ESSAYS IN VERSE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIX, Issue 71, 26 March 1910, Page 13

ESSAYS IN VERSE.

THE LITTLE ADMIRAL. . Mr. Henry Newbolt contribute* to The Time* a poem entitled "Tbo Little Admiral," from which tho following are extract*:— Stand by to reckon up your battleships — Ten twenty thirty there they go! Brag about your cruiiers like Leviathans — A thousand men apiece down below J But here's just one little Admiral — We're all of us his brothers and his *ons — And he's worth, 0 he's worth at- the very least Double all your ton* and all your guns I Chorus : Stand by, etc. There are, queer things that qjiljf come to sailormen— They're true, but they're never understood — And I know one thing about the Aieairal That I can't tell rightly as I should. I've been with him when hope ssmk under vt — H, hwrdly seemed a mortal like the reat— I could umr that he had start upon hit uniform And one sleeve pinned across his breast. Ohoru»: Stand by, etc. Some day we're bound to sight the enemy — He's coming though be hasn't yet » nameKeel to keel and gun to gun ht'll challenge ua To meet him at the Great Armada game. None knows what may be the end of it. But we'll irire our bodies and our souls To see the lrttVs Admical a-phjrying him A rubber of tho old Long-Bowls'! Chorus: Stand by, etc. SONG. The birds were singing, the aides were gay ; I looked from the window* on meadow and wood, On green, green grass that the sun made white; Beyond the river the mountain stood— Blue was fho mountain, the river was brifbt; I looked on the land and it was not good, For my own-dear love she bad flown away. —Richard "Watson Gilder. """ TO A SILENT POET. Where are the caglo-wings that lifted thee Above the ken of mortal hopes and fears, And was it thou who in serener years Framed magic words with such sweet symmetry? Didst thou compel the tun, the star?, the sea, Harness the golden horses of the spheres, And make the winds of God thy charioteers Along the roads of Immortality! Art thou dead, then? Nay, leave the folded scroll, Let us keep quiet lipt and patient bands ; Not aa sheer children use, -who would unclose The petals of young flowers, but paying toll • At that high gate where Time grave gar* dener stands Waiting the ripo fulfilment of the rose. — Austiu Dobson. THE WOMEN WHO WAIT. H, went to the war in the morning— The roll of the drums could be heard, But he paused at the gate with his mother For a kiss and a comforting word. He was full of the dreams and ambitions That youth i* bo ready to weave. And proud of the clank of his sabre And the chevrons of gold on his sleeve. He cam* from the war in the evening — The meadows were sprinkled with snow, The drums and the bugles wer, silent, And the steps of tho soldiers were slow. He waa wrapped in the flag of his country When they laid him away in the mold, With the glittering stars of a captain Replacing the chevrons of gold. With the heroes who sleep on the hiiUido He lies with a flag at his head, But, blind with the years of her weeping, His mother yet mourns for her dead. The soldiers who fall in the battle May feel but a moment of pain. But the women who wait in the homesteads Must dwell with the ghosts of the slain. „ . „., —Minna Irving. Boston Pilot. OLD TIMES, OLD FRIENDS, OLD LOVE. There are no days like the good old dsys, Tho days when we were youthful ! When humankind were pure of mind. And speech and deeds were truthful; Before a love of sordid gold Became man's ruling passion. And before each dame and moid became Slave to the tyrant Fashion ! There are no girls like the good old girls— Against the world I'd sUke 'em ! As buxom and smart and clean of heart As tho Lord knew how to make 'cm J They were right in spirit and commonsense, And piety all eupportin'; They could bake and brow, and had taught school, too, And they made such likoly courtin*. There arc no boys lite the good old boys— When we wero boys together! When the grass was sweet to the brown bare feet That dimpled the laughing heather; When the pewee sang to the Summer dawn Of the bee in the billowy clover, Or down by the mill the whip-poor-will Echoed ita night song over. There » no lovo like the good old love— The lovo that mother gave us ! S Bre . old > old m <sn, yet we pine again *or that precious grace— God gave us! So we dream and dream of tho good old tunes. And our hearts grow tenderer, fonder, As those dear old dreams bring eoothins gleams Of neaven away off yonder. — Eugene Field.

American newspapers early in Februaiy describeJ a great pie-eating contest for the championship of the State of New Jersey. In the United SUtes pie is a national dish, and the machinemade variety with which the competitors have to struggle consists of a layer of pastry about a quarter of an inch thick, overspread with canned fruit, preserved with benzoato soda, the average weight being Jib. It v not a particularly digestible dish, and g»rHy explains why Americans as a race are very frequently inclined to dyspepsia. "Amid enthusiasm," we re»d, "thirtyfive young men, trained to the minute, entered the contest for the championship. The State record of twenty-siv pies in half an hour fell during tho battle. Walt«r Tappin, of TiloomfieM, New Jersey, was the winner. Ho managed to put himself on the outside of twenty-seven pies in tho allotted time. Besides the honours which go with the title, he receives the championship belt and a five-dollar sold piece. Tappin, after the victory, declared himself willing to sign articles with any opponent on three- months' notice. Second honours went to John Winthrop, who disposed of twenty -two pies. For a long thno at the. start of the race he was leading by three moutbfuls, and he explains hh defeat by the fact that wken iris face "slipped" on No. 17 he changed by mistake from peach to mince solvester. Pollit, last year's winner, was third. He declared while being led from the arena by friends, he was satisfied to have been able to even enter the contest and not let the tßte go by default. More than 300 enthusiasts witnessed the competition. Tappin is not only the premier pie-eater of New Jersey, but has beaten the records in several other New Jersey pastimes, such »« oyiter«openinf~ §nd wood>dippfvsg.