And "BLESS YE!" burst abruptly from Mr. Good

child's lip:

I raised my brimming eye, and saw in hers an

answering gleam

My heart beat wildly-and I woke, and lo! it was

a dream.

GEMINI AND VIRGO.

SOME vast amount of years ago,

Ere all my youth had vanish'd from me,

A boy it was my lot to know,

Whom his familiar friends called Tommy.

I love to gaze upon a child;

A young bud bursting into blossom;

Artless, as Eve yet unbeguiled,

And agile as a young opossum :

And such was he. A calm-brow'd lad,

Yet mad, at moments, as a hatter:

Why hatters as a race are mad

I never knew, nor does it matter.

What twice 10 was, or 3 times 7,

He'd glance (in quite a placid way)

From heaven to earth, from earth to heaven :

And smile, and look politely round,

To catch a casual suggestion;

But make no effort to propound

Any solution of the question.

And so not much esteemed was he

Of the authorities: and therefore He fraternized by chance with me,

Needing a somebody to care for:

And three fair summers did we twain

Live (as they say) and love together; And bore by turns the wholesome cane

Till our young skins became as leather:

And carved our names on every desk,

And tore our clothes, and inked our collars;

And looked unique and picturesque,

But not, it may be, model scholars.

We did much as we chose to do;

We'd never heard of Mrs. Grundy;

All the theology we knew

Was that we mighn't play on Sunday;

And all the general truths, that cakes

Were to be bought at four a penny,

And that excruciating aches

Resulted if we ate too many:

And seeing ignorance is bliss,

And wisdom consequently folly,

The obvious result is this

That our two lives were very jolly.

At last the separation came.

Real love, at that time, was the fashion;

And by a horrid chance, the same

Young thing was, to us both, a passion.

Old POSER snorted like a horse:

His feet were large, his hands were pimply,

His manner, when excited, coarse :—

But Miss P. was an angel simply.

She was a blushing gushing thing;

All-more than all-my fancy painted;

Once-when she helped me to a wing

Of goose-I thought I should have fainted.