mething that's wrong in the shaft or the dart,
For it flutters quite false to my aim;
'Tis an age since it fairly went home to the heart,
And the world really jests at my name.

"I have straighten'd, I've bent, I've tried all, I declare,
I've perfumed it with sweetest of sighs;
'Tis feather'd with ringlets my mother might wear,
And the barb gleams with light from young eyes;
But it falls without touching--I'll break it, I vow,
For there's Hymen beginning to pout;
He's complaining his torch burns so dull and so low,
That Zephyr might puff it right out."

Little Cupid went on with his pitiful tale,
Till Vulcan the weapon restored;
"There, take it, young sir; try it now--if it fail,
I will ask neither fee nor reward."
The urchin shot out, and rare havoc he made,
The wounded and dead were untold;
But no wonder the rogue had such slaughtering trade,
For the arrow was laden with _gold_.

THE CROCODILE'S DINNER PARTY.

BY E. VINTON BLAKE.

_FROM "GOOD CHEER_."

A wily crocodile
Who dwelt upon the Nile,
Bethought himself one day to give a dinner.
"Economy," said he,
"Is chief of all with me,
And shall considered be--as I'm a sinner!"

With paper, pen and ink,
He sat him down to think;
And first of all, Sir Lion he invited;
The northern wolf who dwells
In rocky Arctic dells;
The Leopard and the Lynx, by blood united.

Then Mr. Fox the shrewd--
No lover he of good--
And Madam Duck with sober step and stately;
And Mr. Frog serene
In garb of bottle green,
Who warbled bass, and bore himself sedately.

Sir Crocodile, content,
The invitations sent.
The day was come--his guests were all assembled;
They fancied that some guile
Lurked in his ample smile;
Each on the other looked, and somewhat trembled.

A lengthy time they wait
Their hunger waxes great;
And still the host in conversation dallies.
At last the table's laid,
With covered dishes