Show A poe and burglar ISM by C B lew Is As a young man of an fn enty four I 1 was keeping bachelors hall at an aunce la the country while she was away for a fortnight and one night a heary baud waa laid on my shoulder in a way to arouse me I 1 opened iny eyes to blink and wink at the light ot a lamp close by and pretty soon I 1 made out the face and figure of a man bend ing m er me he was a middle aged man not at all tough looking and it he haan hadn t had a pistol in his hand I 1 should bale taken him for anything but a burglar ihen couyou are a burglar I 1 stammered as I 1 sat up and rubbed my eyes ell call it that he replied with a smile there are two charges here legally speaking breaking and enter ing in the and robbery from a buelling duelling du elling that pretty nearly makes me a burglar I 1 guess did you say lunch with me this evening if so come along lou bad an empty pis tol under your pillow but I 1 remold it before waking ou up alven an un loaded pistol baa been known to go off are you coming like one in a trance I 1 got out of bed and dressed and then preceded alm downstairs and into the dining room where I 1 found the table spread for two there wore the remains of a cold ham breid and butter a bottle of wine a tumbler of jelly some cheese and a bit of cake at that halcyon period I 1 wrote poetry a deal of poetry there were of my poems lying about the and the robber gathered them up and brought them to the table said I 1 used to be something of a poet till I 1 struck a better here seems to be an ode to homebody named maggie just read it will you I 1 demurred and he insisted and I 1 felt like a fool as I 1 began to read maggie was a girl I 1 was somewhat maauel on and I 1 had written sixteen verses on ler hair eyes mouth hands and feet ahen I 1 had finished the first vese the robber laughed bear and said ell you are about the softest thing of your age I 1 ever ion speak of baggies golden locks you don t mean brick color eh I 1 I 1 mean what I 1 say I 1 replied with a show of dignity and then I 1 laid down the manuscript and told him I 1 would not read another word of it to please him or any other robber living my dear boy he said with a grin on his face you come about as near being an idiot asylum as anybody I 1 ever met the idea of a grownup man with whiskers on bis chin writing such twaddle as this I 1 loud better go out and hoo cabbage at a shilling a day I 1 haven t asked you tor advice 1 1 rapped back but you need it lots of it odea poems idels idyls yo godat tou sigh to walk in the moonlight paths with the idol of your heart do you better bt down in a comfortable room and eat peanuts with her you say the sun goes down on your sorrowing heart are you ass enough to think the sun is going to change its routine on your account say you amuse me I 1 haven t met a fool before for five years it you w ere not an armed robber do you know what I 1 d do I 1 shouted in my indignation 1 I can easily guess he replied as he choked back his laughter for a moment if I 1 an armed robber probably write a poem about me and it would be just as as these here A poet in his little bed upstairs and be bad bis mouth wide open and was snoring like a horse I 1 come here to rob I 1 make a neat job of effecting an entrance I 1 get out all the solid fill ver and make a tidy bundle of it I 1 do the job in way to do honor to my profession I 1 am all through when I 1 discover a pumpkin beaded poet in bis bed and am made almost ashamed of my work my son I 1 really cant leave the bouse without giving you some ad vice its no use to grit your teeth and look ugly over it because you ve got to take your medicine in the first place you are a rhymester instead of a poet there a no more poetry in your verses than there Is in that ham bone if maggie Is the girl I 1 take her to be she 11 oever marry a rhymester in the next place you are selfish aad cruel to write of the moon the silent night the vino clad hills and BO forth in the w ay you do they are helpless and can t hit back in the third place you ought to be put in bed with n nursing bottle Poetry ye gods I 1 glared at alm and wanted to kill him but dlan t know just what to say in reply lou are put out and indignant and all that he sal 1 as we rose from the table and you will lay the battering unction to your soul that I 1 am a anju dicea diced person but that wont help you in the long ran A young man of our age and build who will dandle iris days and weeks away on 1 us a corkscrew loose in the top of bl I 1 head and will cither turn out a fool or 1 con man oblige me by stepping into this closet I 1 entered the closet from which lit lad taken the silver and was locked in and did not get my liberty tor alio next twenty four hours about the first thing I 1 did after that the robber had carried off the bundle and that there was no show to alra BBS to tear up my various odes and poems to maggie and others and although alt lough it has sometimes tome arf hard to stick to my resolution 1 t been guilty of even making a rhyme since that night M QUAD |