THE DINNER.

FROM THE GERMAN OF GOETHE.

AH! many a guest is coming

Α

Around my table to-day;

The fish, the flesh, and the poultry

Are smoking in goodly array; The invitations were special,

They say they will surely appear;

Hans go look at the window;
Time that the people were here!

Girls are coming by dozens,

Maidens whom even their foes Never have once detected

Kissing beneath the rose;

Such are the damsels invited;

They said they would surely appear;

Hans! go look at the window;

Time that the maidens were here!

Plenty of fine young fellows

Are coming to drink my health;

Civil, and moral, and modest,

Spite of their titles and wealth;

The invitations were early;

They say they will surely appear;

Hans! go look at the window;
Time that the younkers were here!

Plenty of wives are coming,

Such as the ugliest spouse

Never has driven a moment

To think of breaking their vows; How pleasant to see them together; They said they would surely appear; Hans! go look at the window;

Time that the women were here!

Husbands also are coming,

Models of temperate lives; Men who are blind to beauty, Save in their excellent wives; All were politely invited;

And say they will surely appear; Hans! go look at the window; Time that the fellows were here!

Poets are also invited;

The pleasantest ever were known; Who list to another's verses

Cheerfully as to their own;

What capital dining companions!

They said they would surely appear;

Hans! go look at the window;

Time that the poets were here!

Alas!

with watching and waiting,

The dinner is certainly spoiled;

The viands are cold in the dishes,

The roast and the baked and the boiled;

Perhaps we were over-punctilious;

Our feast is a failure, I fear!

Hans! come away from the window;

Never a one will be here!

FOOLS INCORRIGIBLE.

FROM THE GERMAN OF GOETHE.

I.

ALL the old sages, however indeed

They wrangle and fight in the bitterest way, In one thing, at least, are fully agreed :

They wink at each other and laughingly say,
For the mending of fools it is foolish to wait,
Fools will be fools as certain as fate;

Sons of Wisdom! make 'em your tools;
That, only that, is the use of fools!

II.

MERLIN, the ancient, — long in his shroud,
Where I accosted him once in my youth,
Unto my questioning answered aloud,

Solemnly speaking this notable truth:
For the mending of fools it is foolish to wait,
Fools will be fools as certain as fate;

Sons of Wisdom! make 'em your tools;
That, only that, is the use of fools!

III.

High on the top of an Indian mound
I heard it once in the passing air;
And Egypt's vaults, deep under the ground,
The same old tale were echoing there :
For the mending of fools it is foolish to wait,
Fools will be fools as certain as fate;

Sons of Wisdom! make 'em your tools,
That, only that, is the use of fools!

N

O

THE BEST OF HUSBANDS.

FROM THE GERMAN.

I HAVE a man as good as can be ;

No woman could wish for a better than he ; Sometimes, indeed, he may chance to be wrong, But his love for me is uncommonly strong!

He has one little fault that makes me fret,
He has ever less money, by far, than debt;
Moreover he thrashes me now and then ;
But, excepting that, he's the best of men!
I own he is dreadfully given to drink;
Besides, he is rather too fond, I think,
Of playing at cards and dice; but then,
Excepting that, he's the best of men?

He loves to chat with the girls, I know
('T is the way with men, they are always so);
But what care I for his flirting, when,
Excepting that, he's the best of men ?

When soaked with rum, he is hardly polite,
But knocks the crockery left and right;
And pulls my hair, and growls again,
But excepting that, he's the best of men!

I can't but say I think he is rash
To pawn my pewter, and spend the cash,
But I have n't the heart to scold him, when,
Excepting that, he's the best of men!

What joy to think he is all my own!
The best of husbands that ever was known;
As good, indeed, as a man can be;

And who could wish for a better than he?

LOVE POEMS.