The rawness of youth you outgrow.
I am proud of your looks,
Like your art, and your books;
You _are_ getting a great girl now.

To your big birthday party 'twas kind to invite
My WILLIAM; I'm sure he'd have come
And danced at your ball with the greatest delight,
But for years, and some business at home.
He's really a marvel, you know, for his age;
At your great Philadelphia pow-wow
He'd have reeled you off columns of talk, I'll engage,
Though he's getting an Old Boy now.

_Chorus._

He's getting an Old Boy now,
Yet but for our big Irish row,
He'd have come like a shot,
And orated a lot,
Though he's getting an Old Boy now.

Your health, my COLUMBIA! A hundred? Seems queer!
What a sweet Centenarian you make!
I suppose it's your fine "Constitution," my dear;
Which nothing, I hope, will e'er shake.
You have proved you have not only swiftness, but stay;
Well, long may you flourish and grow!
Many happy--and hearty--returns of the Day!
You are getting a great girl now!

_Chorus._

You are getting a great girl now;
May you prosper, and keep out of row;
Shun bunkum and bawl,
All that's shoddy and small,
For you're getting a _great_ girl now!

* * * * *

THE FATHER OF THE MAN.

A CASE of some interest to Self-made Men, the conviction of a boy fined
half-a-crown for playing, with some other boys, the game of "brag,"
occasioned Mr. SHIEL, on the Southwark Bench, to observe that "Gambling
was the first step towards crime. Boys who began with gambling, very
often ended by being thieves." Too often, perhaps, but, it may be hoped,
not always. The boy who begins by playing at pitch-and-toss, surely
doesn't always grow up to be a man who actually commits manslaughter. He
may possibly stop short of larceny, burglary, or housebreaking, and do
nothing worse than getting a useless, but not absolutely criminal
livelihood, by betting on the Derby and the St. Leger, or speculating on
the Stock Exchange.

* * * * *

[Illustration: FORM.

_Public School Boy (to General Sir George, G.C.B., G.S.I., V.C., &c. &c.
&c.)_ "I SAY, GRANDPAPA,--A--WOULD YOU MIND JUST PUTTING ON YOUR HAT _A
LITTLE STRAIGHTER?_ HERE COMES _CODGERS_--HE'S AWFULLY PARTICULAR--AND
HE'S THE _CAPTAIN OF OUR ELEVEN, YOU KNOW!_"]

* * * * *

WORDS IN SEASON.

NEWS