The Home Book of Verse — Volume 4

PART IV

FAMILIAR VERSE, AND POEMS HUMOROUS AND SATIRIC

BALLADE OF THE PRIMITIVE JEST

"What did the dark-haired Iberian laugh at before the tall blonde Aryan drove him into the corners of Europe?"--Brander Matthews

I am an ancient Jest! Palaeolithic man In his arboreal nest The sparks of fun would fan; My outline did he plan, And laughed like one possessed...