Amid the glowing pageant of the year There comes too soon th' inevitable shock, That token of the season sere, To the unthinking fair so cheaply dear, Who, like to shipwreck'd seamen, do it hail, And cry, "A Sale! a Sale! A Sale! a Summer Sale of Surplus Stock!" See, how, like busy-humming bees Around the ineffable fragrance of the lime, Woman, unsparing of the salesman's time, Reviews the stock, and chaffers at her ease, Nor yet, for all her talking, purchases, But takes away, with copper-bulgèd purse, The textile harvest of a quiet eye, Great bargains still unbought, and power to buy. Or she, her daylong, garrulous labour done, Some victory o'er reluctant remnants won, Fresh from the trophies of her skill, Things that she needed not, nor ever will, She takes the well-earned bun; Ambrosial food, DEMETER erst design'd As the appropriate food of womankind, Plain, or with comfits deck'd and spice; Or, daintier, dallies with an ice. Nor feels in heart the worse Because the haberdashers thus disperse Their surplus stock at an astounding sacrifice! Yet Contemplation pauses to review The destinies that meet the silkworm's care, The fate of fabrics whose materials grew In the same fields of cotton or of flax, Or waved on fellow-flockmen's fleecy backs, And the same mill, loom, case, emporium, shelf, did share. * * * * * [Illustration: "ADDING INSULT," &c. SCENE--_Hunters cantering round Show Ring._ _Youth on hard-mouthed Grey (having just cannoned against old Twentystun)._ "'SCUSE ME, SIR,--'BLIGED TO DO IT. NOTHING LESS THAN A HAYSTACK STOPS HIM!"] * * * * * THE RIDER'S VADE MECUM. (_For Use in Rotten Row._) _Question._ What part of London do you consider the most dangerous for an equestrian? _Answer._ That part of the Park known as Rotten Row. _Q._ Why is it so dangerous? _A._ Because it is overcrowded in the Season, and at all times imperfectly kept. _Q._ What do you mean by "imperfectly kept"? _A._ I mean that the soil is not free from bricks and other impediments to comfortable and safe riding. _Q._ Why do you go to Rotten Row? _A._ Because it is the most convenient place in London for the residents of the West End. _Q._ But would not Battersea Park do as well? _A._ It is farther afield, and at present, so far as the rides are concerned, given over to the charms of solitude. _Q._ And is not the Regent's Park also available for equestrians? _A._ To some extent; but the roads in that rather distant pleasaunce are not comparable for a moment with the ride within view of the Serpentine. _Q._ Would a ride in Kensington Gardens be an advantage? _A._ Yes, to some extent; still it would scarcely be as convenient as the present exercising ground. _Q._ Then you admit that there are (and might be) pleasant rides other than Rotten Row?