A GAME OF LIFE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2695, 8 November 1905, Page 67

A GAM E OF LIFE.

There are many disappointments in this lower world of ours, And trouble, when it drops on us, appears to fall in showers; But though you may be " down a man," you have "a fighting chance; You can't most always sometimes tell, especially at a glance; For life is but a checkered game, with many a curious law, That often turns a neai defeat into an easy draw. Yoiing man, has she, your queen of hearts, upon your prospects froze, For a little larger bank account or a somewhat straighter nose?' Take courage; honour is not lost, though all your "gilt" be spent; , _ The time will cpme when you'll rejoice that you have " let her went." There is a charm in " Laird and Lady " to beguile a troubled life, . And wouncted feelings are all lost in the mazes of the " Fife." "When we arrive at middle age, our chances growing few, " Looking Backward," Mr Bellamy, we can see

more than you; For we can see if we had played and pennedthe man below "We should have won just where he lost, in

that game of long ago; And we resolve, though growing old — and time

will not 'turn back,— That ; we'll redeem, that long-lost game if e'er we get a " whack." O, there is genial company upon the other

shore;** Somehow we cannot think them lost, but only gone before. There is" Yates, 'in his eternal youth, and

Wyllie, in >his age, Anu gallant Lees-, the chivalrous, and Anderson, the sage. You bet they .still are playing draughts, as

they* were wont of yore — - Perhaps with" something "up the sleeve — upon the further shore. All kail! dear Lady Dame, t whom our vows

are sworn;Thou art older than the pyramids, and younger than the morn ; "More charming than "the melody that is

sweetly played in tune," And fresher than the red, red -rose that is newly .sprung in. June." Thy hold upon the human heart will never lose its sway • * *,- Till earth itself -resigns the game and time has ceased to play.

Ch&bles "W. Monington. Passaic, New Jersey.