AT A READING.

Otago Witness, Issue 1950, 4 April 1889, Page 29

AT A READING.

The spare professor, grave and bald, Began his paper. It was called, I think, " A Brief Historic Glance At Russia, Germany, and France." A glance, but to my best belief 'Twas almost anything but brief — A wide survey, in which the earth Was seen before mankind had birth ; Strange monsters basked them in the sun, Behemoth, armoured glyptodon, And in the dawn's unpracticed ray The transient dodo winged its way ; Then, by degrees, through slit ana slough, We reached Berlin— l don't know how ; The good professor's monotone Had turned me into aenseleßß stone Instanter, but that near me sat Hypatia in her new spring hat ; Blue-ejed, intert, with lips whose bloom Lighted the heavy curtained room. Hypatia— ah, what lovely things Are fashioned out of eighteen springs— At first, in sums of this amount, The eighteen winters do not count. Just as my eyes were growing dim With heaviness, I saw that slim, Erect, elastic figure there, Like a pond lily taking air. She looked co fresh, so wise, so neat, So altogether crisp and sweet, I quite forgot wbat Bismarak said, And why the Emperor shook his head, And how It was Yon Moltke's frown Cost France another frontier town. The only facts I took away From the professor's theme that day Were these : A forehead broad and low, A chin to Greek perfection true ; Eyes of Astarte's tender blue ; A high complexion without fleck " Or flaw, and curls about her neck.