X. NEWS-BOY

Take any station, pavement, circus, corner,

Where men their styles of print may call or choose,

And there — ten times more on it than JACK HORNER —

There shall you find him swathed in sheets of news.

Nothing can stay the placing of his wares —

Not bus, nor cab, nor dray! The very Slop,

That imp of power, is powerless! Ever he dares,

And, daring, lands his public neck and crop.

Even the many-tortured London ear,

The much-enduring, loathes his Speeshul yell,

His shriek of Winnur! But his dart and leer

And poise are irresistible. PALL MALL

Joys in him, and MILE END; for his vocation

Is to purvey the stuff of conversation.