YOUR INQUIRY, CHILD, TOUCHES MY HEART

I am intimately interested in your problem, my child, for I am a great believer in simplification.  It is hard to follow out one’s own precepts; but the root of happiness is never to contradict any one and never agree with any one.  For if you contradict people, they will try to convince you; and if you agree with them, they will enlarge upon their views until they say something you will feel bound to contradict.  Let me hear from you again.

TO AN UNKNOWN DAMSEL

  On Fifth Street, in a small cafe,
    Upstairs (our tables were adjacent),
  I saw you lunching yesterday,
    And felt a secret thrill complacent.

  You sat, and, waiting for your meal,
    You read a book.  As I was eating,
  Dear me, how keen you made me feel
    To give you just a word of greeting!

  And as your hand the pages turned,
    I watched you, dumbly contemplating—­
  O how exceedingly I yearned
    To ask the girl to keep you waiting.

  I wished that I could be the maid
    To serve your meal or crumb your cloth, or
  Beguile some hazard to my aid
    To know your verdict on that author!

  And still you read.  You dropped your purse,
    And yet, adorably unheeding,
  You turned the pages, verse by verse,—­
    I watched, and worshiped you for reading!

  You know not what restraint it took
    To mind my etiquette, nor flout it
  By telling you I know that book,
    And asking what you thought about it.

  I cursed myself for being shy—­
    I longed to make polite advances;
  Alas!  I let the time go by,
    And Fortune gives no second chances.

  You read, but still your face was calm—­
    (I scanned it closely, wretched sinner!)
  You showed no sign—–­I felt a qualm—­
    And then the waitress brought your dinner.

  Those modest rhymes, you thought them fair? 
    And will you sometimes praise or quote them? 
  And do you ask why I should care? 
    Oh, Lady, it was I who wrote them!

THOUGHTS ON SETTING AN ALARM CLOCK

  Mark the monitory dial,
    Set the gong for six a.m.—­
  Then, until the hour of trial,
    Clock a little sleep, pro tem.

  As I crank the dread alarum
    Stern resolve I try to fix: 
  My ideals, shall I mar ’em
    When the awful moment ticks?

  Heaven strengthen my intention,
    Grant me grace my vow to keep: 
  Would the law enforced Prevention
    Of such Cruelty to Sleep!

SONGS IN A SHOWER BATH

[Illustration]

HOT WATER