Click in the field, then press CTRL+C to copy the HTML code
<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=538940" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>Etiquette</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">The BALLYSHANNON foundered off the coast of Cariboo,<br>And down in fathoms many went the captain and the crew;<br>Down went the owners - greedy men whom hope of gain allured:<br>Oh, dry the starting tear, for they were heavily insured.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Besides the captain and the mate, the owners and the crew,<br>The passengers were also drowned excepting only two:<br>Young PETER GRAY, who tasted teas for BAKER, CROOP, AND CO.,<br>And SOMERS, who from Eastern shores imported indigo.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">These passengers, by reason of their clinging to a mast,<br>Upon a desert island were eventually cast.<br>They hunted for their meals, as ALEXANDER SELKIRK used,<br>But they couldn't chat together - they had not been introduced.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">For PETER GRAY, and SOMERS too, though certainly in trade,<br>Were properly particular about the friends they made;<br>And somehow thus they settled it without a word of mouth -<br>That GRAY should take the northern half, while SOMERS took the south.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">On PETER'S portion oysters grew - a delicacy rare,<br>But oysters were a delicacy PETER couldn't bear.<br>On SOMERS' side was turtle, on the shingle lying thick,<br>Which SOMERS couldn't eat, because it always made him sick.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">GRAY gnashed his teeth with envy as he saw a mighty store<br>Of turtle unmolested on his fellow-creature's shore.<br>The oysters at his feet aside impatiently he shoved,<br>For turtle and his mother were the only things he loved.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And SOMERS sighed in sorrow as he settled in the south,<br>For the thought of PETER'S oysters brought the water to his mouth.<br>He longed to lay him down upon the shelly bed, and stuff:<br>He had often eaten oysters, but had never had enough.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">How they wished an introduction to each other they had had<br>When on board the BALLYSHANNON! And it drove them nearly mad<br>To think how very friendly with each other they might get,<br>If it wasn't for the arbitrary rule of etiquette!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">One day, when out a-hunting for the MUS RIDICULUS,<br>GRAY overheard his fellow-man soliloquizing thus:<br>&quot;I wonder how the playmates of my youth are getting on,<br>M'CONNELL, S. B. WALTERS, PADDY BYLES, and ROBINSON?&quot;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">These simple words made PETER as delighted as could be,<br>Old chummies at the Charterhouse were ROBINSON and he!<br>He walked straight up to SOMERS, then he turned extremely red,<br>Hesitated, hummed and hawed a bit, then cleared his throat, and said:</div><div style="margin:10px 0">I beg your pardon - pray forgive me if I seem too bold,<br>But you have breathed a name I knew familiarly of old.<br>You spoke aloud of ROBINSON - I happened to be by.<br>You know him?&quot; &quot;Yes, extremely well.&quot; &quot;Allow me, so do I.&quot;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">It was enough: they felt they could more pleasantly get on,<br>For (ah, the magic of the fact!) they each knew ROBINSON!<br>And Mr. SOMERS' turtle was at PETER'S service quite,<br>And Mr. SOMERS punished PETER'S oyster-beds all night.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">They soon became like brothers from community of wrongs:<br>They wrote each other little odes and sang each other songs;<br>They told each other anecdotes disparaging their wives;<br>On several occasions, too, they saved each other's lives.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">They felt quite melancholy when they parted for the night,<br>And got up in the morning soon as ever it was light;<br>Each other's pleasant company they reckoned so upon,<br>And all because it happened that they both knew ROBINSON!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">They lived for many years on that inhospitable shore,<br>And day by day they learned to love each other more and more.<br>At last, to their astonishment, on getting up one day,<br>They saw a frigate anchored in the offing of the bay.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">To PETER an idea occurred. &quot;Suppose we cross the main?<br>So good an opportunity may not be found again.&quot;<br>And SOMERS thought a minute, then ejaculated, &quot;Done!<br>I wonder how my business in the City's getting on?&quot;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">&quot;But stay,&quot; said Mr. PETER: &quot;when in England, as you know,<br>I earned a living tasting teas for BAKER, CROOP, AND CO.,<br>I may be superseded - my employers think me dead!&quot;<br>&quot;Then come with me,&quot; said SOMERS, &quot;and taste indigo instead.&quot;</div><div style="margin:10px 0">But all their plans were scattered in a moment when they found<br>The vessel was a convict ship from Portland, outward bound;<br>When a boat came off to fetch them, though they felt it very kind,<br>To go on board they firmly but respectfully declined.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">As both the happy settlers roared with laughter at the joke,<br>They recognized a gentlemanly fellow pulling stroke:<br>'Twas ROBINSON - a convict, in an unbecoming frock!<br>Condemned to seven years for misappropriating stock!!!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">They laughed no more, for SOMERS thought he had been rather rash<br>In knowing one whose friend had misappropriated cash;<br>And PETER thought a foolish tack he must have gone upon<br>In making the acquaintance of a friend of ROBINSON.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">At first they didn't quarrel very openly, I've heard;<br>They nodded when they met, and now and then exchanged a word:<br>The word grew rare, and rarer still the nodding of the head,<br>And when they meet each other now, they cut each other dead.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">To allocate the island they agreed by word of mouth,<br>And PETER takes the north again, and SOMERS takes the south;<br>And PETER has the oysters, which he hates, in layers thick,<br>And SOMERS has the turtle - turtle always makes him sick.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=William+Schwenck+Gilbert">William Schwenck Gilbert</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=538940" data-title="Etiquette de William Schwenck Gilbert" data-description="The BALLYSHANNON foundered off the coast of Cariboo,
And down in fathoms many went the captain and the crew;
Down went the owners - greedy men whom hope of gain allured:
Oh, dry the starting tear, for they were heavily insured.

Besides the captai..."></div>
</div>
</div>