NEWSPAPER VERSE.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLII, Issue 139, 13 June 1908, Page 6

NEWSPAPER VERSE.

CHRYSANTHEMUMS. Chrysanthemums bloom late, but blooming bring More joy, I sometimes think, than summer flowers, For when they come, the birds are . on the wing ! To summer climes, and every summer thing Is bidding farewell! Then these—bright, spicy—like a well-known guest Remain to cheer us, lest we miss the rest. — National Magazine. __—— '' i. .2nd APRIL, 1908. ■ (In memory of the men of H.M.S. .Tiger.) „,- Bow, bow the head, proud mother! bow and weep . For those brave sons who tor their, country died, Those men who fought unsleeping wind and tide, And sleepless walked the deck that we might sleep; i ■",.,* . , For though Death ne'er did richer harvest reap, „ . • The seed of heroes ever shall abide,. Others shall dare the desperate task they tried,; * And hunt the phantom foe from deep to deep. , And if on .wings of night they rushed to doom, On wings of light their souls went , safe ashore., .7 . , , : . ■ The Light of Duty lit the awful gloom,; . ■ They heard God's voice above the water's roar, ... The sea that nursed them nightly is their tomb, And Ocean sings their dirge for evermore. . • — Westminster Gazette. THE CROWNING INDIGNITY.. Just 'cause my brother Alferd, he Is two years olderer 'an me, W'y, ever'thing he gets 'at's new They give. to me when he gets through. I try me best to not ii 6 grow An' catch up with his old things so, But when he gets too big for clo es, W'/ *'ye growed just exactly so s They'll do for me-—an' then I've got . To keep on wearin' 'em a lot! My brother.Alferd's pants just wait, .An' never get tored on the gate Or ripped on nails, or wored out none Until my catchin' up is done. V* 7hen he gets new ones, my ma, she Says his old pants will do for me. An' Alferd grins, an' looks so glad It always makes me awful mad! An' 'at's th' way it always goes— I even get his underdoes! But now it's worse 'an ever! I m Just mad clean through and through this* time. • It's got to more 'an I can stand— - This gettin' his things secon -hand! An' 1 told ma 'at I think it Is> purty near th' time to quit. Mv brother Alferd,'he's been, sick ' With measles he was 'speckled thick, But now" he's through with them, you see, , He's gone an' give 'em all to me! Harper's Magazine. THE NEW LEARNING. . '■ . ..V r. They taught him how to hemstitch, "and they taught him how to sing. And how to make a basket out of variegated string, . .'\ \nd how to fold a paper ,so he wouldn't hurt his thumb— ■ They taught a lot to Bertie,- but he couldn t . do a sum. They taught him how to mould the head of Hercules in clay, And how to tell the difference 'twixt the bluebird and the jay, And how to sketch a horsie in a little picture-frame — But, strangely, they forgot to teach him ,-■.. - how to . spell his name. Now, Bertie's pa was crabbed,-and he went one day to find "What 'twas they did to make his son so backward in the mind. , "I don't want Bertie wrecked, he ctied, in temper far from cool, "I want him educated!" So he took him - out of , school. — Jersey Jingles. THE WORSHIP OF THE COW. ;',. . , . ___ — . / j I am a dairy-farmer; one That scoffed at romance. I strain from dawn till set of sun My milk cheque to enhance. The Cow* I worship as"" my God, Her "shed I make my fane; My votive gift's the toothsome sod "Whereon she feeds amain. Each morn at four my babes I fling Forth to perform the rite Or driving in the Holy Thing (And eke again at night). When she is / bailed that must be milked My progeny bows down, . And grafts—no one of these is bilked Of Labor's glorious Crown. .What though the youngsters have to wend To school that day a mile Or so away ? Wouldst have them end Toil here? You rouse a smile. No, at six sharp the Deity Is rounded up again, And milked and fed; then we at tea Start while the shadows wane. Later all join in polishing The separating cans; Then sweep the bails till the dark wing Of night more service bans. What though the children haggard grow? What though the wife grows"thin? What though they sick and weary L show ? The milk-cheque still comes in. A hard creed mine, say those who ' ' hold By teaching from the Mount— But then they have got my gold Nor my fat bank account. — Bulletin. 'Seven thousand frogs have been bought from a breeder near^ Hildesheim and placed in the ditches, pools, and small lakes at Kinkenburg, a small place in the, woods to the west of Berlin, to which thousands of Berliners and their families flock on Sunday. This experiment is being made in the hope of reducing the plague o4 mosquito-like gnats which breed iii millions and make life in the woods, or wherever there, is marshy grounc unbearable. Frogs are particularlj fond of the larvae of gnats, and it is hoped that in this manner the plague will be reduced.