At last we left the Desert drear,
To sail upon the Nile,
In the Pasha's beautiful diabeheh
Past many a crocodile.

We saw no end of wonders now
In Africa's strange land--
Forests full of lions fierce,
And many a savage band.

Our steamer on the Congo sank--
We were in a dreadful plight
Until we met with Stanley true,
And then we steered aright.

We said good-bye to Africa,
And, though winds proved contrary,
Northward our wondrous way we took
To the Isles of sweet Canary.

Thence favouring gales conveyed us far
Beyond the Spanish shore;
Fast by the coast of France we sped
To our own land once more.

And now we're safe at home again,
And wise as wise can be;
For seeing all the world's wonders
Improves my Doll and me.

Sabina

The Story of a Doll

I stood in the semi-darkness
And watched a child at her play;
Her cares were of multiform nature,
And the daylight was speeding away.

Her dolly demanded attention,
To be petted and kissed and be fed;
To have on its little nightgown,
And then to be put in its bed.

All this with a motherly yearning
She had learned by the instinct of love;
And the dolly but faintly presented
A gift from the heaven above.

The dear little creature had finished
And was just about turning to go,
When the scene all changed in a moment
And turned into weeping and woe.

A boy, almost reaching to manhood,
Dashed wildly from the room,
And seizing the doll from the cradle
Rushed out again into the gloom.

There was one wild scream from the maiden,
A clasp of the hands and a chase;
But the boy thought the thing was funny
And was in for a brotherly race.

But soon, when the screaming was louder
And he saw all the pain he had caused.
He threw down the doll on the flooring,
And sneering, he suddenly paused.

"I wouldn't be such a cry-baby," he said,
With a half-mocking drawl;
"I can buy plenty more that's just like it,
"It's only a plaster doll.

"Why don't you get one made of china,
Instead of that plaster thing?
An then I would try to respect it,"
And he took himself off with a fling.

"Oh, my dolly, my dolly is broken,"
And quick in her bosom she hid
The maimed little bit of her sunshine,
"I Loved it, I loved it, I did.

"I don't care if it wa