If PUNCHINELLO were to become a member of the
_Reichstag,_ an event now highly probable, he would like to have every
adversary in debate "start to his feet like a war-horse."
* * * * *
[Illustration: ILLUSTRATED LITERATURE.
_Boy (with basket.)_ "WHAT'S THEM PICTERS, JIM?--ANOTHER MURDER, OR A
NEW DIVORCE?"
_Jim._ "NOT MUCH. ONLY AN OLD EXECUTION,--WARMED OVER!"]
~THE ROMAUNT OF THE OYSTER.~
In the moonlight at Cattawampus
We sat by the surging sea,
"And O how I long for an oyster,"
Said FELICIA FITZ-SNYDER to me.
Then I said, "Would were mine the power,
Deep, deep, to the deepmost sea
I would fly on the wings of an oyster
To gather a pearl for thee.
"Where the oysters are roystering together
In the caves and the grots where they lie,
And the clams with a musical clamor
Rejoice when the water is high,"
"O, there would my spirit conduct thee.
Till, as waves began to swell,
Thou shoulds't rise o'er the crest of the billows,
Like a VENUS upon the half-shell!"
'Twas enough: for I saw her eye stir,
And ope like an oyster wide,
As in accents hysteric she whispered,
"No, FELIX--I'd like 'em fried!"
Did she take me, alas! for a friar,
Or a man of a soul austere,
That pearl of my heart's Chincoteague?
Oh, no, she had nothing to fear.
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