Robert Seaver

“ He toils with might and main,
Nor ever stops, but busy keeps
Through wind and snow and rain.
Yet though he toils full lustily,
He’s free from modern ills:
He has no Motor Car, and so
He pays no Chauffeur’s bills. ”

“ The classic and pathetic ballad of the fortunes of Ben
Battle is perhaps the most famous of Hood’s humorous
poems. The seeming crudity of the laughable
pictures heightens the humor of Hood’s punning
verses, and the result is a holiday booklet which
cannot fail to amuse. ”