Such as she, her cronies cry, Are "In luck when children die!" Luck! The luck of willing loss. Children dead bring in the dross. Little SARAH'S pale and sickly; Death is near, but comes not quickly, Art may hasten his slow tread. Blows, exposure, hunger, pain, Are auxiliaries of gain, Gain that comes "when SARAH's dead," When to death her "friends" have done her. "We have got four pounds upon her," Babbles little SARAH'S brother, Echoing the modern Mother. WEMYSS the wise advises "thrift," As the only thing to lift Labour from the Sweater's slough. Laws, he swears, are wholly vain; Thought may scheme, and Love may strain Fruitlessly to raise the brow Of the poor above the slime Of starvation, suffering, crime. Thrift's the thing! Well, here is thrift! Children,--they are fortune's gift. Motherhood to rear them strives? Not so; it _insures their lives_! Burial Insurance comes As a boon unto the slums. The insurance love may fix At five pounds, or even six; A child's funeral costs a pound, And the balance means--drinks round! Here's the luck of loss, a luck Care may hasten. Blows are struck, Raiment stinted, food denied, Hunger and exposure tried; Infants overlain--by chance! Is it not a Moloch dance? Modern Motherhood, plus Drink, Beats old MOAB, will not shrink From child-sacrifice to win, Not a false god's smile, but Gin! Children are possessions, truly, To be sold, and paid for, duly, Pledged like other property, Bringing interest--when they die. Modern CORNELIA! That is she, With a semi-drunken glee Aping, all unconsciously, The proud Roman mother's vaunt. "See _my_ jewels! What I want-- Dress, and drink, and selfish ease, I can win at will--through these." What was it little BOBBY said? "We'll get four pounds when SARAH's dead!" Golden-tongued PETERBOROUGH, flay The harpies with your burning breath; And you, brave WAUGH, assist to stay This plague of fiends who thrive on death. Cut short the course of callous crime Of this CORNELIA of our time! * * * * * VOCES POPULI. AT THE HORSE SHOW. TIME--_About 3.30. Leaping Competition about to begin. The Competitors are ranged in a line at the upper end of the Hall, while the attendants place the hedges in position. Amongst the Spectators in the Area are--a Saturnine Stableman from the country; a Cockney Groom; a Morbid Man; a Man who is apparently under the impression that he is the only person gifted with sight; a Critic who is extremely severe upon other people's seats; a Judge of Horseflesh; and Two Women who can't see as well as they could wish._