ACROSTIC: "ARE YOU DEAF, FATHER WILLIAM?"

"ARE you deaf, Father William!" the young man said,

"Did you hear what I told you just now?

"Excuse me for shouting! Don’t waggle your head

"Like a blundering, sleepy old cow!

"A little maid dwelling in Wallington Town,

"Is my friend, so I beg to remark:

"Do you think she’d be pleased if a book were sent down

"Entitled ’The Hunt of the Snark?’"

"Pack it up in brown paper!" the old man cried,

"And seal it with olive-and-dove.

"I command you to do it!" he added with pride,

"Nor forget, my good fellow, to send her beside

"Easter Greetings, and give her my love."

1876.