Sho' ter close he eye,
Git so pow'ful sleepy dat he pass he troubles by.

Cur'ous, now, dis trouble
Older dat hit grown,
'Stid er gittin' double,
Dwinnle ter de bone;
Nigger know dat, so dat why he lef' he troubles 'lone.

Nigger nuver hurry,
Dem w'at wants ter may;
Hurry hit mek worry!
Now you year me say
Ain' gwine hurry down de road ter meet ol' Def half-way!

Den quit yo' hurryin',
Quit yo' worryin'!
W'at de use uv all dis scurryin'?
Mek ol' Time go sof' an' slow,
Tell him you doan' want no mo'
Dish yer uverlastin' flurryin',--
Jes' a trick er his fer hurryin'
Folks de faster to'des dey burryin'!

HER "ANGEL" FATHER[3]

BY ELLIOTT FLOWER

"My Papa is an angel now,"
The little maiden said.
We noted her untroubled brow,
Her gayly nodding head,
And then, of course, we wondered how
She could have been misled.

We felt that she was wrong, and yet
We spoke in accents low,
For life with perils is beset,
And friends oft quickly go.
But she was right; he'd gone in debt
To "back" a burlesque show.

[Footnote 3: Lippincott's Magazine.]

ESPECIALLY MEN

BY GEORGE RANDOLPH CHESTER

The tantalizing stream on the other side of the hedge seemed, to the hot
and tired young man, to lead the way straight into the heart of Paradise
itself. Six weary miles of white highway, wavering with heat and misty
with hovering dust clouds, still lay between himself and the railroad
that would whisk him away to the city. Behind him, conquered at
fatiguing cost, were six more miles, stretching back to the village
where not even a team could be hired on Sunday. Rather than spend the
day in that dismal abode of Puritanism he had fled on foot, his business
done, and this little creek, mocking, alluring, irresistible, was the
only cheerful thing on which his eyes had rested in that whole stifling
journey.

Even this had a drawback. He glanced up again, with a puzzled frown, at
the queer sign glaring down at him from the hedge. It was the third one
of the sort in the past quarter of a mile:

_TRESPASSERS_

_Are warned from these premises
under penalty of the law_

_ESPECIALLY MEN_

He turned away impatiently. Dust, dust, dust!