s generous and brave though he may not behave
Like your dudes, who are so melancholy.
_Anonymous._

BAR-Z ON A SUNDAY NIGHT

WE ain't no saints on the Bar-Z ranch,
'Tis said--an' we know who 'tis--
"Th' devil's laid hold on us, tooth an' branch,
An' uses us in his biz."
Still, we ain't so bad but we might be wuss,
An' you'd sure admit that's right,
If you happened--an' unbeknown to us--
Around, of a Sunday night.

Th' week-day manners is stowed away,
Th' jokes an' the card games halts,
When Dick's ol' fiddle begins to play
A toon--an' it ain't no waltz.
It digs fer th' things that are out o' sight,
It delves through th' toughest crust,
It grips th' heart-strings, an' holds 'em tight,
Till we've got ter sing--er bust!

With pipin' treble the kid starts in,
An' Hell! how that kid kin sing!
"Yield not to temptation, fer yieldin' is sin,"
He leads, an' the rafters ring;
"Fight manfully onward, dark passions subdue,"
We shouts it with force an' vim;
"Look ever to Jesus, he'll carry you through,"--
That's puttin' it up to Him!

We ain't no saints on the ol' Bar-Z,
But many a time an' oft
When ol' fiddle's a-pleadin', "Abide with me,"
Our hearts gets kinder soft.
An' we makes some promises there an' then
Which we keeps--till we goes to bed,--
That's the most could be ast o' a passel o' men
What ain't no saints, as I said.
_Percival Combes._

A COWBOY RACE

A PATTERING rush like the rattle of hail
When the storm king's wild coursers are out on the trail,
A long roll of hoofs,--and the earth is a drum!
The centaurs! See! Over the prairies they come!

A rollicking, clattering, battering beat;
A rhythmical thunder of galloping feet;
A swift-swirling dust-cloud--a mad hurricane
Of swarthy, grim faces and tossing, black mane;

Hurrah! in the face of the steeds of the sun
The gauntlet is flung and the race is begun!
_J. C. Davis._

THE HABIT

I'VE beat my way wherever any winds have blown;
I've bummed along from Portland down to San Antone;
From Sandy Hook to Frisco, over gulch and hill,--
For once you git the habit, why, you can't keep still.

I settled down quite frequent, and I says, sa