Over the last 2 or 3 days I've turned into a grape! They're sweet, juicy, delicious & cheap here at the moment. But is it possible to overdose on grapes, I wonder? Maybe you can have too many!
James McIntyre (1827-1906)
Ode on the Mammoth Cheese Weighing over 7,000 Pounds
We have seen the Queen of cheese,
Laying quietly at your ease,
Gently fanned by evening breeze --
Thy fair form no flies dare seize.
All gaily dressed soon you'll go
To the great Provincial Show,
To be admired by many a beau
In the city of Toronto.
Cows numerous as a swarm of bees --
Or as the leaves upon the trees --
It did require to make thee please,
And stand unrivalled Queen of Cheese.
May you not receive a scar as
We have heard that Mr. Harris
Intends to send you off as far as
The great World's show at Paris.
Of the youth -- beware of these --
For some of them might rudely squeeze
And bite your cheek; then songs or glees
We could not sing o' Queen of Cheese.
We'rt thou suspended from baloon,
You'd caste a shade, even at noon;
Folks would think it was the moon
About to fall and crush them soon.
Notes
1] The cheese was made by James Harris at the Ingersoll factory (99).
6] the great Provincial Show: the Toronto Industrial Exposition, founded in 1878, and lit by electricity in 1882, where 22 of 23 buildings focused on agriculture (The Canadian Encyclopedia, 2nd edn. [Edmonton: Hurtig, 1988]: 345).
16] The great World's show at Paris: in 1889 the Effel Tower was built for this exhibition, established in 1851 in London.
c.i.
