It was at the Sydney station. It was Platform Number Four,
Where the porters always try to jam your fingers in the door!
And the Western Mail was drawing out when through the platform gate
Rushed the Bishop and the Bagman, both of them a minute late!
"D and B!" exclaimed the Bagman. "D and B!" he cried again!
But from faithfully recording all he said I must refrain;
For the papers wouldn't print it, and I very strongly fear
It was not the sort of language we would lie our wives to hear!
Yet it seemed to soothe the Bishop, for he seized the Bagman's hand
And he said in polished accents, with a smile extremely bland:
"Thank you very much indeed, dear sir! Your language I confess
My own feeling at this moment does not properly express!
"Your remarks were quite in season and I should be nothing loth
To express myself as you did, but one can't forget The Cloth!"
"No, my Lord," replied the other, "and no Bishop, I'll be bound,
Ever needs to do the swearing while a Bagman is around!"
First published in The Bulletin, 12 November 1908
