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Article HOW ALFRED TIPTOP WON THE PRIZE POEM ← Page 8 of 12 →
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How Alfred Tiptop Won The Prize Poem
the night , and scarce the pale moon ' s light , " & c , and abandoned that , because the " Art of Pluck" had been sarcastic on the subject of the sun , moon , and stars , as applied to university prize poems . How he then fell into an invocation of some muse or other , and then recollected that invocations Avere used up from the time of Homer downwardsAvould be a still more
, tedious story . Suffice it to say , that the dread of being charged with personality prevents our saying what he really eventually did Avrite , by Avhat examiners it Avas approved , and in Avhat manner he delivered it in the theatre . But Ave are anticipating . What Avas it that made Leila ' s little heart throb as she read a
letter one evening , bearing an imperfect FORD postmark on it ? How Avas it she thrust it into papa ' s hand , and ran off to her OAvn room , and there shed a few delicious tears , Avhich Avere too sacred even for her father's presence ? And why looked she so much lovelier , so much more joyous , Avhen she came back again ?
It was not mere joy that Alfred had won the prize , but he had Avon it for her sake ; her inspiration ( and believe us , the muses are bygones , except in allegorical paintings ) had nerved his pen ; her few Avords of pretty banter had made him resolve to please her . Pet little heroine ! she almost felt ashamed to have teased
so gallant a hero into the trial . * * * * -x- # Commemoration ! And so Alma Mater is really going to be at rest at last ! At rest ! the idea of the thing . When every ten minutes are sending omnibuses thundering down the High or down St . Oldfish's , laden so high with luggage , that they seem
inclined to shunt it A'iolently into first-floor Avindows , to the utter derangement of respectable householders , or the personal damage of the heads , grotesque , pretty , or ordinary , which decorate the AvindoAvs as thick as oyster-shells in a poor neighbourhood . Going to rest ! Avhen Avaiters are raving mad , cooks franticand hotel-keepers in a fit of delirium at the impossibility
, of letting tbe same set of rooms to a dozen families at once . It is a state of things . Unheard of stocks of salmon are being sawn into cutlets ; the poultry market ( eA'en in the face of the Cochin-China mania ) bids fair to prove bankrupt ; not a lamb can be left to bleat and look picturesque in the adjacent fields ; and it is our private opinion that Oxford Avill be in a state of
famine for the next three weeks . At rest ! when streams of undergraduates are hurrying along the streets , carrying in one vast human " lasher" an occasional bright-red , pink-sleeved , or gold-decked gown , Avho is presently to make a grand feature , " a tremendous hit" in the pageant of commemoration : —at
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
How Alfred Tiptop Won The Prize Poem
the night , and scarce the pale moon ' s light , " & c , and abandoned that , because the " Art of Pluck" had been sarcastic on the subject of the sun , moon , and stars , as applied to university prize poems . How he then fell into an invocation of some muse or other , and then recollected that invocations Avere used up from the time of Homer downwardsAvould be a still more
, tedious story . Suffice it to say , that the dread of being charged with personality prevents our saying what he really eventually did Avrite , by Avhat examiners it Avas approved , and in Avhat manner he delivered it in the theatre . But Ave are anticipating . What Avas it that made Leila ' s little heart throb as she read a
letter one evening , bearing an imperfect FORD postmark on it ? How Avas it she thrust it into papa ' s hand , and ran off to her OAvn room , and there shed a few delicious tears , Avhich Avere too sacred even for her father's presence ? And why looked she so much lovelier , so much more joyous , Avhen she came back again ?
It was not mere joy that Alfred had won the prize , but he had Avon it for her sake ; her inspiration ( and believe us , the muses are bygones , except in allegorical paintings ) had nerved his pen ; her few Avords of pretty banter had made him resolve to please her . Pet little heroine ! she almost felt ashamed to have teased
so gallant a hero into the trial . * * * * -x- # Commemoration ! And so Alma Mater is really going to be at rest at last ! At rest ! the idea of the thing . When every ten minutes are sending omnibuses thundering down the High or down St . Oldfish's , laden so high with luggage , that they seem
inclined to shunt it A'iolently into first-floor Avindows , to the utter derangement of respectable householders , or the personal damage of the heads , grotesque , pretty , or ordinary , which decorate the AvindoAvs as thick as oyster-shells in a poor neighbourhood . Going to rest ! Avhen Avaiters are raving mad , cooks franticand hotel-keepers in a fit of delirium at the impossibility
, of letting tbe same set of rooms to a dozen families at once . It is a state of things . Unheard of stocks of salmon are being sawn into cutlets ; the poultry market ( eA'en in the face of the Cochin-China mania ) bids fair to prove bankrupt ; not a lamb can be left to bleat and look picturesque in the adjacent fields ; and it is our private opinion that Oxford Avill be in a state of
famine for the next three weeks . At rest ! when streams of undergraduates are hurrying along the streets , carrying in one vast human " lasher" an occasional bright-red , pink-sleeved , or gold-decked gown , Avho is presently to make a grand feature , " a tremendous hit" in the pageant of commemoration : —at