Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1876-02-04
A LITERARY NIGHTMARE.
WILL the reader please to cast his eye
over the following verses, and see if he
can discover anything harmful in. them?

WILL the reader please to cast his eye
over the following verses, and see if he
can discover anything harmful in. them
Conductor, when yoh receive fare,
Punch in the preseuce of the passenjare!
blue trip slip foran eight-cent fare,
buff trip slip for six-cent fare, i
pink trip slip for three-cent fare, s
Punch in the presence of the passenjaref
CHORUS.
Punch, brothers. pur CHI with cared
Punch in the presence OF the pasSenjafe!
came across these jingling rhymes in
newspaper, a little while ago, and read
them couple of times. They took in
slant and entire possession Of me. All
through breakfast they went waltzing
through my brain land when, at last,
rolled up my napkin, | could not tell
whether [ had eaten anything or not.
had carefully laid out my days work
the day before-a thrilling tragedy in the
novel which am writing. | went to my
den to begin my deed of blood. ] took
up my pen, but all j could get it to say
was: Punch in the presence of, the pas
senjare." fought hard for an hour, but
it was useless. My head kept humming,
GA blue trip slip for an eight-cent fare; a
buff trip slip for a six-cent fare" and SO
on and so on, without peace or respite.
The days work was ruined-I could see
that plainly enough. gave up and
drifted down town, and presently discov-
cred that my feet were keeping time to
that relentless jingle. When l could
stand it no longer, | altered my step. But
it did no good; those rhymes accommo-
dated themselves to the new stepand went
on farrassing me just as before. Ire
turned home and suffered all the after
noon; suffered all through an unconscious
and unrefreshing dinner; suffered and
crie1, and jinglcd all through the even
ing; went to bed and rolled, tossed and
iingled right along the same as ever; got
up at midnight frantic, and tried to read
but there was nothing visible on the
whirling page except punch! punch in
the presence of the passen are. !" BY sun
rise / was out of my mind, and every
body marveled and was distressed at the
idiotic burden of my rawlings" Punch!
oh, punch! punch in the presence of the
passenjare." f3tf0 lta It#9
Two days later on Saturday morning ]
arose, lettering wreck, and went forth
to fulfill an engagement with valued
friend, the Rev. Mr. -, to walk to the
Talcott Tower, ten miles distant. He
stared at me, but asked no questions
We started. Mr. 49, talked, talked,
talked-as is his wont. | said nothing
! heard nothing. At the end of a mile
Mr.. -- said:
"Mark, are you sick? / never saw a
man look SO haggard and worn and alb
sent-minded. Say something, dop'
Drearily, without enthusiasm, / said +:
" Punch, brothers, punch with care!
Punch in the presence of the passenjare"
My friend eyed me blankly, looked per-
picked, then said
"I do not think l get your drift, Mark.
There does not seem to be any relevancy
in what you have said, certainly nothing
sad and yet-maybe it was the way you
said the words-I never heard anything
that sounded so pathetic. What Isl
But heard no more. | was already far
away with. my pitiless, heart-breaking
"blue trip slip for an eight-cent fare, buff
trip slip for six-cent fare, pink trip slip
for three-cent fare; punch in the pres
ence of the passenjare." 1 do not know
what occurred during the other nine
miles. However, all of sudden, Mr.
laid his hand on my shoulder and
shouted
sob, wake up! wake upl wake up!
Don't sleep all dayl Here we are at the
Tower, man! | have talked myself deaf
and dumb and blind, and never got re-
spouse. Just look at this magnificent
autumn landscapel Look at i'll look at it!
Feast your eyes ON it! You have travelled
you have seen boosted lands capes else
where. Come, now, deliver an honest
opinion. What do you say to this?"
/ sighed YEARLY and murmured:
"a buff trip slip for six-cent fare
punch in the presence of the passenjareli
Rev. Mr.. - stood there, very grave,
full of concern, apparently, and looked
long at me; then he said:
Mark, there is something about this
that I cannot understand. Those are
about the same words you said before
there does not seem to be anything IN
them, and yet they nearly break my heart
when you say them. Punch in the-how
is it they go?''
began at the beginning and repeated
all the lines. My friends face lighted
with interest. lie said: