He Came To Pay

The editor sat with his head in his hands         And his elbows at rest on his knees;     He was tired of the ever-increasing demands         On his time, and he panted for ease.     The clamor for copy was scorned with a sneer,         And he sighed in the lowest of tones:     "Won't somebody come with a dollar to cheer         The heart of Emanuel Jones?"     Just then on the stairway a footstep was heard         And a rap-a-tap loud at the door,     And the flickering hope that had been long deferred         Blazed up like a beacon once more;     And there entered a man with a cynical smile         That was fringed with a stubble of red,     Who remarked, as he tilted a sorry old tile         To the back of an average head:     "I have come here to pay" Here the editor cried:         "You're as welcome as flowers in spring!     Sit down in this easy armchair by my side,         And excuse me awhile till I bring     A lemonade dashed with a little old wine         And a dozen cigars of the best....     Ah! Here we are! This, I assure you, is fine;         Help yourself, most desirable guest."     The visitor drank with a relish, and smoked         Till his face wore a satisfied glow,     And the editor, beaming with merriment, joked         In a joyous, spontaneous flow;     And then, when the stock of refreshments was gone,         His guest took occasion to say,     In accents distorted somewhat by a yawn,         "My errand up here is to pay, "     But the generous scribe, with a wave of his hand,         Put a stop to the speech of his guest,     And brought in a melon, the finest the land         Ever bore on its generous breast;     And the visitor, wearing a singular grin,         Seized the heaviest half of the fruit,     And the juice, as it ran in a stream from his chin,         Washed the mud of the pike from his boot.     Then, mopping his face on a favorite sheet         Which the scribe had laid carefully by,     The visitor lazily rose to his feet         With the dreariest kind of a sigh,     And he said, as the editor sought his address,         In his books to discover his due:     "I came here to pay, my respects to the press,         And to borrow a dollar of you!"