Part 181 (1/2)

THE OCEAN WANDERER

Bright breaks the warrior o'er the ocean wave Through realms that rove not, clouds that cannot save, Sinks in the suns.h.i.+ne; dazzles o'er the tomb And mocks the mutiny of Memory's gloom.

Oh! who can feel the crimson ecstasy That soothes with bickering jar the Glorious Tree?

O'er the high rock the foam of gladness throws, While star-beams lull Vesuvius to repose: Girds the white spray, and in the blue lagoon, Weeps like a walrus o'er the waning moon?

Who can declare?--not thou, pervading boy Whom pibrochs pierce not, crystals cannot cloy;-- Not thou soft Architect of silvery gleams, Whose soul would simmer in Hesperian streams, Th' exhaustless fire--the bosom's azure bliss, That hurtles, life-like, o'er a scene like this;-- Defies the distant agony of Day-- And sweeps o'er hecatombs--away! away!

Say shall Destruction's lava load the gale, The furnace quiver and the mountain quail?

Say shall the son of Sympathy pretend His cedar fragrance with our Chief's to blend?

There, where the gnarled monuments of sand Howl their dark whirlwinds to the levin brand; Conclusive tenderness; fraternal grog, Tidy conjunction; adamantine bog, Impetuous arrant toadstool; Thundering quince, Repentant dog-star, inessential Prince, Expound. Pre-Adamite eventful gun, Crush retribution, currant-jelly, pun, Oh! eligible Darkness, fender, sting, Heav'n-born Insanity, courageous thing.

Intending, bending, scouring, piercing all, Death like pomatum, tea, and crabs must fall.

_Unknown._

SCIENTIFIC PROOF

If we square a lump of pemmican And cube a pot of tea, Divide a musk ox by the span From noon to half-past three; If we calculate the Eskimo By solar parallax, Divide the s.e.xtant by a floe And multiply the cracks By nth-powered igloos, we may prove All correlated facts.

If we prolongate the parallel Indefinitely forth, And cube a sledge till we can tell The real square root of North; Bisect a seal and bifurcate The tangent with a pack Of Polar ice, we get the rate Along the Polar track, And proof of corollary things Which otherwise we lack.

If we multiply the Arctic night By X times ox times moose, And build an igloo on the site Of its hypotenuse; If we circ.u.mscribe an arc about An Arctic dog and weigh A segment of it, every doubt Is made as clear as day.

We also get the price of ice F. O. B. Baffin's Bay.

If we amplify the Arctic breeze By logarithmic signs, And run through the isosceles Imaginary lines, We find that twice the half of one Is equal to the whole.

Which, when the calculus is done, Quite demonstrates the Pole.

It also gives its length and breadth And what's the price of coal.

_J. W. Foley._

THE THINGUMBOB

A PASTEL

The Thingumbob sat at eventide, On the sh.o.r.e of a sh.o.r.eless sea, Expecting an unexpected attack From something it could not foresee.

A still calm rests on the angry waves, The low wind whistles a mournful tune, And the Thingumbob sighs to himself, ”Alas, I've had no supper now since noon.”