^■:*^<^-:''f^. 'r^^^t S V' '-': ->?:v:. • s^yt2 DERL ENUS M2 DOINIS i ^^i^i^T' LIBRARY -pF CQNG 6ESS. Chap Copyright No...^ u^- UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. HOWARD H ALI^. l^^l— '7 3 3 5^ > Modern Venus and fldonis One summer's day a gentle maid, Wandering at w.ll 'neath sun and shade, Along a sylvan stream that strayed, With lazy pace, adown the glade, Had reached a pond where froglets played. She paused bes^ide a log decayed And watched the bull-frogs promenade. She marvelled : "They are not afr id ! " 'Tis very strange, one would think they'd "Leap affrighted and dismayed ' Into the pond below the grade ! " Tell me, Friend Frogs, why look so staid ? " Come ope' your throats, here I've delayed " To hear your croaking serenade ! " Her sweet commands the frogs obej'ed, And lo ! the din their voices made Awoke a slumbering renegade : A handsome rogue From cap to brog' His dress the nattiest e'er in vogue. He chanced to lie Asleep hard by, Beneath the -un-red summer sky. Lifting his head From the grassy bed, He spied a path, which, winding, led To where the frogs. In Nature's togs, Were playing lug among the bogs. No V list to this : The gentle Miss Had not been spied by eyes of his ; The frogs alone, Perchance their tone. Like magnets, dr.w him to their zone, Through foliage green. Whose leafy screen Shaded this prisli e pathwaj', e'en To where some vines An oak entwines And weds it to a group of pines ; Where one can see Quite easily The pond, the brook, the fallen tree, Or 1 g decayed, Whe^eou the maid Sat dreaming, while the froglets pla) ed. Parting tlie leaves. The \ outh perc ives — The croaking imps, whose song relieves The .solitude ; They seemed imbued With anytliing but quietude 1 Again he raided His ey s, and gazed. And lo ! beheld — entranced— amazed — The m lid ! Surprise 9U^je J4j \^