Click in the field, then press CTRL+C to copy the HTML code
Copy
<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=350486" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>Jack Corrigan</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">"It's my shout this time, boys, so come along and <br> breast the bar,<br>And kindly mention what you're going to take;<br>I don't feel extra thirsty, so I'll sample that <br>“three-star”-<br>Now, lad! come, look alive, for goodness sake."<br>So spake he, as he raised the brimming glass towards<br> the light;<br>So spake “Long Jack,” the boldest mountaineer<br>Who ever down from Nungar raced a “brumby” mob<br> in flight,<br>Or laid a stockwhip on a stubborn steer.<br>From Jindabyne to Providence along the Eucumbene<br>The kindest-hearted fellow to be found;<br>And when he crossed the saddle not a horse was ever<br> seen<br>That could make Jack quit his hold to seek the <br> ground.<br>The women smiled with pleasure, the children laughed<br> aloud,<br>The very dogs came barking at his feet,<br>While outside the “Squatter's Arms” the men came<br> forward in a crowd<br>To welcome Jack when he rode up the street.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"></div><div style="margin:10px 0">But though the boldest horseman who by midnight<br> or by day<br>E'er held a mob of cattle on a camp,<br>There were squatters on Monaro, who had yet been<br> known to say<br>That Jack was an unmitigated scamp.<br>And true it is Jack Corrigan possessed a serious fault<br>Which caused his gentle, blue-eyed wife much grief,<br>And many were the bitter tears she mingled with the <br> salt<br>With which she cured their neighbours' tend'rest beef.<br>And often would she tearful take her smiling spouse<br> to task,<br>Who'd answer, as her pretty face he kissed,<br>That a beast lost all identity when pickled in the <br> cask,<br>And a bullock more or less would ne'er be missed.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"></div><div style="margin:10px 0">But now as Jack stood all prepared to toss his <br> nobbler down,<br>A softly-murmured whisper met his ear -<br>"I just saw Trooper Fraser get a warrant up the town,<br>He's after you, old man: you'd better clear!"<br>Jack never thanked the donor of this excellent advice,<br>As the glass fell through his fingers with a crash.<br>With a bound across the footpath, he was mounted<br> in a trice<br>And speeding down the roadway like a flash,<br>While Trooper William Fraser wore a very gloomy face,<br>As he watched his prey go flying down the road.<br>But he settled in the saddle and prepared to give him<br> chase,<br>As Jack struck out a line for his abode.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"></div><div style="margin:10px 0">On the road toward the Show Ground, then, there<br> hung a big swing-gate,<br>Jack's filly cleared its bars in glorious style,<br>But he held her well together, for he knew the <br> trooper's weight<br>Would give him distance in each mile;<br>For Jack rode twelve stone fully, while Bill Fraser<br> rode but nine,<br>Sweetbriar's strength must surely soon be spent, <br>Being grass-fed, while the trooper's chestnut horse<br> could always dine<br>Off oats and barley to his heart's content.<br>And all aloud Jack cursed the day he'd ever killed a<br> beast<br>Or branded calf he couldn't call his own, <br>While the hoof-strokes on the road beat out a song<br> that never ceased<br>To echo in his ears with mocking tone.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"></div><div style="margin:10px 0">"Three years in gaol, in gaol three years," the <br> jeering echoes sang;<br>The granite boulders caught the wild refrain.<br>"A broken life, a weeping wife," 'twas thus the<br> rhythm rang,<br>"And a baby boy you'll never see again" –</div><div style="margin:10px 0"></div><div style="margin:10px 0">He groaned, and then, to dull the sound, spoke<br> loudly to the mare,<br>And bade her never slacken in her speed.<br>"For God's sake take me home, lass, with a little<br> time to spare;<br>Five minutes, at the most, is all I need -<br>Just time to catch old Dandy, where he's munching<br> second growth<br>Of hay; just time to leap upon his back,<br>And then the smartest trap who ever swore a<br> lying oath<br>Could never foot me down the River track."</div><div style="margin:10px 0"></div><div style="margin:10px 0">Sweetbriar pricked her ears, and shook a foam flake<br> from her bit,<br>As she heard his words, and doubtless caught their<br> sense,<br>And the rotten granite pebbles rattled round her as <br> she lit<br>On the homeward side the Rosedale bound'ry fence –</div><div style="margin:10px 0"></div><div style="margin:10px 0">As they scrambled round by Locker's-Hill, Jack <br> Corrigan looked round,<br>And as he looked was filled with stern delight,<br>For he saw the baldfaced chestnut struggling fiercely<br> on the ground,<br>Though the hill shut out the sequel from his sight;<br>His triumph was but short, for, as he stemmed the <br> wide morass,<br>Where floods had muddied waters once so clear,<br>And left the giant tussocks tangled tightly in a mass,<br>The trooper still kept drawing on his rear;</div><div style="margin:10px 0"></div><div style="margin:10px 0">The Murrumbidgee's icy stream was widened out by<br> flood;<br>They swam it at the willow-shaded ford,<br>As they passed the station buildings his long spurs<br> were red with blood,<br>Sweetbriar's heaving flanks were deeply scored.<br>Her stride grew more uneven, though she answered <br> every call,<br>No jockey rode a better race than Jack<br>As he eased her up the hills and pressed her onward<br> down the fall,<br>Round the sidlings of the Billylingra track.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"></div><div style="margin:10px 0">They left O'Rourke's behind them, where it fronts the <br> big bald hill,<br>At the Flat Rock Jack was riding all he knew -<br>With all the dash and judgement of the famed Monaro<br> skill,<br>Yet he couldn't keep the trooper out of view;<br>He spied his tiny homestead as Bill Fraser gained <br> apace<br>And loudly warned the fugitive to yield,<br>Who turned half round but saw no sign of pity in his<br> face<br>As they swept across the cultivation field;</div><div style="margin:10px 0"></div><div style="margin:10px 0">Their hoofs’ dull thunder brought the wife in wonder<br> to the gate,<br>She waved her hand in answer to his shout;<br>While Dandy from his paddock whinnied loudly to<br> his mate,<br>To know what all the trouble was about.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"></div><div style="margin:10px 0">"God help us now - the end has come!" the wretched <br> woman cried,<br>And leant against the gate to catch her breath;<br>While the tiny, blue-eyed toddler cheered his father<br> on his ride<br>Towards the ghastly winning-post of Death.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"></div><div style="margin:10px 0">"The filly's failing fast," thought Jack; "she's<br> nothing but a weed,<br>It’s a certainty she can't keep long in front.<br>I'll make a splendid target, if he likes to draw a<br> bead, <br>As I try to cross the river on the punt."</div><div style="margin:10px 0"></div><div style="margin:10px 0">He left the mare and scrambled through the ti-tree<br> growing rank,<br>Deep rooted in its bed of yellow clay,<br>But when he reached the river, stood and trembled<br> on the bank -<br>"My God!" he hoarsely said, "it's swept away!"<br>The punt was gone, the rope of wire still stretched from<br> shore to shore,<br>Jack paused but half a moment to decide,</div><div style="margin:10px 0"></div><div style="margin:10px 0">And as he scrambled down the bank the wond'ring<br> trooper saw<br>Him struggling half across the rushing tide,<br>The angry waters swept him down, and every nerve<br> was strained<br>To keep his hold upon the frail support,<br>Though icy numbness seized him, yet his courage<br> never waned,<br>The hope of freedom filled his every thought.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"></div><div style="margin:10px 0">The rope swayed low beneath his weight and bellied<br> to the stream,<br>Around his head the flying ripples curled,<br>While high above the river's roar rang out the awful<br> scream<br>Of a soul that flies in terror from the world.<br>A mighty log, borne swiftly on the bosom of the<br> flood,<br>Resistless swept him 'neath the eager wave,<br>And sucked him down to river depths, and there<br> beneath the foam,<br>Jack Corrigan sought out a nameless grave -<br>"Good-bye to life, good-bye to life," the mocking<br> wavelets sang,<br>The towering cliffs took up the wild refrain,<br>"A broken life, a weeping wife," 'twas thus the <br> rhythm rang,<br>"And a baby boy he'll never see again."</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Barcroft+Henry+Thomas+Boake">Barcroft Henry Thomas Boake</a><div class=q> <img src="https://www.citatepedia.ro/g/32share.png" style="float:left" alt="Share"> <script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=350486" data-title="Jack Corrigan de Barcroft Henry Thomas Boake" data-description=""It's my shout this time, boys, so come along and breast the bar, And kindly mention what you're going to take; I don't feel extra thirsty, so I'll sample that “three-star”- Now, lad! come, look alive, for goodness sake." So spak..."></div> </div> </div>
solid border
dashed border
dotted border
double border
groove border
ridge border
inset border
outset border
no border
blue
green
red
purple
cyan
gold
silver
black