But I'll love him more, more
Than e'er wife loved before,

Be the days dark or bright.

PET'S PUNISHMENT

Jean Ingelow.

Oh, if my love offended me,
And we had words together,
To show her I would master be,
I'd whip her with a feather!

If then she, like a naughty girl,
Would tyranny declare it,
I'd give my pet a cross of pearl,
And make her always bear it.

If still she tried to sulk and sigh,
And threw away my posies,
I'd catch my darling on the sly,
And smother her with roses.

But should she clench her dimpled fists,
Or contradict her betters,

I'd manacle her tiny wrists

With dainty jeweled fetters.

And if she dared her lips to pout,
Like many pert young misses,
I'd wind my arm her waist about,
And punish her with kisses!

J. Ashby-Sterry.

THE LAW OF OBEDIENCE

The first item in the common-sense creed is obedience.

Do your work with a whole heart! Revolt is sometimes necessary, but the man who mixes revolt and obedience is doomed to disappoint himself and everybody with whom he has dealings. To flavor work with protest is to fail absolutely.

When you revolt, why, revolt-climb, get out, hike, defy-tell everybody and everything to go to limbo! That disposes of the case. You thus separate yourself entirely from those you have served-no one misunderstands you-you have declared yourself.

But to pretend to obey, and yet carry in your heart the spirit of revolt, is to do half-hearted and slipshod work.

If revolt and obedience are equal, your engine will stop on the center and you benefit nobody, not even yourself.

The spirit of obedience is the controlling impulse of the receptive mind and the hospitable heart.

There are boats that mind the helm and boats that don't. Those that don't get holes knocked in them sooner or later.

To keep off the rocks obey the rudder.

Obedience is not to lavishly obey this man nor that, but it is that cheerful mental condition which responds to the necessity of the case and does the thing.

Obedience to the institution-loyalty! The man who

has not learned to obey has trouble ahead of him every step of the way-the world has it in for him because he has it in for the world.

The man who does not know how to receive orders is not fit to issue them. But he who knows how to execute orders is preparing the way to give them, and better still-to have them obeyed.

By permission.

Elbert Hubbard.

AN EVENT

You see him strut along the street,
His head is in the air;

A wondrous thing has just occurred,
And he has time to spare

In which to tell, with much detail,
This great event to you.
"Last night," he whispers, “just at eight
My baby said, 'Ah goo!""

Kingdoms may totter on their base

And in some deep abyss

Kings fall, but all things else are naught
Compared with news like this.

The household gods are upside down
And there is more ado

Than moving time or cleaning time
When baby says, "Ah goo!"

By permission Life Publishing Company

Tom Masson.

OLD FRIENDS

There are no friends like old friends,
And none so good and true;
We greet them when we meet them,
As roses greet the dew;

No other friends are dearer,
Though born of kindred mold;
And while we prize the new ones,
We treasure more the old.

There are no friends like old friends, Where'er we dwell or roam,

In lands beyond the ocean,

Or near the bounds of home;
And when they smile to gladden,
Or sometimes frown to guide,
We fondly wish those old friends
Were always by our side.

There are no friends like old friends.
To help us with the load
That all must bear who journey

O'er life's uneven road;

And when unconquered sorrows,

The weary hours invest,
The kindly words of old friends
Are always found the best.

There are no friends like old friends, To calm our frequent fears,

When shadows fall and deepen
Through life's declining years;
And when our faltering footsteps
Approach the Great Divide,
We'll long to meet the old friends
Who wait the other side.

David Banks Sickles.

UNDER THE GREENWOOD TREE

Under the greenwood tree

Who loves to lie with me,
And tune his merry note

Unto the sweet bird's throat,

Come hither, come hither, come hither;

Here shall he see

No enemy,

But winter and rough weather.

Who doth ambition shun,
And loves to lie i' the sun,
Seeking the food he eats

And pleased with what he gets,
Come hither, come hither, come hither;

Here shall be see

No enemy,

But winter and rough weather.

Shakespeare.