The Spike or Victoria College Review, October 1903
And a Good Judge Too
And a Good Judge Too.
"Enter the Lord Chief Justice"
—2 Henry IV.
1.
I was, good friends, when called to the bar,
A schoolmaster of Otago;
But I was as many schoolmasters are
With children quite a virago;
And for discipline strict no one ever knew
A soldier quite so drastic
I'd a couple of canes, and a strap or two
And a bearing quite majestic
2.
In my country school I'd danced the dance
Of a semi-despondent fury;
For I thought I would never hit on a chance
Of addressing a British jury;
But I joined the "Barton, Mondy" lot,
And Doctor Findlay, d'ye mind him?
He'd pass for a first-class patriot,
On the stage with the light behind him.
3.
And then I became a great Barrister,
And briefs came trooping daily;
And then I became an M.H.R.,
And I served my country gaily;
And when they made me a justice high,
To be rid of my orations,
I used my eloquence to descry
Young students to their relations.
4.
For this I never could understand
Why students should think so "rorty,"
Songs with bell and drum for band,
Which seem to me so naughty;
For I quite forget my days of youth.
When my blood ran a little faster,
And I only remember, to tell the truth,
The days when I was school master.