VARIOUS VERSES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXIX, Issue 8359, 16 February 1907, Page 3

VARIOUS VERSES.

THE LAND OF LITTLE PEOPLE. Far away, and yet so near us. lies a land where all have been, Played beside its sparkling waters, danced along its meadows green, Where the busy world we dwell in and its noises only seem Like the echo of a tempest or the shadow of a dream; And it grows not old forever, sweet j and young it is to-day — 'Tis the Land of Little People, where the happy children play. And the things they know and see there are so wonderful'and grand, Things that wiser, older folks cannot know or understand. In the- woods they meet the fairies andjfind the giants in their caves, See the- palaces of cloudland and the mermen in the waves; Know what all the birds sing of, hear the secrets of the flowers For the Land of Little People is another world than ours. Once 'twas ours; 'tis ours [no longer, for when nursery time is o'er, Through the Land of Little People we may wander nevermore; But we hear their merry voices and / we see them at their play, Arid our own dark world grows brighter and we seem as young as they, .Roaming over shore and meadow, talking to the birds and flowers — < For the Land of Little People is a fairer world than ours. CONVERSATIONAL REFORM. When Theo: Roos: unfurled his bann: As Pres: of an immense Repubj And sought to manufact: a plan For saving people troub His mode of spelling (termed phonet:) Affec: my brain like an emet:. And I evolved a scheme (pro tem.) To simplify my mother-tongue, That so in fame I might resem: Upt: Sine:, who wrote "The Jung And rouse an interest enorm: In conversational reform. I grudge the time' my fellows waste Completing words that are so comm Wherever peop: of cult: and taste Habitually predom: 'T would surely tend to simpli: life Could they but be curtailed a trif. Gent: Reader, if to me you'll list; And not be irritab: or peev:, You'll find it of tremmed: assist: This habit of abbrev: Which grows like some infec: disease, Like chon: pari: or German meas. "'Tis not in mort: to comm: success," * As Shakes: remarked; but if my meth: Does something to dimin: or less: The expend: of public breath, My country, overcome with grat:, Should in my hon: erect a stat:. ( —The Century. j PROGRESS. | Virtue and that part of philosophy ] Will I apply, that treats of happiness By virtue specially to be achieved. —Shakespeare. Is itjthe march of mind to wondrous things, The spells of science or the spoils of art? Can truer knowledge solve life's mystic chart? Shall groping, shackled thought have soaring wings To reach and pierce life's deeper vital springs? The mysteries that baffle us impart That joyless sense of void which numbs the heart, And sow the discontent that failure brings. The truer progress of mankind must yield Untrammelled visions clear and jpure as light, The myriad deeds of love that gem our night, And all that blossoms in affection's field, The joy of faith in sympathy revealed, The glow of trust upon life's mountain height! —lsidore G. Ascher.

HERR VOIGT OF KOEPENICK (who has been awarded four years' imprisonment for his military masquerade). Sir Cobbler, "awl" is over for the time, But, judging from the Continental news, You seemed to have a penchant most sublime , For standing in another person's shoes. But now, alas, an order of the Court Transcends your own imperious command: That you must pay the price of making sport — Of having neatly "soled" the Fatherland. 'Twere well you heard your fate with rigid fade, Nor for the nation's clemency appealed ; Who stabs the haughty "Uppers" of your race, Had better wait until the wound be "heeled." The sentence does not err upon youi side — One would not be disposed to, think it lax — But yet its justice cannot be denied, For Empires must not wane thai cobblers "wax." Let him whd to your spirit woulc be blind, Be careful how he fulminates o) croaks; In you a British simile we find: You typify the very art of hoax! To sum the episode in statemen terse: You are the victim of a martia folk, Who, ready xo annex the universe, Confess, 'tis clear, they canno "take" a joke!