Margaret Johnson

“ Is free sometimes to run a race;
The week-days have their Sunday out;
The seasons too, beyond a doubt,
Their regular vacations take,
The dull routine of work to break.
We only— Comrades, are we slaves! ”

“ Loo-lee Loo and little Fing-wee.
A playmate, a friend, a toy,
A live little baby boy—
Conceive, if you can, in her lonely state, the Princess Loo-lee’s joy!
How, as fast as her feet could toddle
(Her shoes were a Chinese model) ,
She hurried him in, and almost turned his dear little wondering noddle.
“Oh, is it,” she bent to say
In her courteous Chinese way,
“Tn my very contemptible garden, dear, your illustrious wish to play?” ”

“ You may rightfully follow what plan you please, if it ’s only antique enough!
“A son,” he thoughtfully said,
“To serve me with rice and bread;
To burn the paper above my grave and honor my aged head! ”

“ If he turns his toes straight in as he goes, the boy is certainly mine!”
Oho! but the garden rang
On that wonderful night—ting, tang!
When a banquet meet was served the élite of the city of proud Shi-Bang!
And all who passed that way
Might read in letters gay
As long as your arm, “The Prince Choo-Choo adopts a son to-day!”
“And the gifts that were brought for the little Fing-Wee would fill me a chapter or two.” ”

“ Knows well the rule that ’s right,
That to knock your head on the ground nine times is the way to be polite.)
“And, pray, what have we here?”
In language kind though queer
The prince observed. “It looks to me like a little boy, my dear!”
“Why, that ’s what it is!” in glee
The princess cried. “Fing-Wee—
Most Perfectly Peerless Prince-Papa, a dear little brother for me!”
Prince Choo-Choo
Loud laughed the Prince Choo-Choo,
And I fancy he said “Pooh-pooh!”
(That sounds very much like a Chinese word, and expresses his feelings, too!) ”