VARIOUS VERSES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXVIX, Issue 8138, 12 May 1906, Page 3

VARIOUS VERSES.

SOMETHING TO PLEASE THE CHILDREN. Soumething to please the children, Something to entertain! Shall I dance, my deara, or wiggle my ears, Or balance myself on a cane? Shall 1 Btand at the parlour casement And sing to the crowd below? Or poor hot tea over Grandpa's Knee In a comical way 1 know. Something to please the children: Anything droll will do! Shßll I lash myself to the mantelshelf And poke my feet up the fine? Shall I spill hot wax on the carpet Or cover my nose with soot, Or gum my hair, or drop a chair On the top of my gouty foot? Something to please the children ; Something that's light and gay! Shall I whistle and scream at the butohei's team So the horses will run away? Shall I bang the cat to toe curtain, Or scare Annt Jane with a mouse? Shall I stutter and groan, through the telephone, An J then set fire to the house?' Something to please the children; , Nothing that's trite and tame! They crow with glee as they come to me— I'm never at a loss for a gamn. They greet me as Uncle Henry, And jolly good times tbey soe la the jovial ways and gouiul plays Of an elderly man like me. —Wallace Irwin, in the "Saturday Evening Post." THE BOYLESS TOWN. A oroea old woman of long.ago Declared that she bated noise; "The town would be so pleasant,you know, If only there were no boys." She scolded and frotfed about it till Her eyes grew heavy as lead And then of a sudden the town grew still; ' For all tne boys bad fled.

And all thro' the long and dusty street There wasn't a boy in view; The baseball lot where they used 10 meet, Was a sight to make one blue. The grass was gi owing on every base, And the patbb that the runners made, For there wasn't'asoul in all the place Who knew how the game was played.

The doga were sleeping the livelons dayWhy should they bark or leap? There wasn't a whistle or call to play, And so they conld only sleep, The pony neighod from his lonely stall, Aud long3d for saddle and rein; And even the birds of the garden wall Chirped only a dull refrain. The oberries rotted and went to wasteThere waa no cne to climb the trees; And nobody bad a single taste, Save only the birds and bees. There wasn't a messenger boy—not" one— To speed as such messengers can: Jf people wanted their errands done They sent for a messenger man. There was little, I ween, of frolic and noise; There was little of cheer and mirth. The sad old town, since it lacked its boys Was the dreaiieat place on earth. The poor old woman begun to weep, Then woke with a sodden scream, ••Dear me!" she cried, "I have been asleep, And, ob, what a honid dream !" St. Nicholas.

BELIEVE. Believe, and make the world beliftve, your jaw is set to win; Believe (belief's contagious,) that your Bbip is coming in; Believe that every failure's brought about by lack of grit; Believe that work's a pleasure if you buckle into it; Beileve there's help" in hoping, if your hone is backed with will; Believe the prospects fairer from the summit of the hill; Believe, with all your power, that you're sure of winning out; Believe, keep on believing: they are brothers—Death and Doubt. Believe—not as the dreamer, with his listless hands a-swing,— Believe, with muscles rigid and life's battle flag a fling; Beileve God doesn't always wait until we cry to Him, But blesses oftener the hand that's fighting with a vim; Believe, with him of old, that all things come to them that wait, Then, while you're waitingjbustle at a doubly strenous rate; Believe that in this life we get our sternly just deserts; Believe the world is partial to the man that hides his hurts. Believe the clouds have only veiled —not blotted out—the sky. Believe there's sweeter sunshine for the blessed by and ty ; Believe the blackest dark proclaims the speedy dawn of day; Believe your joy's but waiting till you driven the dumps away; Believe tne nights are nothing to the days thßt lie between; Believe there's much that's better than you've evor heard or seen: Believe that—not alone your sin—your good will find you out; Believe; keep on believing; they are brothers—Death and Doubt. Strickland W. Gillilan in "Success."