A PROLOGUE. 299 



I think that, too, I see, and not so far 

 Off either, quite a brilliant looking Star ; 

 And what I say is really most surprising, 



He never seems to set ; so keep your eyes on 



The Star that never sinks below horizon 

 Indeed, he looks to me as always rising. 

 I'm dazzled also and my pulse is dancing 

 From studying up that jolly fellow, Mansen. 



Mansen, you know, was once caught in a queer snap 

 By stepping unawares into a bear-trap ; 

 But accidents like this will sometimes ruffle 



Even the most smoothly-running stream of life, 



Just like a little quarrel with one's wife; 

 And whether stuff of deerskin or of duffel 

 The moral points if e'er you get your pants in 

 A trap don't have you're legs in it, like Manseii. 



Now, here's another of us. If you want a tune he 



Can play it like an artist ; call on Kuehne. 



Or if life's tension you would be relaxin' 

 "We can supply without the least delay- 

 By giving us a fortnight's notice, any way 



Amusement really that's worth the axiii'. 



All this may seem to you a stupid riddle, 



But not so puzzling as to learn the fiddle. 



If Adam and his mate had had but one son 



'Tis certain they'd have named the youngster Johnson, 



And he'd have died some forty centuries back, 



Being then, on that account, to us no use. 



"We have, however, from the laud of spruce 

 And Norway pine, a dapper little Jack, 

 To help us in our work, to haul and steer 

 And celebrate with us the good New Year. 



If we could only tell what is before us 



How well we'd know the fortune stored for Noros, 



Who, like Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, 



Looks calmly at all dangers of the ocean. 



But I've thought sometimes have, in fact, a notion 

 That Noros, when he looks so much at ease, 

 Is in reality but calmly thinking 

 About the girls at home now stop your winking. 



"What would we do if Destiny most dire 

 Had robbed us of a man we all admire, 

 And sent us cruising round this icy place 



