usin.

Who took me home when mother died,
Again with father to reside,
Black shoes, clean knives, run far and wide?
My Stepmother.

Who marred my stealthy urchin joys
And when I played cried "What a noise?"--
Girls always hector over boys--
My Sister.

Who used to share in what was mine,
Or took it all, did he incline,
'Cause I was eight, and he was nine?
My Brother.

Who stroked my head, and said "Good lad,"
And gave me sixpence, "all he had";
But at the stall the coin was bad?
My Godfather.

Who, gratis, shared, my social glass,
But when misfortune came to pass,
Referr'd me to the pump? Alas!
My Friend.

Through all this weary world, in brief,
Who ever sympathized with grief,
Or shared my joy--my sole relief?
Myself.

THE SWEEPS COMPLAINT.

"I like to meet a sweep--such as come forth with the
dawn, or somewhat earlier, with their little professional
notes, sounding like the _peep, peep_, of a young sparrow."
--ESSAYS OF ELIA.

----"A voice cried Sweep no more!
Macbeth hath murdered sweep."
SHAKSPEARE.

One morning, ere my usual time
I rose, about the seventh chime,
When little stunted boys that climb
Still linger in the street;
And as I walked, I saw indeed
A sample of the sooty breed,
Though he was rather run to seed,
In height above five feet.
A mongrel tint he seemed to take,
Poetic simile to make,
DAY through his MARTIN 'gan to break,
White overcoming jet.
From side to side he crossed oblique,
Like Frenchman who has friends to seek,
And yet no English word can speak,
He walked upon the fret:
And while he sought the dingy job
His lab'ring breast appeared to throb,
And half a hiccup half a sob
Betray'd internal woe.
To cry amain he had by rote
He yearn'd, but law forbade the note,
Like Chanticleer with roupy throat,
He gaped--but not a crow!
I watched him and the glimpse I snatched
Disclosed his sorry eyelids patch'd
With red, as if the soot had catch'd
That hung about the lid;
And soon I saw the tear-drop stray,
He did not care to brush away;
Thought I, the cause he will betray--
And thus at last he did.

Well, here's a pretty go! here's a Gagging Act, if ever there was a gagging!
But I'm bound the members as silenced us, in doing it had plenty of magging.
They