ers from the first and ends
in a new rhyme. The following taken from _Life_ represents the
apotheosis of the limerick:

"A German from over the Rhine
When asked at what hour he would dine,
Replied, 'At Five, Seven,
Eight, Ten and Eleven,
Four, Six and a Quarter to Nine!'"

Edward Lear, an English writer, began the popularization of the limerick
in his nonsense books about 1850 and since his time it has been
experimented with by many of the cleverest writers now before the
public.

But nonsense verse is not confined to this one form. Passing from the
work of Lear we come to Lewis Carroll's verse in "Alice in Wonderland."
Nothing of its kind better than "Jabberwocky" has ever been written,
and it would be a bold verse maker who would try to improve on "The
Walrus and the Carpenter," or any of the other "Alice poems."

In a different way, though perhaps as amusing, is the Gelett Burgess
style of nonsense verse typified in his noble quatrain to the Purple
Cow:

"I never saw a purple cow,
I never hope to see one;
But this I'll tell you anyhow
I'd rather see than be one."

Some years ago the college humorous publications originated a
bloodthirsty conceit which touched the doings of Little Willie:

"Little Willie yesterday
When the baby went to play
Filled him full of kerosene.
Gee! but isn't Willie mean!"

Since then the murderous adventures of "Little Willie" have been
countless.

They are all cannibalistic but rather catchy.

The awful thing about nonsense verse is the very fine line that divides
a masterpiece from utter drivel. Nonsense verse is very good or very
bad. When it plays along the edges it is very pleasing but when it
oversteps it becomes rot.

_The Humorous Ballad_

A step higher in the ladder is the Humorous Ballad. The "Comic Ballad"
we have had with us from the days of Robin Hood, but W. S. Gilbert in
his "Bab Ballads" reached heights before his time unsuspected. By the
use of catchy stanzas and unusual rhymes he made the type a thing of
art. Most readers are familiar with the "Yarn of the Nancy Bell," in
which the solitary sailor sings:

"Oh, I am the cook and the captain bold
And the mate of the Nancy brig;
And the bos'n tight and the midshipmite
And the crew of the captain's gig."

Since the publication of the "Bab Ballads" a great deal of verse has
been produced along the same general lines. Mr. Wallace Irwin's
"Nautical Balla