NEWSPAPER VERSE

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIV, Issue 256, 5 November 1910, Page 6

NEWSPAPER VERSE

NOWADAYS

It's oh! to be young in a world grown old, ■-A;■■sober world and gray; WitSh chivalry banished,, and love grown cold And the fairies fled away; For the Little People are over the sea, over the sea to the West, A thousand leagues through the Sunset Gates they dwell in the Isles of, the Blest! Its oh!_ to be young in a world grown old,. ; A world that once was fair; She has painted' her face like an oldtime queen, . j And tied her faded hair; And Love, and Laughter, and Hope, and Faith, are withered ant worji as she. For all sweet thingsl are fled away; with the Little Folk over the sea. —Isobel A. H. Fisher, in the Westminster. Gazette.'

CALEDONIAN CAUTION. My Flora is a canny Scot— Too canny, truth to tell— For though I'd have her share my lot, She'll no commit hersel'. I said—"Will you my sweetheart be?" She answered—"Hoots! You men!" I pressed her—"Do you care for me?" She said—"l dinna ken." "What! Don't you Is now your mind?" I cried, She said—"lt's warm the day." I asked her—"Will you be my bride?" She said—"l couldna say." "Come lassie, shall ib be this spring?" She cried—"You're verra free." "Then tell me may I bay the ring?" "Man! Please yourself" says she. Before the chancel steps we stood St. Giles's Kirk intil; The parson asked me if I would; Of course I said "I will." But when it came to Flo's reply, The nearest that she'd go Was just to murmur cautiously, "I wudna say 'I'll no.' " —Truth.

THE WAVE ON, A , ' ' ,"'• LEV3BL ' '; JBttise of the' heart that has throbbed in Creation,'/ ' ' Link in the chaining of spheres in their station, Undulant, undulant, Billowy, buoyant, On to the shore, with thy rythmical motion! , Shoreward, thou deep-bosomed daughter of ocean! Drifting so restfully, So irresistibly. Dreaming the visions that tempests have brought thee, Whispering songs that the tropics have taught thee. Wake—see the goal in sight! Don thy majestic might, Lift thy proud head in air, Unsnood the, «nowy hair, Arch the full'crest away, Toss back the locks of spray, Race, till the goal be won, On, to the land,'on! Home, to the land, .home! Crash—down, on the shore, with a roar Of foam. Rest thee—the measureless journey is o'er. Lost in the swirl of the locks on the shore.1-

THE THREADS OF LIFE. Nobody stands alone in the world; The threads of life are twisted and twirled i In and out, from one to another, f Linking us close to a sister or brother. | I All that we think,' that we hope, that j we are ' Touches a comrade at Home or afar. We should be careful, I thinkj don't you? If we only knew, if we only knew. Gossamer threads that we cannot see Link us together invisibly; White threads or black, as the case may be, i ] Threads that are looped to Eternity. Black threads or white that we may not sever Bind us and tie us for ever and ever; Shape a thought and set it free, It slips from your/ pen and your memory; You may forget the child of your brain— ~ Long, years later you find it again; ' ; Altered, perhaps,- expanded, grown, Yet, in spite of changes your very ■■■■-■'■' ' own, ■ j

I For evil or good,. a help or a danger, In the heart of a friend, on the lips of a stranger, Here is your thought. Be it false or true, You sent it forth—if you only knew. Nobody stands alone in the world; The threads of life are twisted and

twirled ,In and out, from one to another j We are the keepers of sister and brother. Each must proclaim at the muster-roll Whether he helped or hindered a soul. We should be careful, I think, don't you? If we only knew—if we only knew. —Mabel Murry Hickson, in the Pall Mall Gazette.

I WHAT THEY SAID AND WHAT THEY THOUGHT. "Good-bye!" he said, with trembling m < voice, 5 — 'Twas at the garden wicket, "I sail to-night—l have no choice (Because I've bought my ticket). j "The hour has come when we must l part. I No more to be together, i I know that I'll be sick at heart (If it is stormy weather.)" "Don't go!" she said, in pleading j tone; I "How can I see you go forth? \ What shalM do when I'm alone J (For flowers and fruit and so j forth)? | "All day and night I'll sigh and I yearn, i And wonder why you've tarried, j > 'Twill be so long, ere you return | ' (I'll probably be married)." - * ', "Good-bye!" he murmured low once j | more, j I "I know how deep's your sorrow, : To-night your heart is sad and sore j i (You'll be all right to-morrow)." ; \ "Good-bye!" she sobbed ; "I know \ you'll miss "■ ; Your darling when we're parted, ; < And that you will be true"-a kiss- j (Until you've safely started)." '.