The Curfew Shall Toot

     (In Bayonne, N.J., the curfew bell has been changed to a whistle which will toot every evening at 9)

Ring out the old, toot in the new,

     Bayonne has got in line;

The curfew shall not ring, but toot

     Each evening at nine.

No more the young of old Bayonne,

     Shall say, with stamping foot,

“The curfew shall not ring tonight,”

     Instead, “it shall not toot.”

The mournful bells of old Bayonne

     Are silent now and gone;

Their tongues have told their last sad tale,

     And hang in peaks forlorn.

And youngsters fain would linger long,

     But homeward quickly scoot

To be beyond the law’s long reach

     At Bayonne’s curfew toot.

And now when school is out, I wean,

     On Bayonne’s closing day,

Some youngster full of noble fire

     Will raise his hand and say,

Not as we used to say of old,

     To our fond parents’ rare delight,

But to the teacher’s dire dismay:

     “The curfew must not toot tonight!”

May 11, ‘10

                                          http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2014/New%20York%20NY%20Evening%20Call/New%20York%20NY%20Evening%20Call%201910/New%20York%20NY%20Evening%20Call%201910%20-%200364.pdf