In the world’s broad field of battle, In the bivouac of life, Be not like dumb, driven cattle! Be a woman, be a wife! Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant! Let the dead Past bury its dead! Act――act in the living Present. Heart within, and MAN ahead! Lives of married folks remind us We can live our lives as well, And, departing, leave behind us Such examples as will tell;―― Such examples, that another, Sailing far from Hymen’s port, A forlorn, unmarried brother, Seeing, shall take heart, and court. Let us then be up and doing, With the heart and head begin; Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labour, and to win! Poems and Parodies_. By Phœbe Carey, Boston, 1854. ―――――――― The following is an amusing specimen of advertisement parodies. It was written by Mr. T. Thatcher, of College Green, Bristol:―― Tell me not in doleful murmurs Ink is but a mouldy stream! And the pen it rusts, and murders Writing paper by the ream! Thatcher’s Ink is Ink in earnest! And to rust is not its goal; Mud thou art, to mould returnest, Was not spoken as its dole. With enjoyment and not sorrow Welcome thee in loudest lay: Ink to write, that each to-morrow Finds it blacker than to-day. Blots begone! Vile ink be fleeting! Penman, be no more a slave! Let all other inks go beating Funeral marches to their grave! In the world’s wide field of battle, In the bivouac of life, Write not like dumb driven cattle! Use this Ink and end thy strife! Lines of this Ink all remind us We may write with ease sublime, And departing, leave behind us Words to live as long as time! Pen marks, that perhaps another, Sailing o’er life’s solemn main, A forlorn and shipwreck’d brother, Reading, shall take heart again. Let us then be up and doing, Seize this Ink before too late, Thatcher’s now at once securing, Neither hesitate nor wait! SHORTFELLOW. ―――――――― PLEASE BE CHEERFUL. (_Advice to Modern Novelists._) Tell us not, in mournful numbers, Life is all a ghastly dream! Such as those we have in slumbers, When the nightmare makes us scream. Life is dark enough in earnest, Without bringing in the gaol; Only readers of the sternest Like their heroines out on bail. Not to swindle, or to borrow, Is the reputable way; Not to marry, and to-morrow Kill your bride, and run away. Arson’s wrong, and poisoning dreary, And our hearts, though pretty brave, Now and then get rather weary Of the gallows and the grave. In the great domestic battle, In the matrimonial strife, Be not like those Mormon “cattle,” Give your hero but one wife. Wives and daughters should remind you There are women without crime; Draw them, and you’ll leave behind you Fictions that may weather time;――