ANONYMOUS. ――――:o:―――― To the L. H. A. S. T. M.――“I have the honour to announce that, as an earnest searcher after truth, my recent efforts have been rewarded beyond my most sanguine expectations. To the subscriber has been accorded the distinguished honour of being the medium of exposing to the world a literary gem, which, under other auspices, would probably never have seen the light; and mankind would have remained in utter ignorance of the great treasure herewith reproduced for the delectation of the S. T. M.’s. Those distinguished archæologists and Biblicists exhumed the original manuscript from beneath the corner-stone of the first Solomonial edifice; therefore its authenticity and antiquity are indubitable, while the sound philosophy, immense depth of thought and convincing logic, reminds us of the divine Shakespeare. Let it speak for itself.” BRICKS, JR. POME――FRAGMENT. _Hemlock, Prince of Dunkirk._ _Hemlock_ (_solus)_――To affiliate, or not to affiliate, that is the question―― Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The stings and taunts of official lunkheads Or to take up arms against their petty torments And, by opposing, end them. To affiliate――to disburse No more――and by disbursing, to say we end The contemptuous glances and the frowning looks That non-affiliation brings us, ’Tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish’d. To be willing to pay――to be proposed―― To be proposed; perchance to be rejected. Ay, there’s the rub, For, in that rejection, what heart-burnings, what bitter thoughts may come when the finger points――unworthy! Must give us pause. There’s the consideration That produces doubt and misgiving, For who would bear the whips and scorn of temporizers The pains and penalties of Section _Forty-two_―― _The deprivation of visitation_――_the interment Prohibited_――_the funeral interdicted_――the Charity Recalled――that great channel through which God passes all his mercy upon mankind; The insolence of office-holding rings, and _sich_, When he himself might be relieved by disbursing “Four dollars and nine-shilling”――but for a knowledge That a lust for power (precursor of dissolution) the ambition Which with haughty tread doth trample Charity in the dust, While judgment, directed by circumspection, Hath taken wings and flown to parts unknown, To know our offerings at Charity’s shrine are diverted To organs grand, and gorgeous halls, Services of plate, banquets grand, and the pendant liquids And _ten thousand_ other reasons, which salary lists proclaim, Make us rather bear those ills we have, Than fly to those we know too much of.