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Show ST. PETER AT THE GATE. St. Pfter tood guard at the golden gate, With a foleran mien and an air ledate, "When up to the top of the golden stair A man and a woman, ascending there, Applied for admission. They came and i StU'i'l Bef" v. refer, so great and good, Jn the Citv of Peace to win, And a.Ued St. Peter to let them in. The woman was tall and lank and thin, "With a craggy beardlut upon her chin. The mail was short, and thh k, andstout, His stomach was built so it ro -Hided out, His facu was pleasant and all the while He wore a kindly and genial smile. Tho choirs In the distance the ochoes woke, And the man kept 6till while tho woman spoke. "Oh, thou, who guards the gate," said she, ; "We. two come hlthet beseeching thee , . To let m enter the heavenly bind i And play our harps with the angel band. Of me, !St. Peter, there is no doubt, There', nothing from heaven to bar mk out! I've been to meeting three times a week, And almost always I'd rise aud speak. "I've told the sinners about tho day "When they'd repent of their e.vil way; I've tol I my neighbors I've told 'em all 'Bout Adam and Eve, and the Primal Fall, I've shown them what they'd have to do If they'd pass in with the chosen faw; I've marked thpir path of duty clear Laid out theplan for the whole career, ' "I've talked and talked to 'em loud and long, For my lung are good, and my voico is strong. ' So, good St. Peter, you'll clearly see The gate" of heaven is open for me; .But in v old man. I resrret to sav. That if she went to the regions dim, There wasn't the ghost of a show for him. Slowly he turned, by habit bent, To follow wherever "the woman went. .St. Peter, standing on duty theie, Observed that the top of hit head was bare, lie called the gentleman back and said : "Friend, how lonR have you been wed?" ' Thirty years"(wilh a weary sigh) And then he thoughtfully added 4-Vhy?' St. Peter was Filent. With head bent down lie raised his head and scratched bis cm own, Thn, peeming a different thought to take, Slowly, half to himself he ppake: "Thirty ykars with that woman there? No wonder the man hasn't any hair! Swearing is wicked ; smoko'a not good; He smoked and swore I should think he would. "Thirty years witli that tongue so sharp? Oh I Angel Gabriel ! Give him a Hart ! A jeweled harp wit li a golden string! Good sir, pass in where the angels sing! Gabriel, give him a et alone One with cushion up near the throne! Call up some angels to piny their host! Let him enjoy the music and rest! "See that on tho finctt Ambrosia he foeda ; lie's had about all the hell he needs. It isn't just hardly the thing to do To roast biiu on earth and the future too!" They gave bim a harp with golden strings; A glittering robe and a pair of wing, Aud he said, as he entered the Ileal m of Day : "Well, this heats cucumbers, anyway!" And so the scripture had come to pass "The laet shall be first, and the first shall be last." Joseph Hekt Smilkv. Hasn't walked in exaetly the narrow way. He smokes and he swears, and- grave faults he's got, And I don't know whether he'll pass or not. "lie never would pray with an earnest vim, '" Or go to revival, or join in a hymn, So 1 had to leave him in sorrow there While I, with tbe chosen, united in prayer. He ate what the pantry chanced to afford While lr in my purity, sang to the Lord ; And if cucumbers were all tie got, It's a chance if he merited them or not. "But, O, St. Peter, I love him so, To the pleasures of heaven, please let him go! I've done enough, a saint I've been, Won't that atone? Can't you let him in? By my grim gospel I know 'tis bo That the unrepentant must fry bow, But isn't there some way vo: can see That he may enter who's dear to me? "It's a narrow gospel by which I pray, But tho chosen expect to find some way Of coaxing, or fooling, or bribing you, 80 that their relations can amble through; And say, St, Peter, it seems to me This gate isn't kept as it on lit to be. You ought to stand right by the opening there, And never sit down in that easy chair. "And say, St. Peter, my Bight Is dimmed, But I don't like the way your whiskers is trimmed. They're cut too wide, and outward toss, They'd look better narrow, cut straight acrois. Well, we must be going our crowns to win, So open, St. Peter, and we'll p8s in !" 8t. Peter sat quiet and stroked his staff, But spite of bis olHce he had to laugh. Thrtn said, with a fiery gleam in his eye: j. "Who's tending this gateway-you orl?" And then he arose in his stature tall, And pressed a button upon the Wall, And said to the imp who amwered the bell, "Escort this lady around to belli" . Tiie man 6tood etill aa apiece of stone-Stood stone-Stood eadly, gloomily there alone. A life-long settled idea he had That his wife was good and he was bad; Ho thought if the woman went down . below " That he woujd certainly have to go |