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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 5, Issue 8 (February 1, 1931)

Hope and Soap

Hope and Soap.

Speaking of Hope, January is the advance agent for a brand new line of this luxury. Hope, like soap, is slippery when it gets damp, and is liable to slither out of reach; but every new year is a brand new cake of unsampled fragrance with the promise of its qualities advertised on its wrapper.

No human here below could cope
With this and that, bereft of hope.
He'd merely wither day by day,
Until he curled and blew away.
The person who would stifle care,
Must overhaul his Hope each year,
And if it needs a patch or two,
Or wants a dab of liquid glue,
Such service makes it nearly new.
The octopus and antelope,
Are each imbued with heaps of hope.
The octoroon is also rich
In Hope, although as black as pitch,
And even little things like gnats,
All harbour Hope beneath their hats.
The motto in this homily,
Is hitch your hope and wait and see.

Hope is guaranteed to remove the wrinkles off an oyster's cloister, bring back the merry laughter to a bored borer, and renew the bloom of a cold stew. If the future were an open book man would grow leaves instead of turning them.