Volume 156 — THE PATRIOT'S REWARD.

Narcissus, in that fateful hour When Britain's belt was tightly buckled Against the prowling U-boat's power, Thou earnest to us newly suckled; And oh! if interest ties the knot That binds us to our fellow-creatures, Be sure we loved thee on the spot, My pigling with the pensive features. No niggard hand it was that found Thy punctual fare, nor short the measure Of garbage brought from miles around And meal that cost its weight in treasure; But ever as the U-boat u'd And lunch grew relatively lighter We filled thee up with wholesome food And watched thy tensile skin grow tighter. Artless as is the wanton faun And agile as the Hooluck gibbon, The children "walked" thee on the lawn, Tied with a bow of orange ribbon; And aye as irksomer grew the task Of fending off the Hun garotters In our mind's eye—if you must ask— We ate thee up from tail to trotters. But Fate, as oft, declined to pour Our cup of grief till it was quite full; You scarce had turned your seventh score When straightway Fritz became less frightful; And argosies came home to port As safe as though some inland lake on, Laden from keel to groaning thwart With tender ham and toothsome bacon. No need, old sport, to slay thee now, Yet in our hearts the thought we'll cherish That for our sakes, Narcissus, thou, So young, so fair, wast like to perish; And, as the years of Peace go by And war becomes a fireside story, "Thank Heaven," we'll cry, "thou didst not die, But lived to reap the fruits of glory; "Assimilating in repose Thy fragrant fare of tops and peelings, Or making all the garden close Echo with-pregustative squealings, Or basking, when the sun is high, Within thy chamber's cool recesses While some fair child with practised eye Combs with a rake thy tangled tresses." And ever, as new twilights burn Low, and our offspring, loudly yelling, Hurry the well-heaped votive urn To thy obscure but ample dwelling, "Ready at need thou wast to give Thy life," they'll say, "that want might miss us, For ever, therefore, shalt thou live With us and be our love, Narcissus." ALGOL.