nsense now and then,"
Said good old Dr. Lee,
"Is relished by the best of men.
That's just the case with me."

The doctor was jumping a rope when he said that.

_Victoria_ (_reads_):

ODE TO A CLAM.

Oh! clam at high-water,
Here's somebody's daughter
A sighing and crying your measure to take;
She cares for you only,
Poor bivalve so lonely,
Because you are good in a Yankee clambake.
Perhaps she'll shout louder
To see you in chowder.
Poor clam, for your sake
I've a dreadful heart-ache.

_Charlotte_. Capital. We wouldn't miss that for anything. Who else is
ready?

_Ida_. I have a little poem about a shell. [_Reads._]

What is the song you are singing forever,
Sad as the sound of a knell,
Deep as the tone of a bell,
Oh! sorrowful, murmuring shell,
Singing and singing forever?

_Grace_. Mine is about sweet charity. [_Reads._]

Of all things touched with heavenly clarity,
There's nothing can compare with sweet, sweet charity!

_Charlotte_. Girls, we ought to have some singing. Do you know that old
tune, "Home Again"? Why not sing that? It will please the older ones,
and seem a compliment to them. It might do for the last thing on the
programme.

_Ida_. That's beautiful.

_Madge_. Sing the tune, Charlotte, and let me catch the rhythm.

[Charlotte _and the others sing_.]

Home again, home again,
From a foreign shore;
And, oh! it fills my soul with joy
To see my friends once more.

[_Enter_ Miss Sommerfield.]

_All_. Oh, Miss Sommerfield! Did you see him? Will he? What did he say?
Did he hypnotize you?

_Miss Sommerfield_. One at a time, young ladies. Let me tell my story,
please. I found this wonderful man just where I had left him. I said,
"Professor." He started, kicked over a chair, threw away his cigarette,
stared at me, and said, "Pardon, mees, I was so rude." "Not at all,
Professor," I said; "I am sorry to interrupt your reading." "I am most
happy to be interrupted by a so charmant a young lady," he said,
gallantly.

_Grace_. That was nice in him.

_Miss Sommerfield_. So then I told him about you and your request, and
implored him to play for you. He listened, stroked his mustache, and
toyed with his big diamond ring. "It is for the poor sick little
children." "Ah!" he said, "America is von grand country for poor leetle
children. They are efer doing something. Very well; why should I not
play for these young lad