The World’s Wit and Humor: An Encyclopedia in 15 Volumes. 1906.
Pierre Jean de Béranger (17801857)The Little Man in Gray
I
Who’s always dressed in gray:
His chubby cheeks like apples glow;
His pockets can’t a stiver show;
Yet, happy as the day,
“Ho,” quoth the little man in gray,
“I laugh at all things—that’s my way!”
And, sure, the gayest of the gay
Is he, the little man in gray!
In running up a score,
Hobnobbing, singing, into debt
He runs head over heels; and yet
When duns or bailiffs bore,
“Ho,” quoth the little man in gray,
“I laugh at all things—that’s my way!
And, sure, the gayest of the gay
Is he, the little man in gray!
Let him, unconscious soul,
Sleep in it; ’mid December’s snow
Let him his freezing fingers blow,
For lack of wood or coal;
“Ho,” quoth the little man in gray,
“I laugh at all things—that’s my way!
And, sure, the gayest of the gay
Is he, the little man in gray!
For picking up gay dresses;
So that the gayer she appears,
The more at him the public jeers:
But while the truth he guesses,
“Ho,” quoth the little man in gray,
“I laugh at all things—that’s my way!”
And, sure, the gayest of the gay
Is he, the little man in gray!
Has brought him to his level;
And when the priest, called in, begins
To talk to him of all his sins,
Of Death, and of the devil,
“Ho,” quoth the little man in gray,
“I laugh at all things—that’s my way!”
And, sure, the gayest of the gay
Is he, the little man in gray!