The stranger up and vanished. The next night He came again, and showed a wondrous sight Of names that haply yet might fill the chair-- But, lo! the name of Butler was not there! LATTER-DAY WARNINGS BY OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES When legislators keep the law, When banks dispense with bolts and locks,-- When berries--whortle, rasp, and straw-- Grow bigger _downwards_ through the box,-- When he that selleth house or land Shows leak in roof or flaw in right,-- When haberdashers choose the stand Whose window hath the broadest light,-- When preachers tell us all they think, And party leaders all they mean,-- When what we pay for, that we drink, From real grape and coffee-bean,-- When lawyers take what they would give, And doctors give what they would take,-- When city fathers eat to live, Save when they fast for conscience' sake,-- When one that hath a horse on sale Shall bring his merit to the proof, Without a lie for every nail That holds the iron on the hoof,-- When in the usual place for rips Our gloves are stitched with special care, And guarded well the whalebone tips Where first umbrellas need repair,-- When Cuba's weeds have quite forgot The power of suction to resist, And claret-bottles harbor not Such dimples as would hold your fist,-- When publishers no longer steal, And pay for what they stole before,-- When the first locomotive's wheel Rolls through the Hoosac tunnel's bore;-- _Till_ then let Cumming blaze away, And Miller's saints blow up the globe; But when you see that blessed day, _Then_ order your ascension robe! IT PAYS TO BE HAPPY[10] BY TOM MASSON She is so gay, so very gay, And not by fits and starts, But ever, through each livelong day She's sunshine to all hearts. A tonic is her merry laugh! So wondrous is her power That listening grief would stop and chaff With her from hour to hour. Disease before that cheery smile Grows dim, begins to fade. A Christian scientist, meanwhile, Is this delightful maid. And who would not throw off dull care And be like unto her, When happiness brings, as her share, One hundred dollars per ----? [Footnote 10: Lippincott's Magazine.] JAMES AND REGINALD BY EUGENE FIELD