“COME here,” said I, “oh caddy boy, and tell me how it hapsYou cling so fast unto these links; not like the other chaps,Who like to dally on the streets and play the game of craps? “Is it that you enjoy the work of carrying a bagWhile others speed the festive ball o’er valley, hill, […]

When the order was given to withdraw from battle for breakfast,one of the gun-captains, a privileged character, beggedCommodore Dewey to let them keep on fighting until “we’ve wiped’em out.”-War Anecdote in Daily Paper. AT the battle of Manila,In the un-Pacific sea,Stood a gunner with his mad upJust as far as it could be-Stood a gunner […]

I WOULD not change my joys for thoseOf Emperors and Kings.What has my gentle friend the roseTold them, if aught, do you suppose-The rose that tells me things? What secrets have they had with trees?What romps with grassy spears?What know they of the mysteriesOf butterflies and honey-bees,Who whisper in my ears? What says the sunbeam […]

MY best-loved color? Well, I think I likeA soft and tender dewy green-for grass.Sometimes a pink my fancy too will strike-In lobster purée or a Sauterne glass. Blue is a color, too, I greatly love.It’s sort of satisfying to my eyes.’Tis their own color; and I’m quite fond ofThis hue also for soft Italian skies. […]

PIETRO NAPOLINI DI VENDETTA PASQUARELLE Deserted balmy Italy, the land that loved him well,And sailed for soft America, of wealth the very fount,To earn sufficient dollars there to make himself a count.Alas for poor Pietro! he arrived in winter-time,And marvelled at the poet who observed in tripping rhymeHow this New World was genial, and a […]

I LOVE the leaf of the old oak-tree,I love the gum of the spruce,I love the bark of the hickory,And I love the maple’s juice. On the walnut’s grain I fondly dote,On the cherry’s fruit I’d dine,And I love to lie in a narrow boat,And scent the odor of pine. Ah, me! how I wish […]

HER eyes are blue-a lovely hueFor eyes; her cheeks are pink,And for the cheek, ’twixt me and you,That color’s right, I think. Her fingers taper prettily,Her teeth are white as pearls-Her hands seem softer far to meThan any other girl’s. Her figure’s trim-it is petite-I like them just that way,And truly, maiden half so sweetYou’d […]

MAID of culture, ere we part,Since we’ve talked of letters, art,Science, faith, and hypnotism,And ’most every other ism,When you wrote, a while ago,Ζώη μοῦ, σὰς ἀγαπώ, Let me tell you this, my dear:Though your lettering was clear,Though the ancient sages GreekWould be glad to hear you speak,They would be replete with woeAt your μοῦ, σὰς […]

WHEN I was twenty-one, I swore,If I should ever wed,The maiden that I should adoreShould have a classic head;Should have a form quite Junoesque;A manner full of grace;A wealth of hirsute picturesqueAbove a piquant face. But I, alas! am perjured, forI’ve wed a dumpy lassI much despised in days of yore,Of quite the plainest class,Because […]

AS I read over old John Dryden’s verse,The rhymes of men like William Blake, and Gay,The stuff that helped fill Edmund Waller’s purse,And that which placed on Marvell’s brow the bay, It doth appear to me that in those timesThe Muses quaffed not sparkling wine, but grog,And that to grow immortal through one’s rhymesWas ’bout […]

I KNOW a man in Real Estate,Whose pride of self’s sublime.He’d like to be a poet greatBut “can’t afford the time.”

WHAT has become of the cast-off coatsThat covered Will Shakespeare’s back?What has become of the old row-boatsOf Kidd and his pirate pack? Where are the scarfs that Lord Byron wore?Where are poor Shelley’s cuffs?What has become of that wondrous storeOf Queen Elizabeth’s ruffs? Where are the slippers of Ferdinand?Where are Marc Antony’s clothes?Where are the […]

A LEAF fell in love with the soft green lawn,He deemed her the sweetest and best,And then on a dreary November dawnHe withered and died on her breast.

BLESSED jokes of my dreams! Your praises I’d sing.No mirth can compare to the mirth that you bring.I’ve read London Punch from beginning to end,On all comic papers much money I spend,But naught that is in them can ever seem brightBeside the rich jokes that I dream of at night. How I laugh at those […]

I DO not fear an enemyWho all his days hath hated me. I do not bother o’er a foeWhose name and face I do not know. I mind me not the small attackOf him who bites behind my back: But Heaven help me to the end’Gainst that one who was once my friend.

THY span of life was all too short-A week or two at best-From budding-time, through blossoming,To withering and rest. Yet compensation hast thou-aye!-For all thy little woes;For was it not thy happy lotTo live and die a rose?

ON READING “NOT ONE DISSATISFIED,” BY WALT WHITMAN GOD spare the day when I am satisfied!Enough is truly likened to a feast that leaves man satiate.The sluggishness of fulness comes apace; the dulness of a mind thatknows all things.The lack of every sweet desire; no new sensation for the soul!To want no more?What vile estate […]

I KNEW a man who died in days of yore,To whom no monument is like to rise;And yet there never lived a mortal moreDeserving of a shaft to pierce the skies. His chiefest wish strong friendships was to make;He cared but little for this poor world’s pelf;He shared his joys with every one who’d take,And […]

IT was an ancient populist,His beard was long and gray,And punctuated by his fist,He had his little say:“This is the age of gold,” he said,“’Tis gold for butter, gold for bread,Gold for bonds and gold for fun;Gold for all things ’neath the sun.”Then with a smileHe shook his head.“Just wait awhile,”He slyly said.“When we get […]

“WHAT shall I put my dollars in?” he asked, in wild dismay.“I’ve fifty thousand of ’em, and I’d like to keep ’em too.I’d like to put them by to serve some future rainy day,But in these times of queer finance what can a fellow do? “A railway bond is picturesque, and the supply is great,But […]