Her taste he ventured to explore

In books, the graver and the lighter, And mentioned authors by the score. Mon dieu! In every sort of lore,

She always chose his favorite writer.

She loved the poets; but confessed
Racine beat all the others hollow;
At least, she thought his style the best.
Racine! his literary taste.

Racine! his maximus appollo.

Whatever topic he might name,

Their minds were strangely sympathetic. Of courtship, marriage, fortune, fame, Their views and feelings were the same. Parbleu! he cried. It looks prophetic.

"Come let us seek an ampler space;
This heated room, I can't abide it.
That mask I'm sure is out of place,
And hides the fairest sweetest face."
Said she, "I wear the mask to hide it."

The answer was extremely pat,

And gave the Count a deal of pleasure. "C'est vrai. I did not think of that. Come let us go where we can chat

And eat (I'm hungry) at our leisure."

"I'm hungry, too," she said, and went
Without the least attempt to cozen;
Like ladies who refuse, relent,
Debate, oppose, and then consent
To eat enough for half a dozen.

And so they sat them down to dine,
Solus cum sola, gay and merry.
The Count enquires the kind of wine
To which his charmer may incline.

Ah! Quelle merveille! She answers sherry!

What will she eat? She takes the carte,
And notes the viands that she wishes;
"Pardon Monsieur! what makes you start?"
As if she knew his tastes by heart,
The lady named his favorite dishes!

Was e'er such sympathy before?

The Count was really half demented; He kissed her hand, and roundly swore He loved her perfectly!-nay, more,

He'd wed her-if the gods consented!

"Monsieur is very kind," she said,

"His love so lavishly bestowing On one who never thought to wed,— And least of all," she raised her head

""Tis late, Sir Knight, I must be going!"

Count Felix sighed, and as he drew Her shawl about her, at his leisure, "What street?" he asked; "my cab is due." "No! no!" she said, "I go with you! That is if it may be your pleasure."

Of course, there's little need to say
The Count delighted in her capture;
Away he drove, and all the way
He murmured, "QUELLE FELICITE!"
In very ecstasy of rapture.

Arrived at home-just where a fount
Shot forth a jet of lucent water-
He helped the lady to dismount;
She drops her mask-and lo!-the Count-
Sees-Dieu de ciel!-his only daughter!

"Good night!" she said, "I'm very well,

Altho you thought my health was fading; Be good-and I will never tell—

('Twas funny tho) of what befell

When you and I went masquerading!''

THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER

BY FRANCIS SCOTT KEY

Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming; Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly stream

ing?

And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze o'er the towering steep,

As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses ?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam;
Its full glory, reflected, now shines on the stream;
'Tis the star-spangled banner, oh, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is the band who so vauntingly swore,
'Mid the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,

A home and a country they'd leave us no more?
Their blood hath washed out their foul footsteps' pol-
lution.

No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave;
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand

Between our loved home and the war's desolation;

Blessed with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land

Praise the power that hath made and preserved us a

nation.

Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just,
And this be our motto, "IN GOD IS OUR TRUST';
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.