Sure Fire

From The Tacoma Times, September 17, 1912.
By Berton Braley.
 

 My son, when you go to a vodyville show
   You’ll notice that people will shriek
 At jokes they have heard since the long, long ago
   And heard twenty times every week;
 The moral is plain, if you’ll read as you run;
   A novelty adds to our zest,
 But when it comes down to extracting the “Mon”
   The old stuff gets over the best!
 
 It may be all right when you’re courting a dame
   To talk about Ibsen and such,
 But take it from me—if you’d win at the game,
   You won’t stick to Ibsen so much;
 You’ll tell HER that SHE’S of a beauteous mold,
   A stunner becomingly dressed;
 You’ll tell all the lies that men always have told
   The old stuff gets over the best.
 
 In politics, business, society, art,
   However the world has progressed,
 It still remains true to the words I impart,
   “The old stuff gets over the best!”