A boy may know what a long glad while It has been to him since the dawn's first smile, When forth he fared in the realm divine Of brook-laced woodland and spun-sunshine;-- He may know each call of his truant mates, And the paths they went,--and the pasture-gates Of the 'cross-lots home through the dusk so deep.-- But no boy knows when he goes to sleep. O I have followed me, o'er and o'er, From the flagrant drowse on the parlor-floor, To the pleading voice of the mother when I even doubted I heard it then-- To the sense of a kiss, and a moonlit room, And dewy odors of locust-bloom-- A sweet white cot--and a cricket's cheep.-- But no boy knows when he goes to sleep. [Illustration] * * * * * [Illustration: "NO BOY KNOWS WHEN HE GOES TO SLEEP."] * * * * * WHEN WE FIRST PLAYED "SHOW" Wasn't it a good time, Long Time Ago-- When we all were little tads And first played "Show"!-- When every newer day Wore as bright a glow As the ones we laughed away-- Long Time Ago! Calf was in the back-lot; Clover in the red; Bluebird in the pear-tree; Pigeons on the shed; Tom a-chargin' twenty pins At the barn; and Dan Spraddled out just like "The 'Injarubber'-Man!" Me and Bub and Rusty, Eck and Dunk and Sid, 'Tumblin' on the sawdust Like the A-rabs did; Jamesy on the slack-rope In a wild retreat, Grappling back, to start again-- When he chalked his feet! [Illustration] Wasn't Eck a wonder, In his stocking-tights? * * * * * [Illustration: "JAMESY ON THE SLACK-ROPE."] * * * * * Wasn't Dunk--his leaping lion-- Chief of all delights! Yes, and wasn't "Little Mack" Boss of all the Show,-- Both Old Clown and Candy-Butcher-- Long Time Ago! Sid the Bareback-Rider; And--oh-me-oh-_my_!-- Bub, the spruce Ring-master, Stepping round so spry!-- In his little waist-and-trousers All made in one, Was there a prouder youngster Under the sun! And NOW--who will tell me,-- Where are they all? Dunk's a sanatorium doctor, Up at Waterfall; Sid's a city street-contractor; Tom has fifty clerks; And Jamesy he's the "Iron Magnate" Of "The Hecla Works." And Bub's old and bald now, Yet still he hangs on,-- Dan and Eck and "Little Mack," Long, long gone! But wasn't it a good time, Long Time Ago-- When we all were little tads And first played "Show"! * * * * * A DIVERTED TRAGEDY [Illustration]