“I stretched mine hand unto Thy tree――” Mother Eve. “Not as the sightless beasts are we――” Mother Eve. “The curse has fallen――let it bide―― I and my children open-eyed Know Thee, and judge, whate’er betide,” Mother Eve. MABEL PEACOCK. _Detroit Free Press_, December 5, 1885. ―――― THE POETS AT TEA. _Rossetti, who took six cups of it._ The lilies lie in my lady’s bower, (O weary mother, drive the cows to roost), They faintly droop for a little hour; My lady’s head droops like a flower. She took the porcelain in her hand, (O weary mother, drive the cows to roost), She poured; I drank at her command; Drank deep, and now-you understand! (O weary mother, drive the cows to roost). * * * * * _The Cambridge Fortnightly._ February, 1888. ―――― A TWILIGHT FANTASY. A woman stood at a garden gate (_Sing hey, for the distant spreading sail_!) Sing hey, for the dog that hurried by With a kettle tied to his tail. My goodman skurried adown the road. (_Sing hey, for the joyous drinking bout_!) And after the ochre cur he sped With many a gruesome shout. “Now why this haste, good neighbour?” she cried; “Why after the dog of the umber tint?” But, waking the echoes with yells, he sped Through the twilight’s gleam and glint. A smug-face lad looked over the fence (_Sing hey, where the birdlings sing and chirp_,) “Why laughest, good mother!” “I laugh,” said she, “To see yon _ecru_ purp.” A smile then smilèd the smug-faced lad. (_Sing lack-a-day, for the sunset red_,) “Then laugh no more, good gossip, because The kettle is your’n,” he said. _The Shooting Times._ February 11, 1887. ―――― THE LAUNDRESS AND THE LAIDY. All on a sofa fair Ada lay, (_O, for a brandy and soda, she sighed_), It was four in the afternoon, and gay Was the outside world, but Ada must stay In her room, and thus she cried, “Could I but join the happy throng.” (_And O, for a brandy and soda she sighed_), “That under my windows pass along To Short’s, or to Finch’s, I’d soon be gone, Or to the Inventions glide.” She took down an “afternoon tea-book” to read, (_O, for a brandy and soda she sighed_), But it interested her little indeed, Such books are tame if you haven’t “teaed.” And no one sat by her side. She went to the window and gazed at the sky, (_O, for a brandy and soda she sighed_), Then she saw her particular mash pass by, To attract his attention did she try, But in vain, tho’ hard she tried.