KISSING'S NO SIN

OME

SOM

say that kissing's a sin; But I think it's nane ava,

For kissing has wonn'd in this warld
Since ever there was twa.

O, if it wasna lawfu'
Lawyers wadna allow it;
If it wasna holy,

Ministers wadna do it.

If it wasna modest,

Maidens wadna tak' it;

If it wasna plenty,

Puir folks wadna get it.

Anonymous.

THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD

WHAT'S

WHAT'S the best thing in the world?
June-rose, by May-dew impearled;
Sweet south-wind, that means no rain;

Truth, not cruel to a friend;

Pleasure, not in haste to end;

Beauty, not self-decked and curled

Till its pride is over-plain;

Light, that never makes you wink;
Memory, that gives no pain;
Love, when, so, you're loved again.
What's the best thing in the world?—
Something out of it, I think.

Anonymous.

HER NEIGHBOURS

THEY

HEY lingered at her father's door,
The moon was shining bright,
And to the maiden o'er and o'er
The youth had said, “Good night."

But still reluctant to depart,

Her tiny hand he pressed,

While all the love that filled his heart
His ardent looks confessed.

At length she closer to him crept,
Her eyes upon him bent,

And softly asked, "How have you kept,
Thus far, the fast of Lent?"

He smiled, and, as a manly arm
Around her waist he threw,

He said, "I've done no neighbour harm-
Pray, tell me, how have you?"

"Oh! better far, I'm sure," she said, The charming little elf.

"I've loved (she blushed and bent her head) My neighbour as myself."

"Who is your neighbour?" questioned he, As to his breast he drew

The gentle maid, and blushing, she

With one word answered-"You."

Anonymous.

TO CELIA

(Who refuses to be drawn into an argument)

EAR, if you carelessly agree,

D With that so irritating air,

Το every word that falls from me

Dear, if you care

To drive a lover to despair

With bland "Oh, yes," and "Ah, I see,❞—

Why, do it, if you like so there!

It vindicates my theory

No woman's wise as well as fair;

And yet... how clever you can be,
Dear, if you care!

E. H. Lacon Watson.

IN FOR IT

ROSE betimes, and donned a suit
Of clothes, whose fit immaculate
Was not a question for dispute,
Whose cut was far above debate.
I breakfasted, or rather tried,
But strange my appetite behaving,
A., B. and S. alone supplied

My feeble craving.

I fidgeted about the place,

I smoothed my hat some twenty times, I almost cursed the clock's slow pace

And listened for the neighb'ring chimesI stretched my gloves-they were a pair Of lemon kids, extremely "fetching"; And so I used peculiar care

About the stretching.

'Twas past eleven when my friena
Arrived, and took me 'neath his wing,
For he had promised to attend
Upon me kindly, and "to bring
Me smiling to the scratch," as he
Was pleased to term it, being merry,
'Twas quite another thing with me;
'Twas diff'rent, very.

We drove to Church, and there I found
Myself the object of each gaze;
I hardly dared to look around,
I felt completely in a maze-
We had to wait, I dropped my hat,
Then split a glove in very flurry,
Grew hot, and wished devoutly that
The rest would hurry.

When all was o'er, we had to face
A grinning crowd's rude gaping stare,
I strove to don unconscious grace,
And look as if I didn't care-

We braved it out, got home, and then
There came a plethora of kissin':
Of course I took good care the men
Did not join this in.

We next were victims of a meal,
A melancholy sad pretence,
And I thereat was made to feel
How hard it is to utter sense:
The carriage came at last, and we
For not a single moment tarried,
And driving off, it dawned on me
That I was married.

Somerville Gibney.

A

KIRTLE RED

DAMSEL fair, on a summer's day-Sing heigh, sing ho, for the summer! Sat under a tree in a kirtle gray, Singing, "Somebody's late at tryst to-day; Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,

Or the leaves may fall in summer!"

Answered a little bird overhead— As birds will do in summer; "Some body has kept tryst," it said, "With somebody else in a kirtle red, And they are going to be married." Sing heigh, sing ho, for the summer!