Chapter XIV

Then as we linger at luncheon here,
O’er many a dainty dish,
Let us drink anew to the time when you
Were a Tadpole and I was a Fish.

A BALLADE OF EVOLUTION

I

In the mud of the Cambrian main
Did our earliest ancestor dive;
From a shapeless albuminous grain
We mortals our being derive.
He could split himself up into five,
Or roll himself round like a ball;
For the fittest will always survive,
While the weakliest go to the wall.

II

As an active ascidian again
Fresh forms he began to contrive,
Till he grew to a fish with a brain,
And brought forth a mammal alive.
With his rivals he next had to strive
To woo him a mate and a thrall;
So the handsomest managed to wive,
While the ugliest went to the wall.