ADVICE TO LOVERS.

I knew an old man at a Fair

Who made it his twice-yearly task

To clamber on a cider cask

And cry to all the yokels there:—

“Lovers to-day and for all time

Preserve the meaning of my rhyme:

Love is not kindly nor yet grim

But does to you as you to him.

“Whistle, and Love will come to you,

Hiss, and he fades without a word,

Do wrong, and he great wrong will do,

Speak, he retells what he has heard.

“Then all you lovers have good heed

Vex not young Love in word or deed:

Love never leaves an unpaid debt,

He will not pardon nor forget.”

The old man's voice was sweet yet loud

And this shows what a man was he,

He'd scatter apples to the crowd

And give great draughts of cider, free.