n clothing comes
The great drum-major with his drums
And sun-smit brass of trumpets; then
The scarlet wall of marching men,
Midmost of which great Mavors sets
The colours girt with bayonets.
Yes, there were you--and there was I,
Unshaved, and with erratic tie,
And for that once I yearn'd to shun
My social system's central sun.
How could a sloven slave express
The frank, the manly tenderness
That wraps you round from common thought,
And does not ask that you should know
The love that consecrates you so.
No; furtive, awkward, restless, cold,
I basely seemed to set at naught
That sudden bliss, undreamt, unsought.
What must she think, my girl of gold?
I dare not ask; and baffled wit
Droops--till sweet hopes begin to flit--
Like butterflies that brave the cold--
Perhaps she didn't notice it.

* * * * *

[Illustration: STUDIES IN REPARTEE.

_She._ "HOW SILENT YOU ARE! WHAT ARE YOU THINKING OF?"

_He._ "_NOTHING!_"

_She._ "EGOTIST!"]

* * * * *

"JUST TO OBLIGE BENSON."

DEAR MR. PUNCH,--It was not a very happy thought to send me to the Globe
Theatre at this festive season of the year to witness the representation
of a piece, called by the management, for some reason or other, "a
_faerie_ comedy." Now, I like a Burlesque, and I am fond of a Pantomime,
but a mixture of blank verse and tom-foolery is rather too much for me,
especially when that mixture is not redeemed by a plot of any interest.
Nothing can be more absurd than the story (save the mark!) told in this
particularly uninteresting play. It appears that a "Duke!" of Athens
married the Queen of the Amazons, and during the nuptial rejoicings
ordered the daughter of one of his subjects to "die the death" unless
she transferred her affections from her own true love to a gentleman of
her father's choice. The gentleman of her father's choice was beloved in
his turn by a school friend of his would-not-be betrothed, and the play
which lasted from eight until nearly midnight, was devoted to setting
this simple (in more senses than one) _imbroglio_ right. By a clumsy
device, _Oberon_ King of the Fairies bewitched the two pairs of lovers
during their sleep in a wood, so that one lady had two admirers and the
other none. All that was needed to bring the piece to a conclusion was
to have another exercise of magic when the couples paired off, of
course, in a