_The tiny birdlings in the tree Their tuneful tales of love relate-- Alas, no lover comes to me-- I flock alone, without a mate. Mine eyes are hot with bitter tears, My soul disconsolately yearns-- But, ah, no wooing knight appears-- In vain my quenchless passion burns. Unheeded are my glowing charms-- No heroes claim a moonlight tryst-- All empty are my hungry arms-- My virgin cheeks are all unkissed. Oh, would some cavalier might haste To crown me with his manly love, And, with his arm about my waist, Feed on my cherry lips above. Alas, my blush and bloom will fade, And I shall lose my dulcet notes-- Then I shall die an old, old maid, And none will mourn Miss Alice Oates._ [Illustration: FRANCIS WILSON.] Of his friendship with Francis Wilson there is no need to write here, for is it not fully set forth in that charming little brochure, in which Mr. Wilson gives to the world a characteristic sketch of the Eugene Field and bibliomaniac he knew, and in whose work he was so deeply interested? But Mr. Wilson does not tell how he was pursued and plagued with the following genial invention which Field printed in his column in 1884, and which still occasionally turns up in country exchanges: "Mr. Francis Wilson, the comedian, is a nephew of Père Hyacinthe, the ancient divine. During his recent sojourn in Paris he was the père's guest, and finally became deeply interested in the great work of reform in which the famous preacher is engaged. His intimate acquaintances say that Mr. Wilson is fully determined to retire from the stage at the expiration of five years and devote himself to theological pursuits. He gave Père Hyacinthe his promise to this effect, and his sincerity is undoubted." William Florence, the comedian, was an actor of whom, on and off the stage, Field never wearied. Night after night would we go to see "Billy," as he was familiarly and irreverently called, as Bardwell Slote in the "Mighty Dollar," or as Captain Cuttle in "Dombey and Son." Although originally an Irish comedian of rollicking and contagious humor, Florence had played "Bardwell Slote" so constantly and for so many years that his voice and manner in every-day life had the ingratiating tone of that typical Washington lobbyist. Before his death, while touring with Jefferson as Sir Lucius O'Trigger in "The Rivals," he renewed his earlier triumphs in Irish character, but, even here the accents of the oily Bardwell gave an additional touch of blarney to his brogue.