Poetry. MRS LOFTY AND I

Waikato Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2319, 21 May 1887, Page 1 (Supplement)

Poetry. MRS LOFTY AND I

Mrs Lofty keeps a carriage, So do I; Sho has dapple grays to draw it, None have I; She's no prouder with her coachman Than atn I With my blue-eyed, laughing baby, Trundling by. I hide his face, lest she should see The cherub boy and envy uie. Her fine husband has white fingers, Mine has not; He could give bis bride a, palace — Mine a eot; Hers comes home beneath the starlight, Ne'er caresses she; Mine comes in the purple twilight, Kisses uie, And prays that He who turns life's sands Will hold his loved ones ih His hands. Mrs Lofty has her jewels, So have I; She wears hers upon her bosom, Inside I; She will leave hers at death's portal, By-and-by; . . * I shall bear my treasure with me When I die ; For I havo love, and she has gold : She counts her wealth —mine can't be told. She has those who love her—station, None have I; But I've ono true heart beside— Glad am I; I'd not change it for a kingdom, No, not I. ; God will weigh it in His balance. By-and-by, And then the difference He'll define 'Twixt Mrs Lofty's wealth and mine. —Mrs C. Gildersleeve. REDCOATS, BLUEJACKETS, AND RED-TAPE. I. Where sleeps our old-world England ? It is nought ' ' Her.sword is blunted in the battle-play ? 1 Nor the dim laurels of an earlier day, : : Cressy, Poitiers, and Harry's Agincourt, And where Spain's spent Armada reeled distraught?— Heroes of Blenheim, Ramifies, Malplaquet. And Abraham's deathless hights, Plassy, •Assaye, Sobraon—gods ! we fight not as they fought. Not ours, not ours the meteor flag that flew From Badajoz to Victoria, not the roar Of Alma, Balaclava, Inkerman, : Delhi and proud Lucknow, avenged Cawn- '' pore, And those twin "trnrnpet-voices in the van— Trafalgar and immortal Waterloo. n. Souls of our sire 3 who gained a soldier's .tomb, Sleeping the dreamless sword-sleep oversea, .Behold unrecognized your empery, . Your victories vanished in the gathering gloom Before us stands the Angel of the Doom ; Behind, implacable, thy memory, Majuba, and the lingering agony Of.him who unregarded held Khartoum. Soldiers, outnumbered, navy undermanned ~Burst cannon, bayonets shattered, sabres ' . , ■ bent — Whence crawls this curse upon us, year by \ y6ar? Ask of the red-tape crew, whose crooked ■ : • hand Claws the sparse millions fools opine are spent On fleet and army. Lo, the curse is here ! Pall Mall Gazette. QUAINT RHYMES. The vagaries of English orthography pave been indicated by previous correspondents. I have lately come across the following, which may prove interesting : — A man in debt No rest will gebt Until he's in the tomb, His cares will weigh So heavy theigh Will shroud his life with glomb. He'll practice guile, • . And never smuille ; His head with pain will ache : He'll grieve and sigh And want to digh And thin his troubles shache. But owing none He'll have more fone Than any king that reigns; He'll feel benign, His health is flgn, And he long life atteigns. Without a doubt All can keep oubt Of debt if only they Will never buy To please the euy And cash down always pey. Euphony Hull.