The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1879-06-28
Yorick's Drawer.

r uiHy IulnSs, dlN cIllSellclto dIc oOllc-
times. Here is a tobacco firm of repute re-
spectfully calling attention to its ''new
asthmatic cigarette" Those who have ever
smoked wheezy pipe can imagine the hor-
rors of the little roll of paper.
in the last century President of the
United States addressed these words to Con-
gress:
L saw with peculiar pleasure, at the close
of the last session, the resolution entered
into by you, expressive of your opinion tha'
an adequate provision for the support of the
public credit is a matter of high Importance
to the national honor and prosperity.
There is no truth more thor
oughly established than that there exists in
the economy and course of nature an indis-
soluble union between virtue and happiness,
between duty and advantage, between the
genuine maXims of an honest and magnani-
nous policy and the solid rewards of public
prosperity and felicity.
GEORGE WASHINGTON.
That President was George Washington.
1t is pity the same appreciation canno' be
given to the present Congress.
Much and just complaint is made of the
cheap novels and story-papers that are pub
lshed for boys. But is there not in them
some quality, some original virtue, wanting
to better literature, that gives them their
vogue? 1t is surely not vice nor sympathy
with wickedness that leads boys to read
them. Is it not because these books are
books of action, of adventure, full of move
ment and rapid rush? And is there not a
defect in the contemplative slow-mOving
work, with its slender plot and leisurtly
characterization, that is the fashion to-day,
which units it for boys? 1t is fit for the
chimney-corner, but is not the meat on
which boys thrive or that suits their palate
Give them Walter Scott or Cooper or Marry
att, and they will not ask for "The Boys
Own"
1t was on the broad piazza of the Glen
House at the ''opening" last week,-"Dr.
Hendricks" who was there, tells the story
that group sat, watching the mountain
wagons climb the great hill. The centre of
the group was "Josh Billings" and the
others of it soon forgot the wagons in listen
ing to him. He was in the best of humor-
he had caught hundred trout that
morning,-and his talk abounded i'll Quips
and cranks emphasized by those e. Or
nous winks of his that cover half his face,
that are t so much winks as going to
sleep with one eye for a few minutes. In
curse of conversation he told of the
thousands of correspondents he has-mostly
literary aspirants who wish him to lend
| them helping hand, to find a market for
tlieir ."ares. or to tell them how he went to
| work to get name and fortune. He has
| long ago given up answering these letters,
| for to answer them would be too serious a
| tax upon his time. He throws them aside
half-read But one day, a long time ago, he
| got letter so different from most of those
he received that he read it through and an
swered it. 1t covered twelve pages, closely
written, and was from divinity student
| just about entering the ministry. The the
ologue said he had read "Mr. Billings
maxims and saw they were the work of a
practical man acquainted with the world
but not given up to it, and he wanted 'Mr
| Billings" to give him few hints as to the
best way of getting on in life and with hi'
| fellow creatures; and so on and SO on
GOSH took half-sheet of letter paper
wrote upon it these words, ''Be virtuous ant
| you'll be happy-but you won't have hal
so good time," and mailed it to the anx
ious inquirer.
And that is the origin of an expression
which has passed into familiar speech, ant
is becoming proverb-a proverb was lon:
ago defined as one mans wit and all mem
wisdom.
From East jefferson, Maine, comes tn
following greeting from dealer in the popu
lar confection known as ''taffy." Evidentl.
Pinafore is not unknown down there:
''However could you do it?'' as saith Pima
fore. 1 mean to go and leave out Bucephalu
from the famous horses, and Sheridan's toe
To quote again
MY pain and my distress
| find it not easy to express.
Were you here, however, "my amazemen
my surprise you might gather from the expires
sion of my eyes"
Ny dear fellow, / know you are not abov
knowing "the value of kindly chorus" (yo
see l am Pinafore-mad; pardon the sligh
vagary, can no more help quoting than MI
Dick could keep King Charles's head out c
| his writings). SOTO resume-let me an
nounce myself as one of the afore-mentione
chorus which sings the praises of Yorick
Drawer 1t is unique, delightful, altogethe
Jolly and-but 1 will mercifully spare you
bushes.
OF course I'm going to ask favor. Compl
ments always mean that-or nothing. Wi
you please find, if you can, stray articl
printed in the PRESS some three or four yeal
ago, called Damon and Pythia. And will yo
sometime take that for your text and discours
J to us of said subiect,- friendship between ma
, and woman, so-caled Platonic affection? L
, so doing you will everlastingly oblige one VII
} feels almost your friend already. e. NJ III.
Yorick does not recall ''Damon and p
thia" His knowledge of Platonic affection
not enough to justify discourse on thu
subject Perhaps he may talk some time {
what he thinks it ought to be. Perhar
some of the readers of the Drawer hav
something to say on the subject.
M. H. should remember that nei he
, Bucephalus nor Sheridan's horse is hors
of fiction.
The lyric champagne Rose which q
Constant Reader" in communication t
the Drawer some weeks since expressed til
desire to see again in print, reads thus:
. Lily on liquid roses floating
| So floats yon foam DER pink champagne
| Fan would join such pleasant boating
And prove that ruby main,
Floating away on wine!
, | Those seas are dangerous, graybeards swear,
Whose sea-beach is the goblet's brim;
And true it is they drown old Care,
But what care we for him,
So we but float on wine!
And true it is they cross in pain
| Who sober cross the Stygan ferry;
| But only make our StyX Champagne,
$ And we shall cross right merry
E Floating away on wine!
| Old Time shall smooth away each wrinkle
, | Bright garlands round his scythe shall 'twire
The sand from out his glass shall sprinkle,
| And fill it up with wine,
With rosy, sparkling wine.
p Thus hours shall pass which man reckons
With us who mad with mirth divine
See not the shadowy hand that beekons
Across the of wine
OF rosy, sparkling wine.