Excerpta.

Thames Star, Volume IIII, Issue 1726, 15 July 1874, Page 3

Excerpta.

Most men like to see themselves in pnnt. ladies like to see themselves in silks and velrets —Anon

Thfc contents of most receptacles for. ** rejected communications " would, we wager, W found to consist principally of; poetry, or what the poetasters would; dignify by that name. Because why.j If a person write ever so illiterate a letter on a public matter, in a newspaper office will be found somebody to" lick it into: shape;" and when the writer; sees hir execrable' spelling and worse grammar done into passable English, he becomes: quite vain: he never has a grievance again but tie writes to the papers.^ Not ■• with the poetasters. Th«y would not brook any interference with their heavenaspired effort! even if industrious re""■fcrters or sub-editors felt inclined to polish them up; The consequence is that of the numerous effusions received at most newspaper offices, 7 comprised within the three degrees ot comparison usually applied-r-good, bad and indifferent-~tb.e greater portion are consigned to a digni 1 fied retirement, under the table, until au<& time as the "devil "is in want of waste paper for some purpose—such as kindling the fire. The conceit of persons who once begin to write " poetry " is past air understanding. They believe that their efforts are worthy a place beside Milton end Longfellow, and forthwith send them to the paper : so that they see fcueir own effusions in print they are satisfied.. Here is a specimen winch comes scarcely within the degree of badit is so infernally excruciating. We print this »» a specimen, fully aware.of the probability that the publicity thus given may* drive the. already demented writer to the Whau—

oH erin O erin the Gem of the Sea : : Sweet old dunleady Mavourneen a Cuvh la Machree o my. Heart beats for thee c my Heart beats for thee.—CO. The patriotic individual to whom we are indebted for this gem no doubt intended an apostrophe to "Dunville," from the potent influence of which he must have Been suffering when he penned the above. He. must have reached, the lachrymose sta^ei for the paper is blurred with his tears, or-— -—th,e whiskey punch. •Here is a verse from a contribution by an.ardent lover, found while rummaging the other day. Hitherto this has been guiltless of printer's ink,unless the writer, despairing of seeing hi« effusion in print, has since forwarded it to some other paper—

Oft to my lips have sprung the words Which would have told how much I loved: As oft I've checked and pressed them back, Lest a vain hope my thoughts had proved. Yet another rhyme. _ This time regretful, repentant, retrospective. The practical turn which the author's muse assumes we expect to be paid for publishing as an advertisemen.t—If I had known in the morning, When rose my charming May, And morning broke, and Nature awoke, With birds on the wing and spray j— If I could know, when I bada her walk And ervjoy that morning clear, ' That smiling g ance, and look askance, - ■ Which meant—l've nothing to wear. If I had known the kiss she gave, Like the kiss of our, early loves,— Th*t long sweet kiss, that made me her slave, When cooing like innocent cloves ; — If I had known, while this billing went on,

What billin j she had in view, I should have felt sold, like Adam of old. By EVe and her tempter, too. But the Fates are kind that leave us behind To troubles that round us run 3 And we bask in sighs, and bright blue eyes, Till all the. mischief's done, — When the bright, glad look of the morning Is tinged with sorrow and woe-— Wb«n short of tin, and the bills come i« From Airey, Marshall, and Co. We have.« full supply of contributions fully equal to the above, but out of consideration for the reader's feelings we refrain from giving an overdose of poetic flights, which might possibly conduce to an outbreak of alarming character amongst . our prosaic friends who have not as yet been guilty of anything rhymes. They will agree* with us that homoeopathic doses are sometimes preferable to the old system of treatment: a little of a good tning goes a long way is as much a truism as thajt which says •we cannot have too much of a good thing.