sudden silence,
And a gruff old miner said,
"Come, boys, enough of this rumpus;
It's time it was put to bed."

So, looking a little sheepish,
But with faces strangely bright,
The audience, somewhat lingering,
Flocked out into the night.
And the bold-faced leader chuckled,
"He wasn't a bit afraid!
He's as game as he is good-looking;
Boys, that was a show that paid!"

AUNT TABITHA.

BY OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.

Whatever I do and whatever I say,
Aunt Tabitha tells me that isn't the way;
When _she_ was a girl (forty summers ago),
Aunt Tabitha tells me they never did so.

Dear aunt! If I only would take her advice--
But I like my own way, and I find it _so_ nice!
And besides, I forget half the things I am told,
But they all will come back to me--when I am old.

If a youth passes by, it may happen, no doubt,
He may chance to look in as I chance to look out;
_She_ would never endure an impertinent stare,
It is _horrid_, she says, and I mustn't sit there.

A walk in the moonlight has pleasures, I own,
But it isn't quite safe to be walking alone;
So I take a lad's arm,--just for safety, you know,--
But Aunt Tabitha tells me, _they_ didn't do so.

How wicked we are, and how good they were then!
They kept at arm's length those detestable men;
What an era of virtue she lived in!--but stay--
Were the men all such rogues in Aunt Tabitha's day?

If the men _were_ so wicked--I'll ask my papa
How he dared to propose to my darling mamma?
Was he like the rest of them? Goodness! who knows?
And what shall _I_ say if a wretch should propose?

I am thinking if aunt knew so little of sin,
What a wonder Aunt Tabitha's _aunt_ must have been!
And her _grand-aunt_--it scares me--how shockingly sad
That we girls of to-day are so frightfully bad!

A martyr will save us, and nothing else can;
Let _me_ perish to rescue some wretched young man
Though when to the altar a victim I go,
Aunt Tabitha'll tell me _she_ never did so!

LITTLE ORPHANT ANNIE.

BY JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY.

Little Orphant Annie's come to our house to stay
An' wash the cups and saucers up, and brush the crumbs away,
An' shoo the chickens off the porch, an'