The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-12-22

Their actions gentler passions move,
Or fan or Quench the flames OF love,
Soften the unrelenting Fair
And soothe the pensive statesman's
care;
Nimole as thought they skip and dance.
But mere tire. nor e'er advance.
Nor order change: like the worlds frame
Always interchangeable the same:
Tho active and 10 motion free.
Yet never move they willingly:
But in their silent cavern sleep
Time without end, nor stir nor peep.
Until some heav'n born Genius comes.
To rouse them from their silent tombs
! BY pow'rs unseen; then up they spring.
Without the help Of leg or wing
They mount; and as they fiy they sing.
There is evidence 20 prove that the
Ms was at one time in the possession
OF Sheridan
Naturally enough this awakened a
widespread interest. for apart from the
riddle itself an unpublished poem by
Pope. who died in 1sii. first brought
to light in 1856. would BE- matter 10
attract attention The authenticity OF
the poem. however. was not seriously
questioned. II being probably a skit
thrown off by the poet for the amuse-
ment OF the Misses Blount or some 9TH
er of his lady friends. and not consider
ed of Importance enough 10 be preserv-
ed in his published works. The answer
is the keys OF a harpsichord' or piano
the bloody ensign" being the bit Of red
baise or felt which covers the head OF
the hammer. or did in the time OF Pope.
The "Lilliputian throng" is the row Of
keys. IL is a very pretty riddle Dean
Swift did not disdain to relax his mind
with the composition OF these slight
puzzles. and several OF them may be
found in his works. Here is one OF
them:
I. with borrowed silver shine,
What you see is none OF mine.
First show you but a quarter.
Like the bow that guard the Tartar
Then the half and then the whole.
Ever dancing round the pole;
And true ii is / chiefly owe
Ny beauty TO the shades below.
The answer is 1.-The moon" A riddle
that long went the rounds. claiming
Macaulay as its author. is as follows;
Cut off my head and singular / act.
Cut of my tail and plural appear,
Cut on my head and tai. and Won
drous fact.
Although my middle's left there's
nothing there.
What Is my head? A sounding sea;
What is my tail? A flowing river:
Mid oceans depths 1 fearless stray.
Parent OF softest sounds. yet mute
forever.
The answer IL cold. But Maculsy
was not the author. Its authorship j.
unknown. Everybody is probably IA
miliar with the famous riddle on the
letter II, the first lines OF which are:
Twas whispered in heaven. twas whis-
pered in hell.
An echo caught family the sound as II
fell.
This was long attributed to Lord BY
ron. but its real author was Miss Cath
arine Fanshawe. who wrote several
others almost as good.
Macworth Praed, one Of the most
brilliant but now forgotten poets Of the
present century. wrote a number Of
fine riddles. one OF which was the sub
ject Of much discussion and many an
swersin Harper's magazine a good
many years ago. when that periodical
was young.
II is as follows:
Sir HilIory charged at Agincourt:
Soothl twas an awful day;
And tho In that old age OF sport
The rulers OF the camp and court
Had little time 10 pray.
IT'S said Sir Hilary muttered there
Two sylables by way OF prayer:
My first. to all the brave and proud
Who see tomorrow's sun:
Ny next. with her cold and quiet shroud
Before today be done:
And both together 10 all blue eyes