"'POEMS BY TWO SCHOOLBOYS.'
"One.—'Lines written on a late Auspicious Occasion' (I do so like that word auspicious), 'and presented to my new step-uncle-in-law, with a smile and a tear.' I'll read them:—
"'Respecting thee with all my might,
Thy virtues thus I sing.'"
"It's a story!" shouted Johnnie, interrupting him. "I don't respect you a bit, and I never wrote it."
"Two," proceeded Valentine, "'The Whisper, by a Lisper,' and 'The Stick of Chocolate, a Reverie.' Now, do you mean to tell me that you did not write these?"
"No, I didn't! you know I didn't!"
"Four," Valentine went on, "'The City of the Skunk, an Ode.' Now, Cray, it is of no use your saying you did not write this, for you sent me a copy, and told me that was the poetical name for Chicago."
"Well," said Crayshaw, "I tried that subject because Mr. Mortimer said something about the true sustenance of the poetic life coming from the race and the soil to which the poet belonged; but George was so savage when I showed it to him that I felt obliged to burn it."
"Five.—'To Mrs. M. of M.,'" continued Valentine. "It seems to be a song:—
"'Oh, clear as candles newly snuffed
Are those round orbs of thine.'"