The Paris Policeman.

Vanity Fair (UK), May 17, 1906
 

[A policeman has been discovered in Paris who in his spare moments was an Anarchist.]

When the policeman is rejoicing in his leisure,
 A time which might hang heavy on his hands,
He takes a most romantic sort of pleasure
 As member of some Anarchistic bands.
To “remove” unpleasant people, when he’s picked ’em,
 To him’s a task replete with quiet fun;
Yes, in spite of Mr. Gilbert’s famous dictum,
 A policeman’s lot is quite a happy one.

When he isn’t haling loafers to the station,
 Or requesting stagnant crowds to pass along,
A pound of picric gives him recreation;
 He flings it in amidst the busy throng.
With a smile upon his face that’s quite seraphic,
 He wings a rising statesman with his gun:
And feels, as he manipulates the traffic,
 That a gendarme’s lot is quite a happy one.

 


 

Printed unsigned in Vanity Fair; entered by Wodehouse as “The Anarchist Policeman” in Money Received for Literary Work.

Note:

 

“Suicide of an Anarchist Policeman. The suicide of a Paris policeman named Genet, which took place on Tuesday last, and was kept secret, came out on Sunday. Genet, says the ‘Daily Express,’ before killing himself, wrote a letter to a brother policeman in which he stated that he was an Anarchist and had committed suicide because he was unable to bring off with success an outrage he had contemplated.” (Aberdeen Journal, May 15, 1906)

 

John Dawson