PLEASURE.


We are mad gamesters in this world below,
All hopes on one uncertain die to throw;
How vain is man's pursuit, with passion blind,
To follow that which leaves us still behind!
Go! clasp the shadow, make it all thine own,
Place on the flying breeze thine airy throne;
Weave the thin sunbeams of the morning sky;
Catch the light April clouds before they fly;
Chase the bright sun unto the fading west,
And wake him early from his golden rest;
Seeking th' impossible, let life be past,
But never dream of pleasure that shall last.

_The Ruined City._

* * * * *


GERMAN LIFE.


One day (says a late adventurer,) that I was quartered in a farm-house,
along with some of our German dragoons, the owner came to complain to me
that the soldiers had been killing his fowls, and pointed out one man in
particular as the principal offender. The fact being brought home to the
dragoon, he excused himself by saying, "One shiken come frighten my horse,
and I give him one kick, and he die." "Oh, but," said I, "the _patron_