ODE TO THE BABY.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume 2, Issue 195, 31 May 1878, Page 3

ODE TO THE BABY.

A young Benedict friend of ours, who has recently become a Pa, has received the following congratuktory Byronic ode from a young lady acquaintance. We cannot say that the verses are above Par, still we fctrust that their publication will not Mar the enjoyment of tbe happy Parent:— Saturday Advertiser. Howl on, thou yelling, screaming infant, howl I Ten thousand bottles comfort thee in vain! Tom walks the bedroom swearing—his control Stops with thy mother: bat thy loud complain Not all his growls can still; with sad refrain. Thy melancholy cry sounds ever thro' the night, And thy fond mother moans " Tom, strike alight!" The festive gathering and the quiet chat, And cosy little dinner set for two. The evenings spent in Terpatcharean whirl, And all the comforts that of late they knew, Are now things of the past; and only you Have changed them into this. There's not a meal But what is interrupted by a squeal; Mamma jumps up—" What can the nurse beat? My darling cherub 1" Pa says " Drat the brat 1" Thou art an empress in thy small domain: How little did thy father think but one Short year ago, that Time, who changed all things, Would see the gay young spark, with parties done. A happy father! Oh, what hollow fun Lies hid in those two words I He never thought To see himself versed in all baby lore, Forced to rise nightly from his broken sleep At certain times and seasons, and what's . more, Make bottles for the babe, whose hungry squeals Beguile his cheerful task and shivering heels. G.

A new mot of Leech, the famous caricaturist of London Punch, has lately been unearthed. A friend, speaking to Leech of Frank Matthews,, said : " You know the one I mean, not Charles—the one with the most t's to his name." " The most teas," said Leech ; " the most brandies-and-waters, jon mean."

Christchurch*