The Buntling ball, a Græco-American play; . sOf these thy base descendants, them that loveGross pelf and pander to the parvenu !For such am I, even such, and better farThe laboring Scythias westward-pointed prowNor me nor mine had hither borne unscathedThrough the strait Narrows; but that either strandHad clashing met, and whelmed off Sandy HookThe great ships vigor in tumultuous waves !Thus were averted this unseemly Ball, 14 THE BUNTLING BALL. Its hollow and absurd extravaganceChecked by the grim economy of death ! Chorus of Knickerbocker Young Men. Old man, do not be nonsensical In your vie
The Buntling ball, a Græco-American play; . sOf these thy base descendants, them that loveGross pelf and pander to the parvenu !For such am I, even such, and better farThe laboring Scythias westward-pointed prowNor me nor mine had hither borne unscathedThrough the strait Narrows; but that either strandHad clashing met, and whelmed off Sandy HookThe great ships vigor in tumultuous waves !Thus were averted this unseemly Ball, 14 THE BUNTLING BALL. Its hollow and absurd extravaganceChecked by the grim economy of death ! Chorus of Knickerbocker Young Men. Old man, do not be nonsensical In your views about New York;You are needlessly forensical For a potentate in Pork !Why not recollect with gratitude That we throng your mansion wide,And express no moral platitude Upon Knickerbocker pride ?Since the days when dull old Trinity Was a temple far up town,And a girl was thought divinity If she owned but one silk gown;Since the days when each festivity They would all by twelve forsake,And the dominant proclivity Was for lemonade-and-cake;. 16 THE BUNTLING BALL. Since the days when aristocracy Of the gender known as male,Would esteem it vain plutocracy To exploit a swallow-tail;Since the days when customs manacle Was a bond of rigid force,—Since the days thus puritanical, We have altered things, of the years are cruel pillagers, As they lay old fashions low,And to live like simple villagers Is no longer comme il progenitors (peace be with them !) Were a very stupid lot,And so little we agree with them That we imitate them were certainly respectable, As with pride we now declare,But we find it more delectable If we draw the line just to fling aside all flattery, THE BUNT LING BALL. 17 And to speak as hits the mark,They were narrow as the Battery When compared with Central if now they had their say to us, They would turn us all, we fear,Into office-clerks, and pay to us Hardly anything a a crowrded public gallery To a sof
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Keywords: ., bookauthorfawcette, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookyear1884
