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C J Dennis - The Old Brass Rail
Work rating: Low

Foot on the rail in the olden days,
   For all the world to see,
A jolly old lot, they took their pot
   All unashamed and free,
Passing their jest from lip to lip,
   Puffing away the foam,
Till a small voice cried from the path outside:
   "Ma says, you`re to come on home."
 
Foot on the rail they faced the world
   And cared not who should know;
And many they went, thro` a life mis-spent
   -- As man a man must go --
Straight to the dogs from the old brass rail,
   Lost and ruined and wrecked:
But he went to his fate with the game played straight:
   And he went with his head erect.
 
Then came the camel, with his lip adroop,
   Calling an end to fun.
Tho` his cause was strong, his way was wrong,
   And his task was most ill done.
Turning a man to a furtive sneak,
   Stealing by ways obscure,
Bad if you will was the old, old ill;
   But worse by far was the cure.
 
Oh, man will sin as his fathers sinned
   Since ever this world was made;
But, if he must sin, then let him sin
   In the open, unafraid;
Foot on the old brass rail again
   For all the world to see.
A jolly old lot who takes his tot
   All unashamed and free.
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