.
+ Playin' him straight an' storin' breath, Sir,
+ Closely watchin' his artful wrist,
+ I've had a rare old tussle with Death, Sir,
+ Slammin' the loose 'uns, smotherin' twist!
+
+ Still I know I'm as keen as ever
+ Tacklin' the stuff he likes to send,
+ Cuttin' an' drivin' his best endeavour
+ While pluck an' muscle an' sight befriend.
+ I'm slow, in course; an' at times a stitch, Sir,
+ Makes me muddle the stroke I planned;
+ But I'm not yet ready to leave the pitch, Sir,
+ For Lord knows what in the Better Land!
+
+ Some dirty day, when eyes are dimmer,
+ Old Death will have his chance to scoff;
+ For up his sleeve he's got a trimmer
+ Bound to come a yard from the off!
+ It'll do me down! But if he's a chap, Sir,
+ Able to tell a job well done,
+ No doubt he'll give his foe a clap, Sir,
+ Walkin' out of the crease an' sun.
+
+ 'Tis more than forty years I've tasted
+ Sweet and bitter supplied by Luck,
+ Never thinkin' an hour was wasted,
+ Whether I blobbed or whether I stuck.
+ Long as I had some kind of wicket,
+ 'Twas never the wrong 'un, fast or slow;
+ An' I thank my stars I took to Cricket
+ Seven-an'-fifty years ago!
+
+ The game's been missus an' kids to me, Sir--
+ Aye, an' a rare good girl she's been!
+ I met her first at my father's knee, Sir,
+ An' married her young on Richmond Green.
+ An' as she's proved so true a lover,
+ Never inclined to scratch or scold,
+ When the long day's fun at last is over,
+ I'll love her still in the churchyard cold!
+
+ I've never twisted my brain with thinkin'
+ The way life goes in the world above,
+ But lessons here there ain't no blinkin'
+ Make me guess that the Umpire's Love!
+ God knows I've muffed some easy chances
+ Of doing good, like a silly lout;
+ But because He's fairer nor any fancies
+ I'm not in a funk of hearin', "Out!"
+
+
+
+
+FIVE YEARS AFTER.
+
+
+ Many a mate of splice and leather,
+ Out in the stiff autumnal weather,
+ There we stood by his grave together,
+ After his innings;
+ All on a day of misty yellow
+ Watching in grief a grim old fellow,
+ Death, who diddles both young and mellow,
+ Pocket his winnings.
+
+ Flew from his hand the matchless skimmer!
+ Breaking a yard, the destined trimmer,
+ Beating the bat and the eyes grown dimmer,
+ Shattered the wicket!
+ Slow to the dark Pavilion wending,
+ His head on his breast, with Mercy friending,
+ The batsman walked to his silent ending,
+ Finished with cricket.
+
+ Whether or not that gaunt Professor
+ Noting his man; that stark Assessor
+ Of faulty play in the bat's possessor
+ Clapped for his foeman,
+ We who had seen that figure splendid
+ Guarding the stumps so well defended
+ Wept and cheered when by craft was ended
+ Innings and yeoman!
+
+ Not long before the ball that beat him,
+ All ends up, went down to meet him,
+ Tie him up in a knot, defeat him
+ Once and for ever,
+ He told his mates that he wished, when hoary
+ Time put an end to his famous story,
+ To trudge with his old brown bag to Glory,
+ Separate never!
+
+ There on the clods the bag was lying!
+ There was the rope for the handle's tying!
+ How can you wonder we all were crying,
+ Utterly broken?
+ Scarred and shabby it went. We espied it
+ Deep where the grave so soon would hide it,
+ Safe on his heart, with his togs inside it--
+ Tenderest token!
+
+ There we stood by his grave together,
+ Out in the stiff autumnal weather,
+ Many a mate of splice and leather,
+ After his innings;
+ All on a day of misty yellow
+ Watching in pain a grabbing fellow,
+ Death, who diddles both young and mellow,
+ Pocket his winnings.
+
+
+
+
+DOCTOR CRICKET.
+
+
+ Dear Tom, I do not like your look,
+ Your brows are (see the poets) bent;
+ You're biting hard on Tedium's hook,
+ You're jaundiced, crumpled, footled, spent.
+ What's worse, so mischievous your state
+ You have no pluck to try and trick it.
+ Here! Cram this cap upon your pate
+ And come with me to Doctor Cricket!
+
+ Don't eye decanters on the shelf.
+ Your tongue's already thick with fur!
+ Up, heart! and be your own dear self
+ As when we chummed at Winchester.
+ Destroy these pasteboard dancing girls;
+ This theatre-bubble, come, Tom, prick it!
+ Love more the off and leg-break curls
+ Arranged for us by Doctor Cricket!
+
+ You feel worn out at twenty-two?
+ Your day's a thing of thirst and gloom?
+ Old chap, of course I'll see you through,
+ But--drop that rot about the tomb!
+ Let's overhaul your bag. A pair
+ Of noble bats to guard a wicket!
+ Out, Friend, to breathe the sunny air,
+ And wring the hand of Doctor Cricket!
+
+ Be healed; and shun the flabby gang
+ That tricked your taste with cards and drink,
+ When out of independence sprang
+ A silly downfall. Think, Tom, think!
+ While stupid lads debase their worth
+ In feather-headed Folly's thicket,
+ Get back your muscle and your mirth
+ Beneath the eye of Doctor Cricket!
+
+
+
+
+PHILOSOPHY.
+
+
+ 'Tis sometimes Fortune's little joke
+ With vinegar to brim the cup;
+ And on the grass this fickle Lass
+ Makes pennies come the wrong side up.
+ But though a Head instead of Tail
+ Is sure to greet my anxious call,
+ 'Tis better to have tossed,
+ And lost,
+ Than never to have tossed at all.
+
+ To do our best in spite of luck,
+ To stop or gallop for the drive,
+ To seek our fun in bronzing sun,
+ Shall cause both head and heart to thrive.
+ And though the penny's face I choose
+ That next the turf is bound to fall,
+ 'Tis better to have tossed,
+ And lost,
+ Than never to have tossed at all.
+
+ For though we field the whole day long
+ Hope's spark refuses to expire;
+ A wily lob's successful job
+ At once renews the slackening fire.
+ Be Spartan, then! Crave not to flirt
+ With Tennis and her female ball!
+ 'Tis better to have tossed,
+ And lost,
+ Than never to have tossed at all.
+
+
+
+
+THE ENTHUSIAST.
+
+
+ The Major, till the paper comes,
+ Is by a hundred fidgets shaken;
+ Upon the tablecloth he drums,
+ Condemns the toast, pooh-poohs the bacon:
+ But when at last the boy arrives,
+ Not his to scan the market prices;
+ Though liner sinks or palace burns,
+ The Major lives by rule, and turns
+ To cricket first, and then the crisis.
+
+ Though getting grey and rather stiff,
+ The Major loves a long day's outing,
+ And gives a military sniff
+ When lads complain of lengthy scouting.
+ Each summer morn at break of day
+ From bed before the lark he tumbles,
+ And if the mercury be vile
+ There carries nearly half a mile
+ The Indian vigour of his grumbles.
+
+ When winter brings its snow and ice,
+ As well as divers pains and twinges,
+ The Major's language gathers spice,
+ And oftentimes his temper singes.
+ On Christmas day he oils his bats,
+ And, on the crimson hearthrug scoring,
+ Through Fancy's slips he cuts the ball,
+ Or lifts her over Fancy's wall,
+ Till all the ghostly ring is roaring!
+
+ And when at length the day is near
+ For Death to bowl the Major's wicket,
+ (The Major swears he has no fear
+ That Paradise is short of cricket!)
+ If in the time of pad and crease
+ His soul receives its last advices,
+ With final paper on his bed
+ I know the Major will be wed
+ To cricket first--and then the crisis!
+
+
+
+
+CRICKET AND CUPID.
+
+
+ She understands the game no more
+ Than savages the sun's eclipse;
+ For all she knows the bowler throws,
+ And Square-Leg stands among the Slips:
+ And when in somersaults a stump
+ Denotes a victim of the game,
+ Her lovely throat begets a lump,
+ Her cheeks with indignation flame.
+
+ She scarce can keep her seat, and longs
+ To cheer the fallen hero's fate;
+ Her fingers clench upon the bench
+ As if it were the Trundler's pate!
+ Because this rascal's on the spot
+ Her passion fails to be concealed;
+ She asks me why the wretch is not
+ Immediately turned off the field.
+
+ But if the batsmen force the pace,
+ From me she quickly takes her cue;
+ Perceives the fun of stolen run,
+ The overthrow that makes it two.
+ And as the ball bombards the fence,
+ Or rattles on the Scorers' hut,
+ She claps with me the Drive immense,
+ And prettily applauds the Cut.
+
+ Divided at the heart, I seek
+ With skill to serve a double call:
+ Though great the Game, it were a shame
+ To miss her bosom's rise-and-fall.
+ Cupid and Cricket, unafraid,
+ Must sink their dread of partnership,
+ Nor fear to join as stock-in-trade
+ The boxwood bail, the honeyed lip.
+
+ Time was when bigotry compelled
+ A total worship of the game,
+ Before the test had pierced my breast,
+ Before the Idol-breaker came.
+ But suddenly the sky let down,
+ Escaped from heaven in pink and gold,
+ A child to conquer by her gown
+ The sport so starkly loved of old.
+
+ Sweet are her little cries, and sweet
+ The puzzled look her forehead wears;
+ For all she knows the Umpire goes
+ Away to Leg to say his prayers.
+ And yet, so velvety her eyes,
+ I even find a charm in this,
+ And think, How foolish to be wise
+ When Ada's ignorance is bliss!
+
+
+
+
+A BOUNDARY.
+
+
+ What nonsense, Charles!
+ Though rather stiff,
+ And foreign from the style of Twenty,
+ There's still enough of cricket stuff
+ Remaining for the pastime. Plenty!
+ Why, such a creed as now you preach
+ Is only fit for scoffs and jeers;
+ Wait till you lose your wind and reach--
+ Wait till you come to fifty years.
+
+ What nonsense, Charles!
+ You still can put
+ The figures up by bounds and leaps, Sir;
+ There's little myth about the pith
+ You carry in your muscle. Heaps, Sir!
+ Not yet the camp-stool period comes,
+ With feelings precious close to tears;
+ Still at your choice the leather hums--
+ Wait till you total fifty years.
+
+ What nonsense, Charles!
+ In you I see--
+ You, lord of curl on shaven plots, Sir--
+ A magazine of Fourers clean
+ Prepared to bruise the railings. Lots, Sir!
+ I have a dog's-eared birthday list
+ That makes me mock your silly fears
+ And hope for centuries from your wrist--
+ Wait till you come to fifty years.
+
+
+
+
+THE COMMENTATOR.
+
+
+ The throstle in the lilac,
+ Not far beyond the Nets,
+ Upon a spray of purple
+ His beak severely whets:
+ He hears the players calling,
+ He wonders what they're at,
+ As thunder frequent Yorkers
+ Against the stubborn bat.
+
+ And as the rank half-volley
+ Its due quietus gets,
+ The bird begins to carol
+ A greeting to the Nets:
+ Amazed at noisy kissing
+ Of ball and wooden blade,
+ In rivalry he whistles
+ A ballad unafraid.
+
+ Right jocund is the music
+ That, poured in lovely jets,
+ Accompanies superbly
+ The heroes in the Nets;
+ And sweet the startled pauses
+ Amid the royal song
+ That come when shout together
+ The drive-delighted throng.
+
+ The greatness of the uproar
+ Benumbs him, and he lets
+ His pulsing bosom ponder
+ The tumult in the Nets;
+ But soon afresh, while warbling
+ His comment on the game,
+ He puts all human songsters--
+ Quite easily!--to shame.
+
+ Thou Herrick in the lilac,
+ The damp of evening wets
+ Upon our shoes the pipeclay,
+ And bids us leave the Nets;
+ But come again to-morrow
+ To mingle with our joy
+ The magic learnt in Eden
+ When Time was but a boy!
+
+
+
+
+LUCKY LADS.
+
+
+ See in bronzing sunshine
+ Twenty-two good fellows,
+ Such as help the world along,
+ Such as Cricket mellows!
+ Health and heartiness and joy
+ Come to them for capture,
+ Lucky lads, plucky lads,
+ Relishing the rapture!
+
+ Watch the flying fieldsman,
+ Keen to save the fourer,
+ Gallop past the wooden box
+ Sacred to the scorer!
+ Think you demi-gods of Greece
+ Matched him in their story?
+ Lucky lad, plucky lad,
+ Sprinting hard for glory!
+
+ Watch the hitting hero
+ Loosely clad in flannel--
+ There's a figure to adorn
+ Any sculptor's panel!
+ Every inch of him enjoys
+ Sharing in the tussle,
+ Lucky lad, plucky lad,
+ Speed and grit and muscle!
+
+ See in bronzing sunshine
+ Thousands of good fellows,
+ Such as roll the world along,
+ Such as Cricket mellows!
+ These shall keep the Motherland
+ Safe amid her quarrels,
+ Lucky lads, plucky lads,
+ Trained to snatch at laurels!
+
+
+
+
+CRICKET IN THE GARDEN.
+
+
+ Before the aproned nurse arrives,
+ To tell of soap and tub and sponges,
+ My nephew, fierce and ruddy, drives,
+ Disgraceful edges, callous lunges.
+ Twenty auriculas declare
+ The zeal of his peculiar magic,
+ Till every aunt is in despair,
+ And even Job (the cat) looks tragic.
+
+ Down goes a tulip's noble head!
+ (Poor Auntie Nell is nearly crying!)
+ And now a stately stock is dead,
+ And now a columbine is dying.
+ Vainly the cook with female lobs
+ Desires to hit the egg-box wicket;
+ And not among the housemaid's jobs--
+ 'Tis very plain--is garden cricket.
+
+ Whack on the bee-hive goes the ball!
+ "That's six!" screams Noel to the scorer.
+ A foxglove, steepled best of all,
+ Now sinks beneath a flying fourer.
+ Two to the lad's-love; and beyond
+ The lavender just half-a-dozen;
+ And TWELVE for dropping in the pond
+ A rank half-volley from his cousin!
+
+ To see my pinks give up the ghost
+ Is what no longer can be suffered:
+ Before I lose the scented host
+ This game, like candles, must be snuffered.
+ Noel, at ninety-two, not out,
+ Is carried to the nursery, screaming;
+ And later with a precious pout
+ Lies in his bed of down and dreaming.
+
+ There shall his Century be achieved,
+ Larkspurs and tiger-lilies humbled,
+ Geraniums of their fire bereaved,
+ And calceolarias torn and tumbled.
+ With fairy craft from dusk to dawn
+ Quaint Puck himself may bowl half-volleys,
+ But I have vowed, by love and lawn,
+ To weed one thistle from my follies!
+
+
+
+
+THE PRINCE, BATTING.
+
+
+ As out of a cannon comes the ball!
+ Quickly it flies to the human wall.
+ Didn't it go with a will and a whiz?
+ How lovely it is! How lovely it is!
+
+ Four to the east, and four to the west!
+ Arrowy shots at the Umpire's chest!
+ Placid the sinewy batsman beams--
+ How easy it seems! How easy it seems
+
+ Watch! For a ball we could barely poke
+ The master hand and the radiant stroke!
+ Glances and cuts and drives and hooks--
+ How easy it looks! How easy it looks!
+
+ Now is the time we may all forget
+ Paper and books, for the Prince is set.
+ Here in the grass, with our work at heel,
+ How happy we feel! How happy we feel!
+
+
+
+
+THE REASON.
+
+
+ Now why did Arthur Hoare pull out
+ A sovereign with a happy shout
+ And give it rashly to his scout,
+ Who almost had a fit?
+
+ Why of a sudden did he fling
+ A hard-boiled egg at Eustace Ling,
+ Forgetting how an egg can sting
+ The person who is hit?
+
+ Why after dinner did he turn
+ In fury on his room, and burn
+ His old oak chairs with unconcern?--
+ A stupid thing to do!
+
+ And why so harshly did he pelt
+ With forks a fresh and timorous Celt
+ Afraid to utter what he felt?
+ _Arthur had got his Blue!_
+
+
+
+
+A LONG GRACE.
+
+_(W.G. Grace's XI. versus XXII. of Bath.)_
+
+ Nothing went right. The Champion cut
+ And drove and glanced, and cut again,
+ Till every bowler we possessed
+ Deep down within his smarting breast
+ Half wished he'd lost that early train!
+ _Dobbin went on with Sneaks,
+ Robin appeared with Tweaks,
+ And Diccory Dizzard, as fast as a blizzard,
+ Contributed Lightning Streaks!_
+
+ Nothing went right. The Champion's bat
+ Seemed twice the breadth of postern door.
+ The leather flew at pace immense
+ To crackle on the boundary fence,
+ Acknowledged by the public roar.
+ _Dobbin went on with Tweaks,
+ Robin obliged with Sneaks,
+ And Diccory Dizzard, as fast as a blizzard,
+ Exhibited Lightning Streaks!_
+
+ Nothing went right. At last, at last
+ A bell (than Angelus more fair!)
+ Rang respite for the fieldsmen who,
+ By sprinting hard from twelve to two,
+ Had scarce a ragged breath to spare.
+ _Robin abstained from Sneaks,
+ Dobbin abandoned Tweaks,
+ And Diccory Dizzard, as fast as a blizzard,
+ Prohibited Lightning Streaks!_
+
+ Luncheon went right. The weary team
+ Found benches, beer, and salad sweet.
+ But asking blessing was too bad,
+ Because they all were somewhat sad
+ From too much Grace before their meat!
+ _Health to your noble name,
+ Monarch in fact and fame,
+ From twenty-two hearty lads in a party
+ Broadened and bronzed by the Game!_
+
+
+
+
+REMEMBER, PLEASE!
+
+
+ When the run of the bowler is measured,
+ And he, with brows knotted,
+ Bowls fierce at your timber-yard treasured,
+ To pot, or be potted,
+ If the ball to the bone that is funny
+ Fly swift as a swallow,
+ And you squeal like a terrified bunny
+ As agonies follow:
+
+ Then, then is a capital season,
+ More fit than another,
+ Loose language of silly unreason
+ In courage to smother.
+ Clean speech is too frequently shamed
+ For Cricket to shame it!
+ One word is too often exclaimed
+ For you to exclaim it!
+
+
+
+
+THE FORERUNNERS.
+
+
+ Beside the pillar-box a girl
+ Sells daffodils in golden bunches,
+ And with an apron full of Spring
+ Stays men a moment from their lunches:
+ Some fill their hands for love of bloom,
+ To others Cupid hints a reason;
+ But as for me, I buy because
+ The flowers suggest the Cricket season!
+
+ Although I trouble not to seek
+ A maiden proud to wear my favour,
+ Right glad am I to change my pence
+ For blooms, and smell their wholesome savour;
+ For as I carry blossoms home--
+ Sisters of gold with golden sisters--
+ My heart is thumping at the thought
+ Of pads and bails and slow leg-twisters.
+
+ My only sweetheart is a bag--
+ A faithful girl of dark brown leather,
+ Who's travelled many a mile with me
+ In half a hundred sorts of weather!
+ Once more to clasp your friendly hand,
+ To tramp along by Hope attended,
+ Dreaming of glances, drives, and cuts,
+ My Dear Old Girl, how truly splendid!
+
+
+
+
+NET PRACTICE.
+
+
+ We had a fellow in the School
+ Whose batting simply was a dream:
+ A dozen times by keeping cool
+ And hitting hard he saved the Team.
+ But oh! his fielding was so vile,
+ As if by witch or goblin cursed,
+ That he was called by Arthur Style,
+ King Butterlegs the Worst!
+
+ At tea-time, supper, breakfast, lunch,
+ For many disappointed days,
+ We reasoned with him in a bunch,
+ Imploring him to mend his ways.
+ He listened like a saint, with lips
+ As if in desperation pursed;
+ Then gave three fourers in the Slips--
+ King Butterlegs the Worst!
+
+ 'Twas after this the Captain tried,
+ In something warmer than a pet,
+ To comfort his lamenting Side
+ By pelting Curtice in a net.
+ Aware of his tremendous power,
+ The Captain used it well at first,
+ And peppered only half-an-hour
+ King Butterlegs the Worst!
+
+ But half-an-hour at such a range--
+ From such a Captain!--was enough
+ To work so prompt and blest a change
+ That Curtice ceased to be a muff.
+ When from his bed at last he came,
+ Where fifty bruises had been nursed,
+ He was no more a public shame,
+ Nor Butterlegs the Worst!
+
+
+
+
+THE CATCH OF THE SEASON.
+
+
+ He was a person most unkempt,
+ And answered to the name of Cust.
+ He had a frenzied mass of hair,
+ A little redder than red rust,
+ And trousers so exceeding short
+ It looked as if by mounting high
+ They meant unceasingly to try
+ To change to knickers on the sly.
+
+ He was a person whom a Bat
+ Could view without the least distrust.
+ He caught me at the fifth attempt--
+ Imagine my profound disgust!
+ For if the ball had gone to hand
+ I had not felt the least unrest;
+ But, as it happened (Fate knows best!)
+ It struck him smartly on the chest.
+
+ I cannot tell you how he squirmed
+ And capered on the greensward there,
+ Until at last he took the ball
+ (Or so it seemed) from out his hair,
+ And meekly rubbed the coming bruise.
+ Thus was I humbled in the dust
+ Because of Albert Edward Cust.
+ Imagine my profound disgust!
+
+
+
+
+ Here's to the freckles and fielding and fun,
+ Here's to the joy that we ponder;
+ Here's to the Game that will glow in the sun
+ When the babes of our babies are--Yonder!
+
+
+
+
+ * * * * *
+
+~Rivers' Popular Novels~
+
+Crown 8vo., 6_s_.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+~The House of Merrilees~. ARCHIBALD MARSHALL. _[Now Ready_.
+
+~The Unequal Yoke~. Mrs. H.H. PENROSE. _[Now Ready_.
+
+~The Discipline of Christine~. Mrs. BARRE GOLDIE. _[Now Ready_.
+
+~Peter Binney, Undergraduate~. ARCHIBALD MARSHALL. _[Now Ready_.
+
+~Peace on Earth~. REGINALD TURNER. _[Now Ready_.
+
+~The Countermine~. ARTHUR WENLOCK. _[Now Ready_.
+
+~The Friendships of Veronica~. THOMAS COBB. [May 17.
+
+~Hugh Revel, A Public School Story~. LIONEL PORTMAN. [July 25.]
+
+
+~Notes on Books.~
+
+In issuing a list of new and forthcoming publications, Mr. Alston
+Rivers cannot but express his gratification at the spirit of fair play
+which has enabled him to realise such a striking series of successes.
+The primary business of a publisher is to discriminate, both as to
+intrinsic literary merit, and with regard to what will hit the public
+taste, a classical illustration of the difficulty in gauging the
+latter being the rejection of "John Inglesant" by the late James Payn,
+then "reader" for an eminent firm. While fully recognising the
+remarkable gifts of the author Mr. Payn's hesitancy as to the book's
+attractions got the better of his judgment; and with "_The House of
+Merrilees_" it is now an open secret that very much the same point of
+view was taken in more than one instance. Mr. Marshall's "_Peter
+Binney, Undergraduate_," had been and is still decidedly popular, but
+his new book was more ambitious, possessing such a plot as to require
+peculiarly delicate handling. Had it been handled in a way that
+combined a really high literary standard with more stirring qualities?
+The question requires no answer now, for the triumph which the
+publisher at once foretold on reading the manuscript has been more
+than attained, and "_The House of Merrilees_" is indisputably the
+novel of the season. It has at the same time demonstrated to the
+publishing trade that a sensational story does not labour under any
+disadvantage by the abduction of literary style.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+In a wholly different vein are "_The Discipline of Christine_" and
+"_The Unequal Yoke_," by Mrs. Barre Goldie and Mrs. H.H. Penrose
+respectively. In the former the ways and moods of childhood are
+depicted in original and inimitable fashion, which makes it safe to
+predict that the author will go far beyond her first effort as a
+novelist. In "_The Unequal Yoke_" Mrs. Penrose has taken for her theme
+the love story of a clergyman whose benefice is an Irish coast town,
+and in whose flock prominence is attained by narrow zeal rather than
+by amiability. He is really a good man, and is lucky enough, or the
+reverse, to win the hand of a delightful young lady whose charms,
+however, do not command the unanimous approval of the parishioners.
+The possession of high musical attainments makes her temperament all
+the more interesting, and accounts for the presence in so remote a
+district of her German friend whose acute sense of the ridiculous
+leads to such untoward results. It is hard to say whether the author's
+talents are best evinced by her true pathos or by the delicate touches
+of humour which pervade the book. Another commendable feature of the
+novel is an alert skill in construction which stamps it as a
+thoroughly artistic production.
+
+
+~_Ready May 2_.~
+
+~The Soul of London.~ FORD MADOX HUEFFER. Author of "The Life of
+Madox Brown," "The Face of the Night," &c. Imperial 16mo, 5_s._ nett.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+~_Ready May 9_.~
+
+~More Cricket Songs.~ NORMAN GALE. Imperial 16mo, 2_s._ nett.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+~_New Edition. Now Ready_.~
+
+~Spring Blossoms and Summer Fruit.~ JOHN BYLES. Cloth, Crown 8vo,
+1_s._ 6_d._ nett.
+
+These "Sunday Morning Talks to Children" are full of charm and
+suggestive thought.
+
+"We can hardly praise too highly the beauty and exquisite simplicity
+of these talks."--_Literary World_.
+
+London: ALSTON RIVERS, 13, Arundel Street.
+
+
+Mr. Reginald Turner has already achieved such distinction as an author
+of superior fiction (witness the success of his "_Comedy of Progress_"
+and "_Cynthia's Damages_,") that a cordial reception was assured for
+his latest book "_Peace on Earth_." It is a pathetic story that he has
+to tell; of the sorrows of the outcast amid poverty, and the rage
+against law and government provoked thereby; of the less obvious, but
+equally poignant, griefs which smoulder beneath the surface of
+"comfortable circumstances." The plot is, in short, one that in the
+hands of any other than a thorough man of the world, would fail
+hopelessly, which makes Mr. Turner's complete and undoubted success
+all the more meritorious.
+
+"_The Countermine_" is the work of Mr. Arthur Wenlock, whose "_As Down
+of Thistle_" showed considerable promise, though perhaps his subtle
+vein of sardonic philosophy escaped due recognition. As its name
+denotes, the interest in the new novel is largely military; in every
+line the soldier, with his nice sense of honour, his virility, and his
+direct methods, stands revealed. "_The Countermine_" is certainly a
+most thrilling tale, and should raise the author to the front rank of
+writers on "Service" topics. Of Mr. Thomas Cobb, whose reputation is
+already firmly established, it is only necessary to say that in "_The
+Friendships of Veronica_" his fertile and resourceful pen is at its
+best if, indeed, his literary reputation has not been substantially
+advanced.
+
+
+~The Alston Rivers' Shilling Library~.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+~Creatures that once were Men~. MAXIM GORKY. With Introductory by
+G.K. CHESTERTON.
+
+~Lovers in London~. A.A. MILNE.
+
+"'A Coming Humorist.' ... In Mr. Milne it may not be extravagant to
+descry a writer with a future before him."--_Evening Standard and St.
+James's Gazette_.
+
+~Change for a Halfpenny~. C.L.G. and E.V.L.
+
+The hustling methods of modernity possess undoubted possibilities for
+humorous treatment, and no one has appreciated the fact more keenly
+than the authors of "Wisdom While you Wait." In this their latest work
+the prospectus of the Napolio Syndicate forms a bowstring whence fly
+shafts of satire that hit the mark every time.
+
+~The Loot of Cities~. ARNOLD BENNETT.
+
+~Publican and Serf~.
+
+A striking study of nomadic life among the peasant classes, translated
+from the Russian by J.K.M. SHIRAZI.
+
+
+It is one thing to be a famous writer; it is another to be widely
+read. Maxim Gorky is at present included in both categories, though as
+regards the second condition he had scarcely qualified prior to the
+publication of "_Creatures that once were Men_." It was a bold
+venture, for all the former successes in shilling form were either
+sensationally melodramatic or frankly farcical. Encouraged by the huge
+demand for Maxim Gorky's book, Mr. Alston Rivers is publishing in the
+same form (1/- nett, paper, and 1/6 cloth) "_Publican and Serf_," by
+Skitaletz, a Russian Author, who, while by no means behind Gorky in
+point of realism, possesses in the opinion of some critics a still
+greater measure of literary ability. Other items of Mr. Alston Rivers'
+Shilling Library, which has prospered as only the result of the most
+careful selection could prosper, are "_Lovers in London_," by A.A.
+Milne, brightest and most promising of the younger humorists, and
+"_The Loot of Cities_," by Mr. Arnold Bennett, the mere name of whom
+is a sufficient guarantee of entertainment. As for general literature,
+"_The Soul of London_," by Ford Madox Hueffer, may be justly described
+as worthy of a place in every library. The author in his introduction,
+remarks that he has tried to make the book anything rather than
+encyclopaedic, topographical, or archaeological, and beyond that
+somewhat negative phrase it is difficult to give any more complete
+designation to the work. For the treatment of the subject is
+altogether original, this attraction being intensified by the
+particularly graceful style in which a remarkable gift of observation
+finds expression.
+
+
+~The Novel of the Season~
+
+ * * * * *
+
+~THE HOUSE OF MERRILEES~.
+6/-
+By ARCHIBALD MARSHALL,
+_Author of "Peter Binney, Undergraduate_"
+
+ * * * * *
+
+"The ~best mystery novel~ since Sir A. Conan Doyle's 'Sign of
+Four.'"--_Daily Graphic_.
+
+"Can recommend cordially and with confidence to those who like a ~really
+good story~, well constructed and excellently told."--_Punch_.
+
+"A really satisfactory tale of mystery is always ~sure of its
+welcome~, and 'The House of Merrilees' ought to secure wide
+popularity."--_Daily Mail_.
+
+"~Great ingenuity~ is shown in the way in which clue is crossed by
+counter-clue."--_The Daily Telegraph_.
+
+"It is a pleasure to praise a book of this kind, and rare to find one
+in which ~a narrative of absorbing interest~ is combined with so
+many literary graces."--_The Bookman_.
+
+"A very ~engrossing story~."--_Graphic_.
+
+"The ~best story~ of its kind we have read for years."--_Guardian_.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of More Cricket Songs, by Norman Gale
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MORE CRICKET SONGS ***
+
+***** This file should be named 13167.txt or 13167.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
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+
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+
+
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