Of ball and wooden blade,
In rivalry he whistles
A ballad unafraid.

Right jocund is the music
That, poured in lovely jets,
Accompanies superbly
The heroes in the Nets;
And sweet the startled pauses
Amid the royal song
That come when shout together
The drive-delighted throng.

The greatness of the uproar
Benumbs him, and he lets
His pulsing bosom ponder
The tumult in the Nets;
But soon afresh, while warbling
His comment on the game,
He puts all human songsters--
Quite easily!--to shame.

Thou Herrick in the lilac,
The damp of evening wets
Upon our shoes the pipeclay,
And bids us leave the Nets;
But come again to-morrow
To mingle with our joy
The magic learnt in Eden
When Time was but a boy!

LUCKY LADS.

See in bronzing sunshine
Twenty-two good fellows,
Such as help the world along,
Such as Cricket mellows!
Health and heartiness and joy
Come to them for capture,
Lucky lads, plucky lads,
Relishing the rapture!

Watch the flying fieldsman,
Keen to save the fourer,
Gallop past the wooden box
Sacred to the scorer!
Think you demi-gods of Greece
Matched him in their story?
Lucky lad, plucky lad,
Sprinting hard for glory!

Watch the hitting hero
Loosely clad in flannel--
There's a figure to adorn
Any sculptor's panel!
Every inch of him enjoys
Sharing in the tussle,
Lucky lad, plucky lad,
Speed and grit and muscle!

See in bronzing sunshine
Thousands of good fellows,
Such as roll the world along,
Such as Cricket mellows!
These shall keep the Motherland
Safe amid her quarrels,
Lucky lads, plucky lads,
Trained to snatch at laurels!

CRICKET IN THE GARDEN.

Before the aproned nurse arrives,
To tell of soap and tub and sponges,
My nephew, fierce and ruddy, drives,
Disgraceful edges, callous lunges.
Twenty auriculas declare
The zeal of his peculiar magic,
Till every aunt is in despair,
And even Job (the cat) looks tragic.

Down goes a tulip's noble head!
(Poor Auntie Nell is nearly crying!)
And now a stately stock is dead,
And now a columbine is dying.
Vainly the cook with female lobs
Desires to hit the egg-box wicket;
And not among the housemaid's jobs--
'Tis very plain--is garden cricket.

Whack on the bee-hive goes the ball!
"That's si