Page:Pieces People Ask For.djvu/45

Rh "I wouldn't whip him very hard,"—
 * The stick stops in its fall,

"It wasn't right to do it, but
 * It didn't hurt at all."

"What made you cry, then, Mary Ann?"
 * The school noise makes a pause,

And out upon the listening air
 * From Mary comes, "Because."

Boston Transcript.

TOGETHER ON THE STAIRS.

sat together on the stairs,
 * Far up where there was shade:

'Twas not because there were no chairs
 * To sit on, I'm afraid.

Some time they had been sitting there
 * Alone, while others danced,

And people, coming out for air
 * 'Tween dances, often glanced

Up at them, while they seemed to be
 * Oblivious of remark,

And sat like two birds in a tree,
 * Within a shady park.

To eyes that saw them from below,
 * They looked a loving pair:

The many signs which lovers show
 * They seemed to show up there.

At least, that is the way, to chaps
 * Who sauntered in the hall,

Things looked; but then, of course, perhaps,
 * 'Twas nothing after all.

For, though on spooning they seemed bent,
 * Regardless how time flew,

'Twas possible that "distance lent
 * Enchantment to the view."