Mr. Hodgins says that in those "good old days" the "gang" would gather at his store and spend the evenings while shafts of wit and sarcasm were shot at each other and taken good-naturedly. The poem follows:
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
I am thinking of Judge Hodgins and his drug store clean and neat—
Where on long winter evenings the "faculty" would meet;
And 'round about the big black stove our arm chairs we would draw,
And listen to the phonograph play "Turkey in the Straw."
It was an honest melody; 'twould drive away the gloom;
A feeling of good-fellowship would permeate the room;
The blackest grouch would fade away; the coldest heart would thaw. 