TO ALTHEA IN THE STALLS.
From the Orchestra as I was staring
So wearily down at the hall,
The programme I held hardly caring
To turn, I was tired of it all!
For I knew 'twas a futile endeavour
With music my trouble to drown,
And I'd made up my mind that you never,
Ah, never, would come back to town!
When suddenly, there I beheld you
Yourself—ah, the joyous amaze!
I wonder what instinct impelled you
Your dreamy dark eyes to upraise,
That for one happy second's communing
Met mine that had waited so long—
And the wail of the violins tuning
It turned to a jubilant song!
'Mid organ-chords sombre and mellow
There breaks out a ripple of glee,
And the voice of the violoncello,
Althea, is pleading for me!
The music is beating and surging
With joy no adagio can drown,
In ecstasy all things are merging—
Because you have come back to town!
The Corean Difficulty.—"Japan declines to withdraw."—(Telegram, Thursday, July 12).—"Ah," observed Miss Quoter, who is ever ready, "that reminds me of Byron's line in Mazeppa, quite applicable to the present situation—
'Again he urges on his mild Corea.'"
New Work (by the Chief Druid Minstrel at the Eisteddfod, dedicated to their Royal Highnesses).—"How to be Harpy in Wales."
