Think not, O thou from College late deported, Pride goeth down Among thy seniors—yea, though thou hast sported The B.A.'s gown, And on thy Card the magic letters stand Which stamp thee of the Rulers of the Land. St. Vincent Clare's Papa had lived before him,— Which always helps,- So early in official life They bore him From fellow-whelps, Destined to die or sicken in the slough Of Lower India, to the Mountain's brow. No fairyland is Capua—still,'tis better Than other lands. St. Vincent licked the stamp and signed the letter, And bound the bands Of that foul, frail red tape which strangles ever The honest energetic fool's endeavour. So prospered greatly and forgat his father- Thereafter, big With his own merits, grew to be a rather Conceited prig. Facile the downward path, O Clare! The Gods Saw and prepared for him their briniest rods. 'He is a c-d', They murmured vexed and low; Yet said in love: `No matter; give the boy another show; He may improve' ... `He is impossible.' The fiat went Forth not so quickly as St. Clare's descent. Cast out and doubly damned by that black epithet, He sought the Plains; And now behind his door whoe'er so tappeth it, Another reigns: While Vincent, as the punkah flickers o'er him, Remembers—that his father lived before him.
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