Volume IV Part 7 (1/2)

If ever you should go by chance To jungles in the East, And if there should to you advance A large and tawny beast-- If he roar at you as you're dyin', You'll know it is the Asian Lion.

If, when in India loafing round, A n.o.ble wild beast meets you, With dark stripes on a yellow ground, Just notice if he eats you.

This simple rule may help you learn The Bengal Tiger to discern.

When strolling forth, a beast you view Whose hide with spots is peppered; As soon as it has leapt on you, You'll know it is the Leopard.

'T will do no good to roar with pain, He'll only lep and lep again.

If you are sauntering round your yard, And meet a creature there Who hugs you very, very hard, You'll know it is the Bear.

If you have any doubt, I guess He'll give you just one more caress.

Whene'er a quadruped you view Attached to any tree, It may be 'tis the Wanderoo, Or yet the Chimpanzee.

If right side up it may be both, If upside down it is the Sloth.

Though to distinguish beasts of prey A novice might nonplus; Yet from the Crocodile you may Tell the Hyena, thus: 'Tis the Hyena if it smile; If weeping, 'tis the Crocodile.

The true Chameleon is small-- A lizard sort of thing; He hasn't any ears at all And not a single wing.

If there is nothing on the tree 'Tis the Chameleon you see.

I REMEMBER, I REMEMBER

BY PHOEBE CARY

I remember, I remember, The house where I was wed, And the little room from which that night, My smiling bride was led.

She didn't come a wink too soon, Nor make too long a stay; But now I often wish her folks Had kept the girl away!

I remember, I remember, Her dresses, red and white, Her bonnets and her caps and cloaks,-- They cost an awful sight!

The ”corner lot” on which I built, And where my brother met At first my wife, one was.h.i.+ng-day,-- That man is single yet!

I remember, I remember, Where I was used to court, And thought that all of married life Was just such pleasant sport:-- My spirit flew in feathers then, No care was on my brow; I scarce could wait to shut the gate,-- I'm not so anxious now!

I remember, I remember, My dear one's smile and sigh; I used to think her tender heart Was close against the sky.

It was a childish ignorance, But now it soothes me not To know I'm farther off from Heaven Then when she wasn't got.

THE COUPON BONDS

BY J.T. TROWBRIDGE

(Mr. and Mrs. Ducklow have secretly purchased bonds with money that should have been given to their adopted son Reuben, who has sacrificed his health in serving his country as a soldier, and, going to visit Reuben on the morning of his return home, they hide the bonds under the carpet of the sitting-room, and leave the house in charge of Taddy, another adopted son.)

Mr. Ducklow had scarcely turned the corner of the street, when, looking anxiously in the direction of his homestead, he saw a column of smoke.

It was directly over the spot where he knew his house to be situated. He guessed at a glance what had happened. The frightful catastrophe he foreboded had befallen. Taddy had set the house afire.