THE EIGHTH WONDER

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 144, 14 March 1931, Page 21

THE EIGHTH WONDER

[A tliirteen-year-old League member describes his ideal wife in the following poem. Do you think he will ever find her?] She’d have to know the poets.

And say them all by heart; She’d have io quote from Shakespeare, And know his wond’rous art.

The plays of all the well-known writers She’d have to read to me, She’d have to know their certain ways Of writing things, you see; And all the works of Chaucer.

• Milton and Kipling’s Verse. She’d have to buy them for me, With the money from her purse; She’d have to know the masters, And the masterpieces, too.

She’d have to know cartoonists, And the kinds of work they do; The sketches from the different books ' She’d have to show to me.

And show me all the latest posters, That there are to see; . And the different kinds. of paints I d have— She’d have to keep a tally, And see I did not leave them when We went io paint the valley.

She’d have to be a sporting fan, And like to go to fights; And go to evening running, And to harriers some nights.

The footballers and cricketers She’d have to know by sight, And there would be no guessing, She’d have to have them right.

The wrestlers she would have to know, i And come to town with me; To see the riders broadside In the Stadium. You see

She’d have to like the things I like, And think the same as me; And go where’er I told her io, And do it happily.

She’d have to wear what she could get. But not in any tatter; For if she really cared for me. The money wouldn’4 matter.

What fortune if I found her! My flag would be unfurled; I’d marry her and she would be Eighth wonder of the world. —Original, by Earle Taylor, Petone (aged 13 years).