Page 3 Advertisements Column 3

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 227, 12 March 1866, Page 3

OEIGINAL POETEY. FLORA'S BIRTHDAY. Twas fairy Flora's natal day, And all her nymphs fair . Came with bright looks their court to pay, And with them brought a flower so gay To deck her flowing hair. Some brought of love an emblem meet. The rose — that beauteous flower, The myrtle, fuschia, woodbine sweet, And laid them at Florella's feet, Within her vine- wreathed bower. Upon the velvet grass they laid, And sipped the balmy air, Attendant nymphs now sang and played, And to the queen their homa-e paid, Beneath the moonshine fair. * A laughing Hebe now was seen, With airy step and swift, Light she came tripping o'er the green, And kneeling down before the queen, Diplayed her birthday gift. Queen of the wild wood I for you Have brought no present gay, Thy maids have searched the garden through, And brought thee flowers of many a hue And beauteous vivid ray. Scarce knew I what to choose for thee, When by yon murmuring rill, A lilly fair I chanced to see, Oh ! this I said — my " vase " shall be, I'll with it wild flowers fill. Forthwith I plucked of violets two, The purple and the white, A primrose and a harobell blue, Forget-me-not, and dogrose too, And sprig of speedwell bright. Sweet wood flower queen I've brought to you This token of my love, 'Tis but a humble gift 'tis true, But lovely Flora deign thou to Approve my simple choice. Florella took the offering sweet, 'Midst smiles approving pleasures, With rapture said — none ran compete With wildlings of the lone retreat. As these loved forest treasures. Elza Wiusok. Invercargill, Bth March, 1866 » THE PRINTER FIEND. The night was dark and not a star Peeped through the gathering gloom, And silence brooded o'er the type In the composing-room. The printers had to supper gone, And vacant were their places, When thYo' the door a villain crept, And stole Bill Norman's spaces. Oh ! foulest wrong beneath the sun, Oh! deepest of disgraces, The darkest crime that can be done Is that of stealing spaces ! Bill went to lunch, and left his case, Filled — running oe'r— with letter, And thought he would return again When copy should get fatter. When he came back he took his place, Again before his cases ; Tou should have seen his attitude When he beheld his spaces ! The Fiend still lives, and walks the earth, And so must walk for ever, He cannot live — a wretch like him, For rest awaits h : m, never ! And printers for long years to come, Will tremble at their cases, Well knowing that his spirit still, Is fond of stealing spaces. N. B. S. Invercargill, Bth March, 18R6. TO THE CAG-ED EAGLE. Coldly and dimly the sunlight falls On thy dark and wearisome walls, And yearning for the deep blue afar Thine eyes would pierce through each iron bar, Like fading stars midst the silent gloom That wrapeth forever thy living tomb, Yet eagle of regal birth thou art, Of tameless wing and of dauntless heart. Not thus, not thus would I gaze on thee Thou roamer of heaven's depths bold and free, : But away from the dwellings of men, oh bird, Where the shout of the mountain stream is head, Where the pillow lasheth beneath the steep, Where the storm hi its wildest mood doth sweep, And the crag by the thuuder-cloud is kissed That cradled thy young in its snow and mist. And where the noontide's uncheckered beam . jTrom thy golden pinion might flash and stream, While the reading the vaults of the burnished sky, With thy fearless breast and thy quenchless eye, Oh were it but mine to unclasp thy chain, I would send thee free to thy cliffs again. How long poor one did thine anxions mate For thy glad returning watch and wait, Still deeming the twilight hours might bring Thee back to her side on thy faithful wind, Oh love to the frailest hope will cling, — Lone captive never again on thee Shall dawn the rock by the whitening sea, | Where the glorious p ■ ime of thy youth waspass'd Where gazed thine eyes on thy children last, Long, long shalt thou wearily yearn and mourn, j To thy home and thy love thou shalt never return. Beth. An Equity. Suite. — The Lord Chancellor keeps a yacht, and disports himself on the deck in sailor's togs, which Vice- Chancellor Turnner de- ' clares to be " the shortest equity suit " hehasever seen. The Dictionaby Wasted. — A city member of the New York Assembly, sent up the following resolution one day lately : — " Resolved — That the clerk of this hous furnish a copy of vebseters una-briged Dictionary to each member." Let him have the dictionary. A Peolific Mateon. — Mrs. Andrew Allison, residing in Beaver county, Ohio, last week gave oirth to four healthy children. (Some 20 months ago Mrs. Allison ga* c birth to three daughters, whom she named Cora, Dora, and Nora. Mother and the seven are all doing welL A Tallow Mine. — An American paper says that a tallow mine has been discovered in the town of Windsor, Conn. The greasy substance rises to the top of a spring, so the story goes, to the thickness of three-eighths of an inch. Next, we may look for s oap mines and butter mines. The oldest piece of furniture is the multiplication " table." It was constructed more than two thousand years ago, and it is as good as new. A private in the army recently sent a letter to his sweeheart, closing with, "May Heaven cherish and keep you from yours truly John | Smith." Philosophy. — A traveller, who was datained an hour by some mischance, shortened his stay by making " a minute of it." There's philosophy for you. A simple Irishman, apologising for hia ignorance of horsemanship, tersely summed up with " Sure I newer was on a horse but once, and then I was off." An experienced woman asserts that, when men break their hearts, it is all the Bame as when a lobster breaks one of his cluws — another sprouts immediately, and growing in its place. The operation of casting a cubic block of steel, of the enormous weight of 100 tons, was successfully accomplished on Tuesday sennight, at the works of Messrs. Bessemer and Sons, at East Greenwich, Ei gland. The law courts of Lyons and Oolmar have decided that the particle de, pkved before one' a name, is not a sign of nobility, and thft th«t«fow