Susan Marr Spalding was born in Maine, and though she has written comparatively little for the public, she has thousands of admirers among lovers of true poetry. Her beautiful poem "Fate," which is reprinted above, was first published in the New York Graphic thirty years ago. Had it not been for the keepers of scrap books it doubtless would have disappeared a few years after it was written. Instead, however, it has found a place in recently published collections of verse, and is regarded as one of the most beautiful and expressive utterances in English.
FROM THE LIPS OF ANANIAS.
A Collection of Gems that Would Have Made the Late Baron Munchausen Get Up
and Leave the Room in Despair.
A LION'S GRATITUDE.
John Burroughs, the naturalist, was laughing about the story, widely published not long since, of a wild duck that got a salt-water mussel caught on its tongue and had intelligence enough to fly from the salt to the fresh water, where it dipped the mussel, sickening it through osmosis, and thus causing it to loosen its firm grip.
"I believe that story of the duck that understood the theory of osmosis," said Mr. Burroughs. "I believe it as implicitly as I believe the story of the crippled lion and the young lieutenant.
"A young lieutenant, during an African campaign, came one day upon a badly crippled lion. The great brute limped over the tawny sand on three paws, holding its fourth paw in the air. And every now and then, with a kind of groan, it would pause and lick the injured paw piteously.