Even compared with beet; for thou hast been
Employed in sweetening my roly-poly--
Thou whom I once regarded as a dose
And now the active rival of glucose!

But still I hear some jaundiced critic say,
Some rigid self-appointed _censor morum_,
"Why harp upon the pleasures of a day
When freely sweetened was each cup and jorum,
Ere stern controllers had begun to stay
The genial outflow of the _fons leporum?_
Now sugar's scarce, and we must do without it,
Why let regretful fancy play about it?"

True, yet it greatly goes against the grain,
Unless one has the patience of Ulysses,
Wholly and resolutely to refrain
From dwelling on the memory of past blisses;
Forbidden fruits allure the strong and sane;
Joys loved but lost are what one chiefly misses;
This is my best excuse if I deplore
"So sad, so _sweet_, the days that are no more."

* * * * *

'TATERS.

SCENE: _At "The Plough and Horses_."

"You seen Parson lately, George?"