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Punch's Almanack for 1915.



Bernhardi was a Teuton scribe,
One of the Blood-and-Thunder tribe;
I cannot tell you all he said on
The coming scrap at Armageddon;

But things have gone against his creed
And so he's very wild indeed;
And, if his brain goes dottier still
He'll have to go to Looneyville.



BLOUDIE BILL.

An August Legend, after Ingoldsby.

O, why doth thine eye gleam so bright,
Bloudie Bill,

O, why doth thine eye gleam so bright ?
  The Fatherland's sons
  May have horses and guns,
They may fight all the day, and sit tight
All night,
But they'll never get round ^the right.

Thy laughter is pleasant to see,
Bloudie Bill,
Thy laughter comes pleasant and gay:
  "The contemptible French
  And his Army entrench,
But We haven't a moment to stay
To-day;
And We shoo the poor fellows away.

"Then Paris lies open to Us
Bloudie Bill,
In a week she comes under Our hand.
  Next London shall feel
  The full weight of our heel—
By October the 10th we shall land,
vAs planned,
And proceed up the Mall (with a band)."

O laugh not, I pray thee, so loud,
Bloudie Bill,
O laugh not, I pray thee, so clear;
  Art thou totally blind
  To the danger behind?
Look! the Cossacks are coming! They cheer,
"We're here."
They are thundering up in thy rear!

Thy answer comes ready and quick,
Bloudie Bill,
"In a week We have France on her knees;
  Then We pillage and burn,
  Do a right-about-turn,
And mop up the Tsar at Our ease,
And seize
Just as much of his land as We please."

O, thine eye is prophetic and keen,
Bloudie Bill,
There s a splendour that shines on thy brow;
  "'Tis done! We have won
  Such a place in the sun
As no one can take from Us now;
So bow
To Us, the All-Highest. Wow-wow!"

*****
O, why doth thine eye gleam so bright,
Bloudie Bill,
Doth the tear in thine eye make it bright?
  Von Kluck and his Huns
  Had the horses and guns;
They could fight all the day; they could fight
All night...
But they never got round on the right!
A. A. M.

End of Mother Goose-Step Rhymes.