Volume 10 — FAMILIAR AUTHORS AT WORK

Miss Tripp for years has lived alone, Without display or fuss or pother. The house she dwells in is her own— She got it from her dying father. Miss T. delights in all good works, She goes to church three times on Sunday, Her daily duty never shirks, Nor keeps her goodness for this one day. She loves to bake and knit and sew, For wider fields she doesn't hanker; Yet for the things they have I know A-many poor folk have to thank her. The simple life she truly leads, She loves her small domestic labors; In spring she plants her garden seeds And shares the product with her neighbors. By Books and Authors now I see In literature she's made a foray: "The Yellow Shadow"—said to be "A crackerjack detective-story."

Bluff Captain Brown is somewhat queer, But of the sea he's very knowing. I scarcely meet him once a year— He's off in search of whales a-blowing. For fifty years—perhaps for more— He's sailed about upon the ocean. He thinks that if he lived ashore He'd die. But this is just a notion. Still when the Captain comes to port With barrels of oil from whales caught napping, He'll pace the deck, and loudly snort, "This land air is my strength a-sapping. "I call this living on hard terms; I wish that I had never seen land; I wish I were a-chasing sperms Abaft the nor'east coast of Greenland." Yet on his latest cruise, 'tween whales The Captain wrote a book most charming. It's called—and it is having sales— "Some Practical Advice on Farming."

Tom Henry Smith I long have known Although he really is a hermit— At least, Tom Henry lives alone, And that's what people always term it. Tom Henry never is annoyed By fashion's change. He wears a collar Constructed out of celluloid. His hats ne'er cost above a dollar. Tom loves about his room to mess, And cook a sausage at the fireplace. It doesn't serve to help his dress— Grease spatters over the entire place. Tom Henry likes to read a book, And writes a little for the papers, But scarcely ever leaves his nook, And takes no part in social capers. Now Tom has penned a book himself. I hope he'll never feel compunctions! Its title is—it's on my shelf— "Pink Teas and Other Social Functions."

I've found the Joneses pleasant folk— I've watched them all their children fetch up. Jones loves to have a quiet smoke— She's famous for tomato catchup. Ruth is their eldest—now fifteen, A tallish girl with pleasing features. Each school-day morn she can be seen As she trips by to meet her teachers. A serious-minded miss, you'd say, Not given much to school-girl follies. She still sometimes will slip away To spend a half-hour with her dollies. She's learned to sweep, to sew, to bake— She's quite a helpmate to her mother. On Saturday she loves to take The go-cart out with little brother. At writing now she bids for fame— Her book a great success is reckoned. "By Right of Flashing Sword," its name, A strong romance of James the Second.