• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Institute of Australian Culture

Heritage, history, and heroes; literature, legends, and larrikins

  • Home
  • Articles
  • Biographies
  • Books
  • Ephemera
  • Poetry & songs
    • Recommended poetry
    • Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
    • Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
    • Rock music and pop music [videos]
    • Early music [videos]
  • Slang
  • Timeline
    • Timeline of Australian history and culture
    • Calendar of Australian history and culture
    • Significant events and commemorative dates
  • Topics

Lollipops: A cause of juvenile crime [poem, The Bulletin, 21 August 1886]

15 May 2017 · 2 Comments

[Editor: This untitled poem, about lollipops being alleged to be a cause of juvenile crime, appeared in the “Pepper and salt” column published in The Bulletin (Sydney, NSW), 21 August 1886. It is a parody of some verse by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (an English poetess), with her poetry being quoted beforehand.]

[Lollipops: A cause of juvenile crime]

Our old and reverend acquaintance, Mr. Horsley, formerly editor of the Melbourne War Cry, has sounded a new alarm in the Sunday Magazine. He says: “The perverted taste for lollipops, caused chiefly (because not prevented) by mothers, is a large — very large — cause of juvenile crime.” This must be seen to. Elizabeth Barrett Browning has pleaded eloquently for the luckless juvenile drudges of the factory and the mine:—

Do you hear the children weeping, O my brothers,
Ere the sorrow comes with years?
They are leaning their young heads against their mothers,
And that cannot stop their tears.
The young lambs are bleating in the meadows,
The young birds are chirping in the nest,
The young fawns are playing with the shadows,
The young flowed are blowing towards the west;
But the young, young children, O my brothers,
They are weeping bitterly!
They are weeping in the playtime of the others,
In the country of the free.
They look up with their pale and sunken faces,
And their looks are sad to see,
For the man’s hoary anguish draws and presses
Down the cheeks of infancy.

Mrs. Browning sleeps the sleep of the great, but surely there is someone willing to twang a lyre for those other poor children, whose souls are being slain with kindness, in many a so-called Christian home. Up, bards, and at ’em! Take lodgings opposite a lolly-shop, watch the little innocents toddling in to their dooms, and then throw off a set of verses which shall shake the world. This might do for a start:—

Do you see the children sucking, O my brothers,
Ere the sorrow comes with years?
They have been and got a penny from their mothers —
Poor, misguided little dears!
The young lambs are served with new pertaters,
The young birds are made into a pie,
The young fawns are handed round by waiters,
The young flowers are “buttonholed” to die;
But the young, young children, O my brothers,
They are sucking lollipops!
They have purchased ’em (per favour of their mothers)
From the damsels in the shops.
They look now, with sin distorted faces,
At the tempting acid-drops —
But they’ll drink, and swear, and gamble at the races
When they’ve done with lollipops.



Source:
The Bulletin (Sydney, NSW), 21 August 1886, p. 15 (column 3)

Editor’s notes:
The first piece of poetry in the article is “The Cry of the Children” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
See: Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “The Cry of the Children”, Poetry Foundation

acid-drop = a lolly (candy or sweet) made with a sour flavor (made from citric or tartaric acid) as well as using sugar (the term can be hyphenated, although it is usually spelt without a hyphen)

buttonhole = a narrow hole in an item of clothing designed so that a button, disc, or other attachment can be pushed through, thus acting as a fastener; a buttonhole flower (a flower inserted through a buttonhole for use as a decoration); a boutonniere (a buttonhole flower or a small bunch of flowers inserted through a buttonhole or pinned to the lapel of a garment); (verb) to insert a flower into a buttonhole (past tense: buttonholed)

Elizabeth Barrett Browning = (1806-1861) an English poetess (née Moulton-Barrett)

’em = them

ere = before (from the Middle English “er”, itself from the Old English “aer”, meaning early or soon)

hoary = a descriptive term for someone or something which is old or ancient; someone with grey or white hair; something grey or white in colour

lolly-shop = a shop which primarily sells lollies (confectionary; candies, sweets)

lyre = a stringed musical instrument, similar to a small harp, although with a U-shaped frame with strings attached to a crossbar (especially known for its use in ancient Greece)

pertater = (vernacular) potato

twang = (verb) to make or cause to make a “twang” noise; to pluck or strum (especially on a stringed instrument) so as to cause a “twang” sound; (noun) a strong ringing sound made by the plucking of a tight string, wire or elastic band (such as may be made by plucking a string on a musical instrument, releasing a string on a bow, or releasing the elastic of a catapult)

War Cry = a periodical published by the Salvation Army

Filed Under: poetry Tagged With: Elizabeth Barrett Browning, poem, publication The Bulletin (Sydney), SourceNLA, wowsers, year1886

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Raymond says

    24 October 2020 at 23:44

    Dear Ed(itor).
    I am NO expert on poetry, so maybe I am barking up the wrong tree here.
    I always find your Editorial ‘glosses’ of words used in the quotations to be very helpful.
    On the topic of your gloss above on “buttonhole” — I wonder if it is apposite in the context.
    I ask this, purely because to my ignoramus’s reading of it, I thought that that line about the young flowers might have been referring to the wearing of a flower in the lapel buttonhole of a coat or jacket. I will readily stand corrected. With gratitude as always.

    Reply
    • IAC says

      25 October 2020 at 01:05

      Raymond, you are absolutely correct.

      It’s quite apparent that, in the context of this poem, it is a reference to putting flowers through a buttonhole (interestingly, “buttonhole” can also refer to the flower itself; presumably as an abbreviation of a “buttonhole flower”).

      The error has now been corrected. No idea how that one slipped through. Am currently casting around for excuses (tired whilst typing, run-down whilst researching, a death in the family, Coronavirus infection, nuclear war – willing to use any excuse for such an obvious mistake). — Ed.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Australian flag, Kangaroo, Wattle, 100hThe Institute of Australian Culture
Heritage, history, and heroes. Literature, legends, and larrikins. Stories, songs, and sages.

Search this site

Featured books

The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses, by Banjo Paterson A Book for Kids, by C. J. Dennis  The Bulletin Reciter: A Collection of Verses for Recitation from The Bulletin The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke, by C. J. Dennis The Complete Inner History of the Kelly Gang and Their Pursuers, by J. J. Kenneally The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen The Australian Crisis, by C. H. Kirmess Such Is Life, by Joseph Furphy
More books (full text)

Featured lists

Timeline of Australian history and culture
A list of significant Australiana
Significant events and commemorative dates
Australian slang
Books (full text)
Australian literature
Rock music and pop music (videos)
Folk music and bush music (videos)
Early music (videos)
Recommended poetry
Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
Australian explorers
Topics
Links

Featured posts

Advance Australia Fair: How the song became the Australian national anthem
Brian Cadd [music videos and biography]
Ned Kelly: Australian bushranger
Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]

Some Australian authors

E. J. Brady
John Le Gay Brereton
C. J. Dennis
Mary Hannay Foott
Joseph Furphy
Mary Gilmore
Charles Harpur
Grant Hervey
Lucy Everett Homfray
Rex Ingamells
Henry Kendall
“Kookaburra”
Henry Lawson
Jack Moses
“Dryblower” Murphy
John Shaw Neilson
John O’Brien (Patrick Joseph Hartigan)
“Banjo” Paterson
Marie E. J. Pitt
A. G. Stephens
P. R. Stephensen
Agnes L. Storrie (Agnes L. Kettlewell)

Recent Posts

  • Dee from Invercauld [postcard, 28 August 1913]
  • Sydney Town Hall [postcard, 20 June 1913]
  • Flinders Lane, Melbourne [postcard, 26 April 1913]
  • Have you ever had a dream like this [postcard, 15 April 1913]
  • A loving greeting [postcard, 15 April 1913]

Top Posts & Pages

  • Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
  • The Man from Snowy River [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Rommel’s comments on Australian soldiers [1941-1942]
  • Australian slang
  • Timeline of Australian history and culture

Archives

Categories

Posts of note

The Bastard from the Bush [poem, circa 1900]
A Book for Kids [by C. J. Dennis, 1921]
Click Go the Shears [traditional Australian song, 1890s]
Core of My Heart [“My Country”, poem by Dorothea Mackellar, 24 October 1908]
Freedom on the Wallaby [poem by Henry Lawson, 16 May 1891]
The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]
Nationality [poem by Mary Gilmore, 12 May 1942]
The Newcastle song [music video, sung by Bob Hudson]
No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest [poem by Mary Gilmore, 29 June 1940]
Our pipes [short story by Henry Lawson]
Rommel’s comments on Australian soldiers [1941-1942]
Shooting the moon [short story by Henry Lawson]

Recent Comments

  • rob buntine on No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest [poem by Mary Gilmore, 29 June 1940]
  • Carol on Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
  • Annie Crestani on Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]
  • Peter Pearsall on The Clarence [poem by Jack Moses]
  • Trevor Hurst on Timeline of Australian history and culture

For Australia

Copyright © 2023 · Log in