In  our  artist's  illustration
For  your  earnest  contemplation
See  the  martyred  saint  enshrined

Whist  !

Never  so  gently  now  !

Soft!

Not  a  word  !

Not   a   sound,    my   good    masters  ! — (we    mustn't  be

heard,)
Let  us  fairily,  warily,  charily  creep
Up  the  small  attic  flight,
Through  the  door  on  your  right,
To  the  old  fellow's  bedside,  and  just  steal  a  peep
At  the  gentle  old  man  as  he  lies  there  asleep  :
So  good  and  kind-hearted,  so  meek  and  so  mild.
With  the  face  of  a  satyr,  the  heart  of  a  child.
What  a  theme  for  your  cynic,  my  masters  ?     Ah  me  !
What  a  heartless  old  dramatist  nature  can  be  !


THE    END


LONDON:   PKINTXO  BY  WILLIAM  CLOWES  AND  SONS,  UMITXD.
POEMS    IN    DIVERS    KEYS

AND

JOE    SKINNER

OR,  The  Man  with  a  Sneer

BY

ARTHUR   SCOTT   CRAVEN


SOME  OPINIONS  OF  THE  PRESS

"  Mr.  Craven  sings  with  equal  ease  in  many  tones — narrative,
reflective,  dialect,  the  light  song,  the  serious  monologue  ;  the  poet's
interest  always  centering  in  human  joys  and  sorrows,  and  his  note
clear,  polished  and  musical." — The  Times.
"  Delightfully  told.  Mr.  Craven  has  airiness  and  pathos  in  his
pen.  He  laughs  and  we  laugh  with  him.  He  sorrows  and  we  are
sad."— T^/r  Daily  Chronicle.
"  A  poet  of  great  charm  and  promise.  .  .  .  The  true  ring  about
it  all  .  .  .  celebrated  in  lines  of  considerable  force,  humour  and
dexterity." — The  Standard.
"  The  facile  and  jocose  spirit  of  the  Rev.  R.  H.  Barham.  There
is,  however,  a  basis  of  genuine  sentiment — even  tragedy — for  the
poem." — The  Observer.
