VARIOUS VERSE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXI, Issue 142, 16 June 1906, Page 11

VARIOUS VERSE.

NORA CHESSON. Come, soft-voktd minstrels of the Spring (Whitethroat and linnet), come and sing A dirge of dainty carolling. , Come hither, gentle maidens, strew Pansies and eglantine add rue, And moisten them with sonow's dew. Bring daffodils and apple-bloom, Hawthorn and sprigs of yellow broom, And lay them lightly on her tomb. Let kindred souls that, thither pass, Tread softHy on the daisied grass, And bow the head, and sigh "Alas!" , — A.J.C., in the Westminster Gazette. THE GREEN LADY. (This bright little poem of Spring, published on 6th March, was the latest contribution of the autiior to the Daily Chronicle.) l A lady sat singing alone in the mire : <"The New Year must come, and the Old Year retire ; But 1, the Green Lady, Smell lilacs already, And I hear in the tree- veins the sap rising higher." The wind was as sharp as the fang of a snake, \ But the lady's warm fingera bade snowdrop's awake v • "I saw you, I heard you, When no vision stirred you Pf bursting your buds for tine Grew Lady's sake." v , The lady went, smiling with \rain in her face, ' And the puddle she trod turned a beauti- \ ful place, Where thirsty birds, drinking, Might sudden be thinking Of downy broods warm in a featiherline'd space. She passed, the Green Lady, and with her and after , A beam of clear sunshine pieTced heaven's cloudy rafter. It strict . tp ,«arjh's bosom, And there it bade blossom The rapture of roses, the hyacinths' laughter. — Xora Chesson. \ THE MEN UPON THE LAND. The city folk, they whirl about in cab and tram and train, " They grumble at the days of drought, they grumble at the rain. To comfort wed and easy ways, they fear to soil a hand; But the men who build a nation are tho* men upon the land. The city calls, its streetfe are gay, its pleasures well supplied, ' So of its lifeblood every day it robs the ' country side. To banks and shqps and offices men throng, an eager band — But the hearts that builds the nation are the men upon the land. How shall we call Australia great and strong when danger calls, When half the people of the State are crammed in city walls, And the wide heritage we hold lies empty and unmanned, And- the strength tibat makes a nation is not rooted in the land? Break ofi! Strike outl O come away! Be master of your life! A home for every heart to-day that fears not toil or strife! There' 6 music in the axe's ring, swung -Jsby a strong -right band, And the men that make tfae nation are the men upon, the land ! — G-. .Essex Evans, in the Brisbane Courier.

Sergeant: Where are you going, Smith! 'Smith: To fetch water. Sergeant : In those disreputable trousers ? Smith- No, sergeant; in this 'ere pail-