CONTENTMENT.

"Man wants but little here below."

L'

ITTLE I ask; my wants are few;

I only wish a hut of stone,

(A very plain brown stone will do,)

That I may call my own;

And close at hand is such a one,

In yonder street that fronts the sun.

Plain food is quite enough for me; Three courses are as good as ten ;

If Nature can subsist on three,

Thank Heaven for thrce. Amen.

I always thought cold victual nice;—

My choice would be vanilla-ice.

CONTENTMENT.

I care not much for gold or land;

Give me a mortgage here and there,—

Some good bank-stock,-some note of hand,

Or trifling railroad share,

I only ask that Fortune send

A little more than I shall spend.

Honors are silly toys, I know,

And titles are but empty names; I would, perhaps, be Plenipo,

But only near St. James;

I'm very sure I should not care
To fill our Gubernator's chair.

Jewels are bawbles; 'tis a sin

To care for such unfruitful things;

One good-sized diamond in a pin,—

Some, not so large, in rings,

A ruby, and a pearl, or so,

Will do for me;-I laugh at show.

CONTENTMENT.

My dame should dress in cheap attire;

(Good, heavy silks are never dear ;)

I own perhaps I might desire

Some shawls of true Cashmere,—

Some marrowy crapes of China silk,
Like wrinkled skins on scalded milk.

I would not have the horse I drive

So fast that folks must stop and stare;

An easy gait-two, forty-five

Suits me; I do not care;

Perhaps, for just a single spurt,

Some seconds less would do no hurt.

Of pictures, I should like to own

Titians and Raphaels three or four,

I love so much their style and tone,One Turner, and no more,

(A landscape, foreground golden dirt,

The sunshine painted with a squirt.)

CONTENTMENT.

Of books but few,-some fifty score

For daily use, and bound for wear;

The rest upon an upper floor;

Some little luxury there

Of red morocco's gilded gleam,

And vellum rich as country cream.

Busts, cameos, gems,-such things as these, Which others often show for pride,

I value for their power to please,

And selfish churls deride;

One Stradivarius, I confess,

Two Meerschaums, I would fain possess.

Wealth's wasteful tricks I will not learn,

Nor ape the glittering upstart fool;Shall not carved tables serve my turn,

But all must be of buhl?

Give grasping pomp its double share,

I ask but one recumbent chair.

THE LAST LEAF.

Thus humble let me live and die,

Nor long for Midas' golden touch; If Heaven more generous gifts deny, I shall not miss them much,

Too grateful for the blessing lent