[Editor: This poem by Barcroft H. Boake was published in The Bulletin (Sydney, NSW), 7 May 1892.]
Jimmy Wood.
A Bar-Room Ballad.
There came a lonely Briton to the town,
A solitary Briton with a mission,
He’d vowed a vow to put all “shouting” down,
To relegate it to a low position.
Transcendentally Britannic in his dress,
His manners were polite and slightly formal,
And — this I mention with extreme distress —
His put-away for liquid was abnormal.
He viewed this “shouting” mania with disgust,
As being generosity perverted,
When any of the “boys” went on the bust
He strove his best that they might be converted.
He wouldn’t take a liquor with a man,
Not if he was to be hanged, and drawn, and quartered,
And yet, he drank — construe it as you can —
Unsweetened gin, most moderately watered.
And when the atmosphere was in a whirl,
And language metaphorical ran riot,
He’d calmly tender sixpence to the girl,
And drink his poison — solus — nice and quiet.
Whenever he was asked to breast the bar
He’d answer, with a touch of condescension:
“I much regret to disoblige so far
As to refuse your delicate attention.
“That drink’s a curse that hangeth like a leech —
A sad but most indubitable fact is,
Mankind was made to drink alone, I preach,
And what I preach invariably practise.
“I never pay for others, nor do I
Take drink from them, and never, never would sir —
One man one liquor! though I have to die
A martyr to my faith, that’s Jimmy Wood, sir.
“My friend, ’tis not a bit of use to raise
A hurricane of bluster and of banter,
I preach the humble gospel in the phrase —
Similia similibus curantur;
“Which means: by drinking how and when I like,
And sticking to the one unsweetened sample,
I hope in course of time that it will strike
All men to follow up my good example.”
In course of time it struck all men that Jim
Was fast developing into a soaker —
The breath of palsy on his every limb,
A bleary face touched up with crimson ochre.
Yet firmly stood he by the sinking ship,
Went down at last with all his colours flying;
No hand but his raised tumbler to his lip,
What time J. Woods, the Martyr, lay a-dying.
Misunderstood reformer! gallant heart!
He gave his path to Death — the great collector.
Now … in Elysian fields he sits apart
And sips his modest “Tommy Dodd” of nectar.
His signature is on the scroll of fame,
You cannot well forget, though you would, sir,
The man is dead, not so his homely name,
Who drinks alone — drinks toast to Jimmy Wood, sir.*
BARCROFT H. BOAKE.
* A man who drinks by himself is said to take a “Jimmy Woodser.”
Source:
The Bulletin (Sydney, NSW), 7 May 1892, p. 17, column 3
Also published in:
Barcroft Boake, Where the Dead Men Lie and Other Poems (2nd edition), London (England): Angus & Robertson, 1913, pp. 221-222 [this poem was not included in the 1st edition]
The Bulletin (Sydney, NSW), 23 December 1980, p. 77, columns 2-3
Editor’s notes:
This poem is based upon the term “Jimmy Woodser”, which refers to someone who drinks alone (see the explanation in the notes below).
boys = (in the context of adults) men; although the word “boys” normally refers to male children, it is also used (usually in a familiar or friendly context) to refer to adult males (normally rendered as “the boys”; similarly, the term “the lads” refers to men)
breast the bar = (in the context of a pub) to go up to the bar (thereby putting one’s breast at the bar); possibly derived from sailors pushing the bars on a capstan on a ship
See: 1) “breast (up to) v.”, Green’s Dictionary of Slang
2) “Come breast the bar”, WordReference.com
Britannic = British; of or relating to Britannia (an archaic or Roman name for Britain), Britain, the British Isles, Great Britain, or the United Kingdom
Briton = an inhabitant or native of Britain, the British Isles, Great Britain, or the United Kingdom; a British person; an Englishman; a English person; a native of Britain prior to the various invasions by (and subsequent immigration of) the Romans and/or the Anglo-Saxon peoples
Elysian = blissful, delightful; a reference to Elysium (also known as the Elysian Fields) of Greek mythology, as a conception of an indulgent afterlife for those who are heroic and righteous
See: “Elysium”, Wikipedia
hangeth = (archaic) hangs
Jimmy Woodser = someone who drinks alone, or a drink taken alone; the phrase dates from at least the 1870s, and was notably used in the poem “Jimmy Wood” (1892), by Barcroft H. Boake, about a man who did not join in the custom of “shouting” (buying drinks for friends), and which ended with the line, “Who drinks alone — drinks toast to Jimmy Wood, sir”
See: “phrase “Jimmy Woodser””, IAC list (on Trove)
on the bust = drinking a lot, drinking excessively; getting drunk
See: “bust n.”, Green’s Dictionary of Slang (see section: “on a bust”)
shout = to buy drinks for others; to buy a round of drinks, especially in a pub
Similia similibus curantur = (Latin) “like cures like” or “let like be cured by like” (in homeopathic medicine, it refers to the idea that a disease may be able to be cured by ingesting something which causes symptoms which are similar to those caused by the disease (also called “the law of similars”)
See: 1) Mihael Drofenik, “Homeopathy and Law of Similars”, Scholars Literature, 26 September 2019
2) Rajaganapathy Lingeswaran and Jayakumar Mohan, “Pharmacological Basis of Similia Similibus Curantur and the Nature of Homeopathic Materia Medica” (abstract), VHL Regional Portal (Virtual Health Library), 2023
3) Stephen Barrett, M.D., “Homeopathy’s “Law of Similars””, Homeowatch (Quackwatch), 20 March 2002
4) “Similia similibus curantur”, entry in: Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase & Fable (revised & enlarged edition), New York (USA): Harper & Brothers, [no date], p. 838 [“Like cures like; or, as we say, “take a hair of the dog that bit you.””]
soaker = a drunk (a drunkard); someone who imbibes alcoholic drinks excessively; an alcoholic
solus = (Latin) alone, separate; by oneself, unaccompanied (as an instruction for a theatrical performance; a stage direction)
’tis = (archaic) a contraction of “it is”
Tommy Dodd = a small measure of beer, approximately one quarter-pint; the glass in which the beer is served
See: “tommy dodd n.3”, Green’s Dictionary of Slang
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