Volume 103 — A USEFUL EXPERIENCE.

I awoke at one in the morning, I had been two hours in bed, When—bang!—without any warning A joke came into my head. 'Twas brilliant, awfully funny, It flashed through my drowsy brain, It was worth—oh, a lot of money!— I chuckled again and again. I thought how I might employ it, I laughed till the tears rolled down, Foreseeing how SMITH would enjoy it, And how it would tickle BROWN. I said, "I had best but hint it To them, or they might purloin This wonderful jest, then print it, And between them divide the coin." Late in the morn I awoke,—I Puzzled with all my might In vain to recall the joke I Made in the silent night. What was it about? No dreamer Am I! No—I think—I frown— When next I make a screamer In bed—I will write it down. By the side of the bed a taper Shall ever with matches be, A pencil and piece of paper, To note what occurs to me. Since then I have tried, but the late joke, As seen in my bedside scrawl, Is always so poor,—that the great joke, I'm sure, was no joke at all!