.... The railroad from this city north-west will be commenced as soon
as the citizens get tired of killing the Chinamen brought up to do the
work, which will probably be within three or four weeks. The carcases
are accumulating about town and begin to become unpleasant.—_Gravel
Hill “Thunderbolt.”_
.... The man who was shot last week at the Gulch will be buried next
Thursday. He is not yet dead, but his physician wishes to visit a
mother-in-law at Lard Springs, and is therefore very anxious to get the
case off his hands. The undertaker describes the patient as “the
longest cuss in that section.”—_Santa Peggie “Times.”_
.... There is some dispute about land titles at Little Bilk Bar. About
half a dozen cases were temporarily decided on Wednesday, but it is
supposed the widows will renew the litigation. The only proper way to
prevent these vexatious lawsuits is to hang the Judge of the County
Court.—_Cow-County “Outcropper.”_
POESY
Ye Idyll of Ye Hippopopotamus
With a Methodist hymn in his musical throat,
The Sun was emitting his ultimate note;
His quivering larynx enwrinkled the sea
Like an Ichthyosaurian blowing his tea;
When sweetly and pensively rattled and rang
This plaint which an Hippopopotamus sang:
“O, Camomile, Calabash, Cartilage-pie,
Spread for my spirit a peppermint fry;
Crown me with doughnuts, and drape me with cheese,
Settle my soul with a codliver sneeze.
Lo, how I stand on my head and repine—
Lollipop Lumpkin can never be mine!”
Down sank the Sun with a kick and a plunge,
Up from the wave rose the head of a Sponge;
Ropes in his ringlets, eggs in his eyes,
Tip-tilted nose in a way to surprise.
These the conundrums he flung to the breeze,
The answers that Echo returned to him these:
“Cobblestone, Cobblestone, why do you sigh—
Why do you turn on the tears?”
“My mother is crazy on strawberry jam,
And my father has petrified ears.”
“Liverwort, Liverwort, why do you droop—
Why do you snuffle and scowl?”
“My brother has cockle-burs into his eyes,
And my sister has married an owl.”
“Simia, Simia, why do you laugh—
Why do you cackle and quake?”
“My son has a pollywog stuck in his throat,
And my daughter has bitten a snake.”
Slow sank the head of the Sponge out of sight,
Soaken with sea-water—then it was night.
The Moon had now risen for dinner to dress,
When sweetly the Pachyderm sang from his nest;
He sang through a pestle of silvery shape,
Encrusted with custard—empurpled with crape;
And this was the burden he bore on his lips,
And blew to the listening Sturgeon that sips
From the fountain of opium under the lobes
Of the mountain whose summit in buffalo robes
The winter envelops, as Venus adorns
An elephant’s trunk with a chaplet of thorns:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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