London Types - X. News-Boy
By William Ernest Henley
Take any station, pavement, circus, corner,
Where men their styles of print may call or choose,
And there - ten times more on it than JACK HORNER -
There shall you find him swathed in sheets of news.
Nothing can stay the placing of his wares -
Not bus, nor cab, nor dray!The very Slop,
That imp of power, is powerless!Ever he dares,
And, daring, lands his public neck and crop.
Even the many-tortured London ear,
The much-enduring, loathes his Speeshul yell,
His shriek of Winnur!But his dart and leer
And poise are irresistible.PALL MALL
Joys in him, and MILE END; for his vocation
Is to purvey the stuff of conversation.