"We knew that no toy would please her Like a shoe, so fair and neat, To fold, with its soft caressing, Her delicate, sylph-like feet! "Truly, a smile like a sunbeam Brightened her eyes of blue, And once.. twice.. thrice.. she tested The charm of her fairy shoe! "Ah! then the bright smile flickered, Faded, and drooped away, As faintly, in tones that faltered, I heard our darling say: "1 My shoe! papa, please hang it Once more on the holly bough, Just where I am sure to see it, When I wake.... an hour from now! "But alas! she never wakened! Close-shut were the eyes of blue Whose last faint gleam had fondled The curves of that dainty shoe! "Ah, children, you understand me-- _Your_ eyes are brimmed with dew, As they watch on the Christmas holly The sheen of a silken shoe!" A TALE OF A COMET. By J. T. Trowbridge. |WE had seen the streaming meteors' light, With their trails of fire, the autumn night, And talked of falling sky-rocks hurled From some long-since exploded world; Of comets frisking among the stars. With tails like fiery trains of cars, And asked, "Should the reckless engineer Of some rakish comet steer Crashing into our atmosphere, How would the planet's shell resist him?" Then we conversed of the solar system, And lunar men; And Doctor Ben Brought out his globe, at half-past ten, And lectured, giving conclusive reasons For tides, eclipses, climes and seasons; Till, weary at last, I went to bed, With a jumble of wonderful things in my head-- Moons and comets and meteorites, Globes and circles and polar nights; And there I lay thinking, And drowsily winking At something--a ray--thro' my bed-curtains blinking; [Illustration: 0020] Too bright for a star, and growing still brighter, Making the moon-lighted chamber yet lighter, Which very much astonished the writer! I gazed from the casement, And wondered, with ever-increasing amazement, What the look of alarm on the Moon's frowning face meant. [Illustration: 0021] His nose peering out from a very close cap, His fingers in mittens, his chin in a wrap, Like a tourist prepared for a very cold snap! On, on he sped, through the regions of space, With very short legs at a very long pace, His well-filled knapsack lashed to his back, Extra shoes and canteen strapped under his pack, His coat-tails flying away on his track-- Entangled far off in the Pleiades, On the horns of the Bull and Orion's knees.