You are Old, Father William

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Sunday, October 31. 2021

You are Old, Father William

Two verses from Lewis Carroll's parody of an old sanctimious verse:

"You are old," said the youth, "and your jaws are too weak
For anything tougher than suet;
Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak—
Pray, how did you manage to do it?"

"In my youth," said his father, "I took to the law,
And argued each case with my wife;
And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw,
Has lasted the rest of my life."

Posted by The Barrister in Saturday Verse at 17:48 | Comments (3) | Trackbacks (0)

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Martin Gardner wrote The Annotated Alice and discussed this a bit. Good times. Gardner was brilliant, writing a mathematical games column for Scientific American back when it was, well scientific. He seems to be forgotten now.

#1 Assistant Village Idiot on 2021-10-31 18:13 (Reply)

I remember singing this. "You are old, Father William," the young man said, "and your hair has become very white...."

#2 Aggie on 2021-10-31 20:08 (Reply)

Cleaning out some stuff today, I sent my eldest son some pictures. Then his mom. We were crying over our being thirty five years together and the remembrance of their youth. And ours.

I joked with him and wrote, "Its like we're an old married couple."

I wish my blessings and sadness on everyone. Life is good.

UHURU

#3 ccoffer on 2021-10-31 21:15 (Reply)

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Sunday, October 31. 2021

You are Old, Father William