And the ladies had each an ice.

And Susannah's ice was a pink one,
And she sucked it up so quick,
But Mary-Jane silently proffered
Her ice to me for a lick.

And then we went home to mother,
And we found her upon the floor,
And father was trying to balance
His shoulders against the door.

And Susannah said "O" and "Please, sir,
We'll go in ourselves, sir!" And
We kissed one another and parted,
And they stole in hand in hand.

And it's O for my two little darlings
I never shall see again,
Though I stand for the whole night watching
And crying here in the rain!

II.
"HERE AND THERE."

IN THE PIT.
"CHANT OF THE FIREMEN."

"This is the steamer's pit.
The ovens like dragons of fire
Glare thro' their close-lidded eyes
With restless hungry desire.

"Down from the tropic night
Rushes the funnelled air;
Our heads expand and fall in;
Our hearts thump huge as despair.

"'Tis we make the bright hot blood
Of this throbbing inanimate thing;
And our life is no less the fuel
Than the coal we shovel and fling.

"And lest of this we be proud
Or anything but meek,
We are well cursed and paid--
Ten shillings a week!"

_Round_, _round_, _round in its tunnel_
_The shaft turns pitiless strong_,
_While lost souls cry out in the darkness_:
"_How long_, _O Lord_, _how long_?"

A MAHOMMADAN SHIP FIREMAN.

Up from the oven pit,
The hell where poor men toil,
At the sunset hour he comes
Clean-clothed, washed from soil.

On the fo'c's'le head he kneels,
His face to the hallowed West.
He prays, and bows and prays.
Does he pray for death and rest?

TO INDIA.

O India, India, O my lovely land--
At whose sweet throat the greedy English snake,
With fangs and lips that suck and never slake,
Clings, while around thee, band by stifling band,
The loathsome shape twists, chaining foot and hand--
O from this death-swoon must thou never wake,
From limbs enfranchised these foul fetters to shake,
And, proud among the nations, to rise and stand?
Nay, but thine eyes, thine eyes wherein there stays
The patience of that august faith that scorns
The tinsel creed of Christ, dream still and gaze
Where, not within the timeless East and haze,
The haunt of th