That old familiar piece, Whose glory and renown Would straightway sink and cease, If thou shouldst chip it down! Childers, forbear this stroke, ’Gainst which we all protest; Oh, say that when you spoke, You only spoke in jest. Oft, when a careless lad, The golden chink I heard, For I an uncle had Who tipped me “like a bird.” On sweetstuff, apt to smear One’s clothes, the coin was spent; I ask thee with a tear, Oh, drop thy ten per cent. My heartstrings round thee cling Close as thy rim, old friend―― Remain a handy thing To borrow or to lend. Old piece, still circulate, And, Childers, of thy grace, Think well and hesitate, Ere thou our coin debase. _Funny Folks._ May 10, 1884. ――――:o:―――― THE IVY GREEN. Oh! a dainty plant is the Ivy green, That creepeth o’er ruins old! Of right choice food are his meals, I ween, In his cell so lone and cold. The walls must be crumbled, the stones decayed, To pleasure his dainty whim; And the mouldering dust that years have made, Is a merry meal for him. Creeping where no life is seen, A rare old plant is the Ivy green. Fast he stealeth on, though he wears no wings, And a staunch old heart has he. How closely he twineth, how tight he clings, To his friend the huge Oak Tree! And slyly he traileth along the ground, And his leaves he gently waves, And he joyously hugs and crawleth round The rich mould of dead men’s graves. Creeping where grim death has been, A rare old plant is the Ivy green. Whole ages have fled, and their works decayed, And nations have scattered been; But the stout old Ivy shall never fade, From its hale and hearty green. The brave old plant in its lonely days, Shall fatten upon the past: For the stateliest building man can raise, Is the Ivy’s food at last. Creeping on, where time has been, A rare old plant is the Ivy green. CHARLES DICKENS. This song first appeared in Chapter VI. of _The Pickwick Papers_, which were originally published in monthly parts, commencing in April, 1836. Ten years later Dickens started _The Daily News_, the first number of which was published in London on January 21, 1846. For many years the paper had but a struggling existence. Although Dickens only edited it for a few months, it was well known that he was interested in its success, so that the author of the following poem, whilst sneering at _The Daily News_, had a motive in choosing Dickens’s poem as the model for his parody. THE DAILY NEWS.