The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1907-09-11
POETS IN RACE
FOR THE TIMES
LIMERICK PRIZE
Sunday Editor Deluged
With Clever Substitutes
for Missing Line in
$40 Contest,
-imericks! Limericks, Limericks.

Limericks! Limericks! Limericks!
Washington is going wild over theml
Since the announcement In The Times
last Sunday OF the offer of SO for the
person who would supply the most
clever substitute for q missing line IN
a limerick published on that day. the
sunday editor has been deluged with
the limerick and stin they come.
50 far as can be learned, no one IS
prepared 10 state the exact authority
for the origin Of the limerick. 1t is
generally conceded TO be a hve-line
verse Of nonsense. and Carolyn Wells.
whose verses are known 10 the reading
public, states that there is an authority
Tor the existence OF the limerick as Ia
back as 1854
First Limerick on Record.
She says that the limerick fourished
in the time OF William ". at which
time the following verse was known:
There was q young man Of st. kits,
Who was very much troubled with htss
The eclipse Of the moon
Threw him into swcou,
When he tumbled and broke into bits 4"
Edward Lear. however, IS generally
accredited with the origin of the limerick
but denies this, adding that his verses,
which became We'll known along about
1916, were the result OF an idea suggest
ed 10 him by a friend as a good model
for nonsense verse. Lear wrote more
than PA limericks.
Origin of the Name,
No one seems either to know Just Why
the verses are called limericks. but
many attribute this to tie fact that
the town of Limerick figured in
many of the earlier verses. In describ
ing the fascination of this form OF verse
q Western writer once said that 1t
possesses a 1ingiinR rhythm which haunts
"a lnnur gfTp-s q 90 urrrafi
SOnOTOusnesS OF an epic or the lifting
melody Of a lyric has departed" The
word is not in the Standard or Century
Dictionaries. but Murray gives it as fol-
Limerick Csaid to be from a custom Of
cOnvival parties according to which
each members sang an eXtempOTized
nonsense verse" which was followed by
a chorus containing the words: 'Will you
come up to IimeriCk?) A form of non
sense verse" An illustration is fur
nished in line from Klpling's ''Stalky," "
which reads:
Make up a good catchy limerick and
let the fags sing 1t"
Many Styles in Limerick.
There have been almost countless linn
ericks written since the days Of Ed
ward Lear and many Of them find their
way into print not only through the
newspapers, but through special pub
NUEDl
find their clever points in the common
custom Of concluding the first. second.
and fifth lines with words pronounced
alike but spelled differently. The fol-
lowing illustrates this:
Minnehaha was lCneading the dough
UneSpecLaut OF sorrow OF woe.
The pappOose began bawling,
And the bread pan in fawling,
Crushed the Indian corn on her tough
Another Of the same kind, which
brings TO use an English rame pro-
nounced "Chumley," but spelled widely
different from its sound is given:
There was a young chap named Cholmonde-
ley.
Who always at dinner sat dolmondeiey,
His fair partner said.
AS he crumbled his bread
Dear me. you behave very rhoImondeley. -
Through the lines Of one OF these
Hmericks the confusing spelling of a
proper name has been made manifest in
the plant of a boy and which reads:
A boy at Sault Ste. Marie
Said ITO spell, I win not agree
TIL they learn 20 spell 500
Without any 'u,"
Or an "a" or an i, or a ''t'
Many Of the verses recount nishaps.
Continued on Second Page.l