Past recollections primal pyres.
John Bennett, cord-wainer of yore,
And volunteer in Rifle corps,
With muzzle-loaders past and gone,
Gallant and brave old Number One!
Our civic army's primal rib,
Once called by Alexander Gibb,
"The Sleepy's," in the good old time
When he dealt in both prose and rhyme,
And made opponents fume and fret
With caustic in the old _Gazette_--
Rhyme, too, in which a critic's claw
Could scarcely fasten on a flaw,
His verse was standard like his law.




CHAPTER IV.


John Cobb, I'll take a glance at thee,
Firm standard of Free Masonry!
Mine eye delights to rest upon
Thy iron frame, old "Uncle John."
If honesty and simple truth
E'er "flourished in Immortal youth,"
Where time can ne'er their glories rob,
They rest with thee, my friend, John Cobb!
And Dudley Booth, what shall I say