A MOVING BALLAD.
You must wake and call me early, call me early, husband dear,
To-morrow'll be the maddest time of all the round New Year;
Of all the circle of the year the maddest, muddiest day,
For to-morrow's the first of May, my love, to-morrow's the first of May.
Be sure and take the hammer round—we shall have need of that;
Save all the paper you can find—and don't forget the cat.
Don't mix the pickles and preserves, nor throw th' old brooms away,
For to-morrow's the first of May, my love, to-morrow's the first of May.
And oh! tell Bridget, husband, to be careful how she moves
The earthenware and crockery and other things she loves;
And if upon the sidewalk you should hear a dreadful crash,
You'll know our china dinner-set has gone to eternal smash.
Of course, some common things will break, some costly ones perhaps;
But you can't expect to move, you know, without a few mishaps.
And when we've got the moving done, you'll have some bills to pay,
For to-morrow's the first of May, my love, to-morrow's the first of May.
The night winds come and go, my dear, along the vacant street,
And the happy stars above them do not seem to mean to cheat;
But to-morrow it will be sure to rain the whole of the livelong day,
For to-morrow's the first of May, my love, to-morrow's the first of May.
So you must wake and call me early, call me early, husband dear,
To-morrow'll be the maddest time of all the round New Year;
To-morrow'll be of all the year the maddest, muddiest day,
For to-morrow's the first of May, my love, to-morrow's the first of May.
BROTHERS TO SISTERS.
THREE DEDICATIONS IN WHICH FAMOUS AUTHORS GIVE
ELOQUENT EXPRESSION TO AFFECTION
INSPIRED BY NOBLE WOMEN.
The men who wrote the three extracts which are given here represent three vividly contrasted types. Ernest Rénan was a distinguished Frenchman, a profound Hebrew scholar, and yet witty, cynical, and eloquent. John Greenleaf Whittier was a Massachusetts Quaker of rustic manners and great simplicity of life, who viewed Nature with the sympathetic eyes of a born poet, but always serious, simple, and sincere. Eugene Field was a Chicago journalist, full of irreverent American humor, rollicking and sometimes boisterous, although he too had a vein of tenderness in his nature and a sympathy with the finer things of life. Yet these three men all agreed in their affection for their sisters. Rénan wrote of his sister Henriette that "it was she who exerted the strongest influence on my life," and at his death he left a little volume containing his reminiscences of her.
It is evident from the dedications of Whittier and Field that each felt an almost equal debt of gratitude to the sisters with whom their early years were spent and whose affection they have so beautifully commemorated.