Wise Ignatius Escapes A Whipping
(Written for Edgar and Melville Garvin, Evansville, Ind.)
"Father," said learned Ignatius, as the strap was preparing to fall
Down on his trouserless bare-skin, "I don't mind a whipping at all,
But are you quite certain, dear father, the strap has been well sterilized
For virulent germs in old leather are often concealed and disguised;
And surely by violent impact with textile and soft porous skin,
But lately exposed to the street's dust there's danger of entering in
Upon my most delicate system, and then comes the big doctor's fee,
So dear father show you're a wise man and touch not that strap upon me."
While the learned youth plead, lo! his father upon that dread strap loosed his hold,
And thus he escaped from a whipping, Ignatius, the wise and the bold.