my dear Umbobo,
On the isle of Gumbo Goo,
And your father, King Korobo,
And your mother long for you.

"We had missionaries Monday,
Much the finest of the year--
Our old cook came back last Sunday,
And the stews she makes are _dear_.

"I've the _loveliest_ string of knuckles
Which dear Father gave to me,
And a pair of shin-bone buckles
Which I _so_ wish you could see.

"You remember Mr. Booloo?
He is coming over soon
With some friends from Unatulu--
We all hope they'll call at noon.

"Mr. Booloo's rather slender,
But we'll fix him up with sage,
And I think he'll be quite tender
For a fellow of his age.

"Genevieve O-loola's marriage
Was arranged so _very_ queer--
Have you read 'The Bishop's Carriage'?
Don't you think it's just _too dear_?

"I am hoping next vacation
I may visit you a while.
In this out-of-way location
It's _so_ hard to know the style.

"Will you try and match the sample
I enclose--be sure it's green.
Get three yards--that will be ample.
Velvet, mind, not velveteen.

"Gentle mother worries badly,
And she thinks it is a shame
That a man like Dr. Hadley
Lets you play that football game.

"For the way they hurt each other
Seems so barbarously rude--
No, you've not been raised, dear brother,
To do anything so crude.

"And those horrid meals at college--
Not what you're accustomed to.
It is hard, this quest for knowledge,
But be brave.
"Your sister, Boo."

"P.S.--
"If it's not too great a bother
And a mental overtax,
Would you send your poor old father,
C.O.D., a battle-axe?"

[Footnote 4: From "At the Sign of the Dollar," by Wallace Irwin.
Copyright, 1905, by Fox, Duffield & Co.]

THE COURTIN'

BY JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL

God makes sech nights, all white an' still
Fur 'z you can look or listen,
Moonshine an' snow on field an' hill,
All silence an' all glisten.

Zekle crep' up quite unbeknown
An' peeked in thru' the winder,
An' there sot Huldy all alone,
'Ith no one nigh to hender.

A fireplace filled the room's one side
With half a cord o' wood in--
There warn't no stoves (tell comfort died)
To bake ye to a puddin'.

The wa'nut logs shot sparkles ou