The Instructor

(CORPORALS)


  At times when under cover I ’ave said,
  To keep my spirits up an’ raise a laugh,
  ’Earin’ ’im pass so busy over-’ead--
  Old Nickel Neck, ’oo isn’t on the Staff--
  ‘_There’s one above is greater than us all_.’

  Before ’im I ’ave seen my Colonel fall,
  An’ watched ’im write my Captain’s epitaph,
  So that a long way off it could be read--
  He _’as_ the knack o’ makin’ men feel small--
  Old Whistle Tip, ’oo isn’t on the Staff.

  There is no sense in fleein’ (I ’ave fled),
  Better go on an’ do the belly-crawl,
  An’ ’ope ’e’ll ’it some other man instead
  Of you ’e seems to ’unt so speshual--
  Fitzy van Spitz, ’oo isn’t on the Staff.

  An’ thus in mem’ry’s gratis biograph,
  Now that the show is over, I recall
  The peevish voice an’ ’oary mushroom ’ead
  Of ’im we owned was greater than us all,
  ’Oo give instruction to the quick an’ the dead--
  The Shudderin’ Beggar not upon the Staff.