"--_Lord Salisbury at the Mansion House_.]
Don't talk about WEED, FINNEY, FISHER, or DALTON;
As Long Distance Swimmer our SOLLY stands first,
His wild watery way never tempted to halt on,
Undaunted by cold as by hunger or thirst.
Nine months in the waves, though, no man may enjoy;
So he's glad that at last he's in sight of the buoy.
In November last year he first entered the water,
To start on this special, most arduous swim,
It was cold, with the wind in a winterly quarter,
But winds, like the waves, have small terrors for him.
You remember accounts that the papers then gave
(Here's an extract) concerning this King of the Wave.
"SOLLY (of Hatfield), and SMIFF (who hails from Greenlands), started
yesterday (November 25), for a second attempt--the first having been
a failure--to swim from Tithes Pier to Purchase Point Buoy. It was
an unfavourable time of the year for such an unprecedented feat of
natation, but the Hatfield Champion was confident of success. He is a
perfect whale at long-distance immersions, and has been heard to talk
of 'twenty years of resolute' swimming against stream as a comparative
trifle. His 'pal and pardner,' SMIFF--more commonly known as the
Sanguine Old 'Un--was equally confident.
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