Middletown transcript., 1876-06-03
A Literary Nightmare.

over the following verses. and see If ne
can discover anything harmful in them
Conductor, when you receive fare,
Punch in the presence of the passenjare!
A blue trip slip for an eight-cent fare,
A buff trip slip for six-cent fare,
A pink trip slip for three-cent fare,
Punch in the presence of the passenjare
CHORUS.
Punch, brothers punch with care
Punch in the presence of the passenjare u
came across these jingling rhymes
in newspaper. little while ago, and
read them a couple of times. They
took instant and entire possession of
me- All though breakfast they went
waltzing through my brain !; and when,
at last. I 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 l am writ
ing. I went to my den to begin my
deed of blood. took up my pen, but
all l could get it to say was. "Punch
10 the presence of the passenjare." l
fought hard for an hour, but it was
useless. My head kept humming, "a
blue trip slip for an eight-cent fare, a
buff trip slip for six-cent fare" aud
so on and SO on, without peace or re-
spite. The days work was ruined-I
could see that plainly enough. gave
up and drifted down town, and pres
emily discovered that my feet were
keeping time to that relentless jingle
When l could stand it no longer al
tered my step. But it did no good
those rhymes accommodated themselves
to the new step and went on to harass
ME just as before. | returned home,
and suffered all the afternoon suffered
all through an unconscious and unre-
freshing dinner suffered, and cried,
and jingled all through the evening;
went to bed and rolled and tossed and
jingled right along, the same as ever;
got up at midnight frantic. and tried to
read; but there was nothing visible
upon the whirling page except Punch !
punch in the presence ofthe passenjare >
By sunrise l was out of my mind, and
everybody marveled and was distressed
at the idiotic burden of my ravings,-
'Punch oh, punch! punch in the
presence of the passenjare y
Two days later, on Saturday MORN
ing, | arose, tottering 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. -
talked, talked, talked-as is his won't
I said nothing: l heard nothing At
the end of mile, Mr. said, =
"Mark, are you sick ? l never saw
man look so haggard and worn and
absent-minded Say something; do!'
Drearily, without enthusiasm, said:
Punch, brothers, punch with care
Punch in the presence of the passen-
jarep'
My friend eyed me blankly, looked
perplexed, then said,-
II do not think l get your drift.
Mark. There does not seem to be any
relevancy in what you have said, GER
tainly nothing sad and yet--maybe it
was the way you said the words-I
never heard anything that sounded so
pathetic. What is''-
But | heard no more | was already
far away with my pitiless, heart-break-
ing "blue trip slip for an eight-cent
fare, buff trip slip for a six-cent fare,
pink trip slip for three-ceut fare;
punch in the presence of the passen-
jare" l do not know what occurred
during the other nine miles. However
all of a sudden Mr.-laid bis hand
on my shoulder and shouted.-
"Oh, wake up! wake up! Don't
sleep all day! Hero We are at the
Tower, man! l have talked myself
deaf and dumb and blind. and never
got response. Just look at this mag
nifcent autumn landscape! Look at
it! look at it! Feast your eyes on it
You have travelled; you have seen boa
sted landscapes elsewhere. Come now,
deliver an honest opinion. What do
you say to this ?"
| sighed wearily, and murmured,-
IA buff trip slip for six-cent fare,
a pink trip slip for three-cent fare.
punch in the presence of the passen-
jare "
Rev. stoood there, very
grave, full of concern, apparently, and
looked long at me then he said
Mark, then 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?"
I began at the beginning and repeat
ed all the lines. My friends face
lightened with interest. He said,-
why, what captivating jingle 1t
i'll II ;S almost mnsic II flows a1ono |