“We—we were playin’ p-prisoners’ base, An’ h-he is s-such a t-tease, An’ w-when I w-wasn’t l-lookin’, ma’am, H-he kissed me—if you please!” Upon the teacher’s face the smiles Have triumphed o’er the frown, A pleasant thought runs through her mind, The stick comes harmless down.
But outraged law must be avenged: Begone, ye smiles, begone! Away, ye little dreams of love! Come on, ye frowns, come on! “I think I’ll have to whip you, John: Such conduct breaks the rule; No boy, except a naughty one, Would kiss a girl—at school.”
Again the teacher’s rod is raised, A Nemesis she stands: A premium were put on sin, If punished by such hands! As when the bee explores the rose We see the petals tremble, So trembled Mary’s rosebud lips; Her heart would not dissemble.
“I wouldn’t whip him very hard,”— The stick stops in its fall, “It wasn’t right to do it, but It didn’t hurt at all.” “What made you cry, then, Mary Ann?” The school noise makes a pause, And out upon the listening air From Mary comes, “Because.” Boston Transcript.
TOGETHER ON THE STAIRS.
They sat together on the stairs, Far up where there was shade: ’Twas not because there were no chairs To sit on, I’m afraid.
Some time they had been sitting there Alone, while others danced, And people, coming out for air ’Tween dances, often glanced
Up at them, while they seemed to be Oblivious of remark, And sat like two birds in a tree, Within a shady park.
To eyes that saw them from below, They looked a loving pair: The many signs which lovers show They seemed to show up there.