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28
PUBLIC WASTE
It would be better for all men if he were laid on the shelf:
Much would accrue to his bank-book and he consented to wait
Until the Little Tin Gods built him a berth for himself.
"Special, well paid, and exempt from the Law of the Fifty and Five,
Even to Ninety and Nine"—these were the terms of the pact:
Thus did the Little Tin Gods (long may their Highnesses thrive!)
Silence his mouth with rupees, keeping their Circle intact;
Appointing a Colonel from Chatham who managed the Bhamo State Line,
(The which was one mile and one furlong—a guaranteed twenty-inch gauge)
So Exeter Battleby Tring consented his claims to resign,
And died, on four thousand a month, in the ninetieth year of his age!
