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17 Jan 08 - 07:09 PM (#2238845) Subject: Lyr Add: Only Beggars Dressed in Rags From: GUEST,.gargoyle Only beggars dressed in rags Or vetrans old with sin Mistake themselves for carpet bags And shovel vituls in.
Circa 1900 - Midwest USA
Frequently quoted when someone forgot their table manners at dinner.
Sincerely, |
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17 Jan 08 - 07:34 PM (#2238858) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Only Beggars Dressed in Rags From: Peace "Eat slowly; only men in rags and gluttons old in sin Mistake themselves for carpet-bags And tumble victuals in." Sir Walter Raleigh, 'Instructions to His Son', 1632 (Consuming Passions, Jonathan Green, ed. (1985) |
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17 Jan 08 - 07:37 PM (#2238860) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Only Beggars Dressed in Rags From: Peace Sir Walter Raleigh Stans Puer ad Mensam Attend my words, my gentle knave, And you shall learn from me How boys at dinner may behave With due propriety. Guard well your hands: two things have been Unfitly used by some; The trencher for a tambourine, The table for a drum. We could not lead a pleasant life, And 'twould be finished soon, If peas were eaten with the knife, And gravy with the spoon. Eat slowly: only men in rags And gluttons old in sin Mistake themselves for carpet bags And tumble victuals in. The privy pinch, the whispered tease, The wild, unseemly yell -- When children do such things as these, We say, "It is not well." Endure your mother's timely stare, Your father's righteous ire, And do not wriggle on your chair Like flannel in the fire. Be silent: you may chatter loud When you are fully grown, Surrounded by a silent crowd Of children of your own. If you should suddenly feel bored And much inclined to yawning, Your little hand will best afford A modest useful awning. Think highly of the Cat: and yet You need not therefore think That portly strangers like your pet To share their meat and drink. The end of dinner comes ere long When, once more full and free, You cheerfully may bide the gong That calls you to your tea. |
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18 Jan 08 - 03:59 AM (#2239036) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Only Beggars Dressed in Rags From: Newport Boy Thanks for that, Peace. I hadn't come across this one before. This could well be the origin of "Children should be seen and not heard", which I've usually found quoted as early Victorian. Phil |
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18 Jan 08 - 09:48 AM (#2239208) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Only Beggars Dressed in Rags From: Peace Thank you, Phil. However, I'd never come across it before Gargoyle's post. It is rather neat. Wonder if it's been set to music? |
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18 Jan 08 - 05:29 PM (#2239551) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Only Beggars Dressed in Rags From: GUEST,.gargoyle Thank you PEACE !!!.It was used by my mother at the dinner table - who probably got it from her mother generations adnausium....back to Lyden.
Sincerely, |
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18 Jan 08 - 05:33 PM (#2239556) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Only Beggars Dressed in Rags From: Peace Good one. Hope things are well with you. My grandma used to give me the fork in the arm. |
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19 Jan 08 - 08:30 PM (#2240317) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Only Beggars Dressed in Rags From: Jim Dixon According to Representative Poetry Online -- a site operated by The University of Toronto -- the author of that poem is Walter Alexander Raleigh (1861-1922), not to be confused with the more well known Sir Walter Raleigh (c. 1552 – 1618). This distinction seems to have been missed by many sites that have quoted it. |
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19 Jan 08 - 08:32 PM (#2240319) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Only Beggars Dressed in Rags From: Peace Good eye, Jim. I missed that ALL THE WAY. |
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19 Jan 08 - 09:06 PM (#2240332) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Only Beggars Dressed in Rags From: Jim Dixon Furthermore, Sir Walter Raleigh's "Instructions to His Son and to Posterity," is a prose work of some 14 pages and 10 short chapters, treats of nothing so mundane as table manners, and is nowhere near as funny as the above poem. |