LOVE'S LESSON.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2155, 1 May 1886, Page 1 (Supplement)

LOVE'S LESSON.

An old-timo school-house— a row of benches — A boy and girl in the foremost nislo, His curly head o'er his desk now bending* Her bright eyes watching his face the whilo. He lifts to her view his slat©, where written With many a flourish and grotesque curl, She reads, while blushes her fair cheeks mantle, " Honest, I love you— Be my girl ?" The teacher spyeth two eager faces — One anxious, the other shy and coy ; The charge comes bharply, "Communication !" Alas for message ! alas for boy ! He bendeth low o'er his task, defiant, Slowly absolving his school-time sin ; She waits by the school-yard gate, and weepeth In mingled pity and love of him. ****** A stately mansion — a fairy vista, Where muiic floats through a sparkling glow; A man and a maiden idly watching The forms of the dancers come and go. They move apart from the ball-room's brightness, , While stars shine bright in their limpid gleam. She talks of their childhood .days, regretting How far, forgotton, and dim they seeW. He talks of the night, of lands far distant, Their varied wonders, and then— O FateHe tells (this time without interruption) The same old story he wrote on his slate. Methinks if the schoolmarm had seen her pupils, Their rapt contentment and happy looks, She'd think, in spite of her best endeavour", They'd learned a lesson not found in books. —Edith K. Perry, in the Boston Traveller.