[Editor: This poem by “Surcingle” (Barcroft Boake) was published in The Bulletin (Sydney, NSW), 9 January 1892.]
A Strike Story.
(For The Bulletin.)
“Flash” Harry stood and scratched his ear,
They called him so, their reason
I’ll demonstrate and make as clear
As ’tis that Christmas comes each year,
When eggs are out of season.
In three weeks’ time he was to wed
A back-block belle named Mary,
With her the path of life to tread —
A pleasant prospect, yet it shed
No light on his quandary.
Imagine now, how you would like
Stern fate to torture you so,
The tailor-men went out on strike,
Got the accentuated spike,
And wouldn’t make his trousseau.
“I’d make a tailor’s head feel sore
If I could only cop one;
An outfit ready made, oh, lor!
The like I never heard before,
To have to get a slop one!
The only thing that I can do,
Though doing that with loathing,
Will be to send my measure to
That Sydney firm (we’ll call it Q)
Who make this ‘Austral’ clothing.”
He got a friend to run the show,
Who once had been a draper,
Who measured him from top to toe,
And round the body, high and low,
And put it down on paper.
He got a cheque for pounds and pence,
All duly signed and dated,
And had it crossed, to show his sense,
And then, for fresh developments
He sat him down and waited.
The long weeks vanished like a shot,
The fatal day drew nigher,
My hero’s speech grew strong and hot,
Because, you see, he hadn’t got.
His marrying attire.
’Twas not until the fatal morn
That he received the shipment,
A parcel (with its wrapper torn)
Of clothes, his figure to adorn,
His hymen’al equipment.
He quickly closed his chamber-door,
And donned them, with elation,
But Heavens! how my hero swore,
Fit to unhinge his lower jaw,
With grief and horror, when he saw,
That slop-shop perpetration.
When in the glass his image caught,
His words both sharp and terse were,
Not fit for use in open court,
Because the coat was far too short,
The trousers the reverse were.
And where they should have clung most tight
Their slackness was tremendous,
In fact, he was a woeful sight,
From falling into such a plight
May heaven now defend us.
Yet he took comfort, and said he,
“This grievous visitation
Though bad enough, might yet worse be,
Perchance its incongruity
Is all imagination.”
Stifling his fears by force of will,
The subject of this lyric
Sped to the church to seek his “Jill,’’
Who, with vituperation shrill
Opened flood-gates hysteric.
“Marry him in such awful clothes,
Just Heaven! what effront’ry!”
And while the tears bedecked her nose
She voiced the burden of her woes,
Across the western country.
And so a compromise was made,
They tuned the harp and psalter
(I mean the loud harmonium played)!
“Flash” Harry led the blushing maid
All smiling to the altar.
Believe me ’twas a touching sight,
And one to make your pulse stir,
For, though the sun shone hot and bright,
My hero faced the wedding-rite,
Attirèd in an ulster.
SURCINGLE.
Source:
The Bulletin (Sydney, NSW), 9 January 1892, p. 15, columns 1-2
Editor’s notes:
back-block = of or pertaining to the “back blocks” (normally used as a plural): an area that is far from the city, or far from town; a remote sparsely-settled area out in the country; a reference to a far-flung rural area (the phrase “out in the back blocks” is similar to “out in the boondocks” or “out in the sticks”) (may be spelt with or without a hyphen, or as one word)
belle = a very beautiful and charming female, especially referring to the most beautiful and charming woman in a crowd or group (e.g. as used in the phrase “the belle of the ball”)
crossed = (in the context of cheques) a crossed cheque: a check which has been crossed with two parallel lines, signifying that the cheque must be deposited directly into the bank account of the person or entity specified on the cheque (i.e. it cannot be cashed immediately by a bank officer, nor can it be transferred to another person or entity); usually an appropriate instruction is written between the two parallel lines, such as “Account Payee Only”, “Not Negotiable”, or “Payee Only”, although sometimes just the two lines were penned onto a cheque (in later years, many cheque books were printed with crossed lines and an instruction such as “Not Negotiable”)
See: 1) Julia Kagan, “Crossed check: Definition, meaning, and how it works”, Investopedia, 6 March 2024
2) “Crossing of cheques”, Wikipedia
Encyclopaedia Britannica
donned = put on, dressed (regarding an article or piece of clothing, or multiples thereof) (past tense of “don”)
effront’ry = (vernacular) effrontery
“Flash” Harry = [see: Flash Harry]
Flash Harry = someone who is “flash” (showy, vulgar; fashionable or showy, but often in a way that shows a lack of taste); a man (usually a young man) who is boastful, flamboyant, gaudy, loudly-dressed, ostentatious, over-confident, showy, and swaggering in style, and who is usually ill-mannered; additionally, such a person may have questionable ethics and be earning money from dubious dealings of questionable legality (sometimes described as a “spiv”) (the term “Flash Harry” dates back to the 1840s, although it was popularized in the 1950s and 1960s by the character known as “Flash Harry” in the St. Trinian’s series of films)
See: 1) “flash adj.”, Green’s Dictionary of Slang [see section: flash harry (n.)]
2) “Harry (meanings)”, AWE (Academic Writing in British English)
3) “Flash Harry (St Trinian’s)”, Wikipedia
glass = a mirror
hymen’al = (vernacular) hymeneal [see: hymeneal]
hymeneal = of or regarding wedding or marriage; a wedding hymn, song, or poem; “hymeneals” (archaic) refers to a wedding or nuptials
Jill = a young woman; a woman; a female
lor = (vernacular) “Lord”, an exclamation used for emphasis, or as an expression of dismay, shock, or surprise (can be spelt with or without an apostrophe, and with or without capitalisation: lor, lor’, Lor, Lor’); the expression is an exclamatory reference to God or Jesus Christ, as in “Oh, my Lord!” or “Oh, Lord!”
morn = morning
pound = a unit of British-style currency used in Australia, until it was replaced by the dollar in 1966 when decimal currency was introduced in Australia
psalter = a musical instrument consisting of a flat soundboard with numerous strings, played by plucking the strings with the fingers or by using a plectrum, similar to a dulcimer or zither (also known as a “psaltery”; plural “psalteries”) (can also refer to the biblical Book of Psalms, published in a separate volume)
See: “Psaltery”, Wikipedia
slop = a ready-made garment, a store-bought garment, an “off the rack” garment (“slop” was a slang term for the ready-made clothing, wearing apparel, and bedding of sailors); commonly used in the term “slop-suit”
’tis = (archaic) a contraction of “it is”
trousseau = the clothes, personal accessories (including jewelry), household linens, and other goods of a bride (whether collected by her prior to marriage, given to her, or both), intended for her wedding and for married life (especially a formal set, bundle, or collection of such items)
’twas = (archaic) a contraction of “it was”
ulster = a long loose heavy-duty overcoat, made of wool or other rough material (originally made of Irish frieze), often manufactured in a double-breasted style, commonly (in earlier times) made with a shoulder cape attached (covering the back and sleeves to approximately the elbows, although the length could vary), usually with a belt (or a half-belt attached to the back of the overcoat); this type of overcoat was named after the Ulster Overcoat Company of Belfast (in Ulster, i.e. Northern Ireland), which first manufactured this style of coat
See: “Ulster coat”, Wikipedia
vituperation = abuse, blaming, castigation, censuring, condemnation, criticism, or denunciation in a severe, sustained, and bitter style; the act or practice of vituperating; language which is very harsh and overly abusive, castigating, condemning, denouncing, and insulting, in a style infused with anger and hatred
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