FACTS, HINTS, GEMS, AND POETRY.

Facts, Hints, Gems, and Poetry.

FACTS, HINTS, GEMS, AND POETRY.

THE CHILDREN'S CORNER.

The Children's Corner.

A CURIOUS DIRGE.

To the Memory of Miss Ellen Gee, of Kew, who is here supposed to have died from being stung in the eye by a bee.

PRETTY, yet hapless maid of Q, (Kew)
My lovely L N G, (Ellen Gee)
Never again shall I and U (you)
Together sip our T. (tea)

For ah! there came, I know not Y, (why)
Among the flowers a B, (bee)

Which somehow stung her in the I, (eye)
So that she could not C.

(see)

As rapid as the X or Y, (Er or Wye)
The OI O or D. (Ohio or Dee)

Then fare thee ill, thou naughty B! (bee)
Who stung, nor yet knew Y; (why)
Since not for wealthy Durham's C (see)
Would I have lost my I." (eye)

They bear with tears fair L N G, (Ellen Gee)
In funeral R A, (array)

A clay-cold corse now doom'd to B, (be)
Whilst I mourn her D K. (decay)

Ye girls of Q, then shun each B, (Kew-bee)

List to the reason Y!

For should a BCU at T

(why)

He'll surely sting your I.

(bee see you at tea)

(eye)

Now in a grave-yard, deep in Q, (Kew)
She's cold as cold can B; (be)

Whilst robins sing upon A U (a yew)
Her dirge and LE G. (elegy)

TOM MYERS' CHRISTMAS EVE.

"O MOTHER, it is really Christmas," cried little Lucy Myers, as she skipped in at the door of her wretched home. "I have seen people buying such lots of things, and-" "Hold your tongue, you hussy," interrupted her mother, starting across the room and giving the child some smart slaps on her ill-clad shoulders. "There! that'll teach you to go off, leaving me to put the children to bed. Now, march up yourself!" And so, cold and hungry, poor Lucy crept up the narrow stairs leading to the cheerless room in which her two little brothers lay sleeping. Her father witnessed this outbreak of passion on the part of his wife without saying a word. He was used to such things, and oftentimes scolded and ill-used the children himself. Moreover, he was preparing to go out to spend the night with a few boon companions at the Black Lion, and it was not convenient for him to interfere and get up a scene just then. So the little girl, unheeded and uncared for, went shivering to bed, but she lay awake, tearful and miserable, thinking over what she had seen that evening. She had wandered away from the dirty little place where her parents lived, out into the brilliantly-lighted and busy thoroughfares of the town, and with childish curiosity had been watching the people as they bustled in and out of the grocers' shops, making and carrying off their purchases; had lingered, too, by the confectioners, forgetting both the cold and the hour in seeing joyous children making choice of cakes and buns that would have made many a poor little one's eyes shine at home. Many more things poor Lucy saw, about which her tongue would have prattled for an hour, but we have seen how she was silenced at the onset. They did not "keep Christmas" at Myers' house, at least not for the children. Beef and plum pudding were not to be got for nothing, and he could not afford it. Perhaps it never entered into Tom's mind that the money so freely left at the Black Lion would have spread his table with good cheer at this season of the year.

"Come, boys, and let us be jolly,"

was the noisy chorus that greeted his ears as he approached the said Black Lion, which was speedily changed on his appearance at the door of the room, for

TOM MYERS' CHRISTMAS EVE.

"Here comes a jolly good fellow,

Which no one can't deny!"

And amid the thumping of tables, and the clatter of jugs and glasses, Tom made his way to a snug corner reserved for him. There were some ten or twelve men sitting around, smoking and drinking; they had met together by appointment to celebrate Christmas Eve, and were evidently bent on making the most of their time; for although it was an early hour of the evening, one or two of them had already far advanced towards a state of intoxication. Pipes were refilled and lighted, and another hour passed quickly away. Yes, with its sixty golden minutes, gone for ever! And the record that it bore with it of the manner in which they had been spent by those immortal beings was fearful. Foolish, flippant conversation, interspersed with indecent oaths and wicked exclamations! Well might angels weep over time thus misspent by men made after the image of God! Still unheeded, time rolled on; and if these men had been less noisy in their revelries, they might have heard the pattering sound of dancing feet overhead, for Mrs. James, the hostess, was giving a Christmas party, and bright young beings were making merry in her best room upstairs. However, the men did not hear or know anything about it until Tom Myers was deputed to go to the bar for a fresh supply of drink. As he stood at the bar window, Mrs. James's little daughter flitted past him into the room where her mother was sitting, and throwing her arms around her neck, whispered an entreaty for some special favour. She was a pretty child, and on this important evening was clad in a snowy white dress, girdled with a rose-coloured sash, and her glossy curls were wreathed with shining holly leaves and their blushing berries. In truth she looked a very Christmas fairy; and perhaps Tom thought so, for his eyes rested on her for a moment or two, then he turned away thoughtfully, and a strange light gleamed in them. He was thinking of his own little Lucy, and the cruel reception she had met with at home that evening, and the pent-up spring of love and pity in the father's heart was struggling to break forth. He laid the silver coin down in payment for the wretched stuff he had ordered, where he had laid many a one before, and returned to the close and heated room. But how differently he felt! He did not attempt to relight his pipe, but put it in his pocket, and sat moody and silent. His altered manner did not escape the