Yes; I know my hair is curly, Blacker than the blackest sloe; And I know that you'll be surly With the candour I thus show. That my eyes with fire are glancing I'll admit if that you say: Yet I think that you're romancing When you swear they're bright as day. Then my teeth you state are pearl, Purer than the driven snow; And to touch my lips you'd dare all Dangers from an earthly foe. Please don't be so very minute When my beauties you describe, As, perhaps, your flimsy tribute May appear to be a bribe. To secure my young affections To your nasty little self, And to banish all reflections That you seek not me but pelf. Now, if you'd be bright and happy, Try and don't be what you seem-- A wretched, lazy, selfish chappy: There--you have it, Mr. Green. _The Modern Athenian._ * * * * * BACHELOR'S LIFE. "I will tell in measured numbers, That our life is not a dream; That the earth we don't encumber; That we are not what we seem. "Man is real--we are earnest; Eve, thy birth is not a fib; Of man thou art, to him returnest; We each are looking for his rib. "No selfishness, not pleasure, Is our only aim below; Or to win wealth and treasure, The only bliss we wish to know. "Life is short, time is fleeting, We should hurry, up and do That which brings a parent's greeting, That which settles us below. "Bring us aid through life to battle Who'll gird her hero in the strife; No longer be mere straying cattle, Find a tender, loving wife, "Beware the future, howe'er pleasant Our fondest dream of it may be; Our freedom, liberty, past and present, Our pleasures we may cease to see. "Do not married men remind us, We, though erring, yet have time, To amend and leave behind us Names unsullied by the crime. "A crime the ladies all declare, Being single through life's rapid run; No victim to their wedded care, Bent on freedom, pleasure, fun. "Let us then be up and doing, With a heart for any fate; Still in honour's track pursuing, Find a partner, though its late." From _Notes and Queries_, August 31, 1872. The following appeared in the _Seattle Intelligencer_ (a Washington Territory newspaper), of December 4, 1871:-- THE MAIDEN'S DREAM OF LIFE. "Tell us not, in idle jingle, 'Marriage is an empty dream!' For the girl is dead that's single, And things are not what they seem. "Life is real! life is earnest! Single blessedness a fib; Man thou art, to man returnest, Has been spoken of the rib. "Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, Is our destined end or way; But to act that each to-morrow Finds us nearer marriage-day.