Old Flash himself would sometimes say
That his wife had "such a ridiculous way,—
She'd humor that child
Till he'd soon be sp'iled,
And then there'd be the devil to pay!"
And the excellent wife, with a martyr's look,
Would tell old Flash himself "he took
No notice at all
Of the bright-eyed doll
Unless when he spanked him for getting a fall!"
Young Philiper Flash, as time passed by,
Grew into "a boy with a roguish eye":
He could smoke a cigar,
And seemed by far
The most promising youth.—"He's powerful sly,"
Old Flash himself once told a friend,
"Every copper he gets he's sure to spend—
And," said he, "don't you know
If he keeps on so
What a crop of wild oats the boy will grow!"
But his dear good mother knew Philiper's ways
So—well, she managed the money to raise;
And old Flash himself
Was "laid on the shelf,"
(In the manner of speaking we have nowadays).
For "gracious knows, her darling child,
If he went without money he'd soon grow wild."
So Philiper Flash
