THE UNIVERSAL QUERY.

THE UNIVERSAL QUERY.
404.6

I was tired of the town with its tu- mult and strife,
Where every one struggles for gain. life,
I longed for the sweet and beneficent
So I rushed for the afternoon train.
And I thought of the country, where nature appears
The picture of infinite glee,
Afar from the city, where all that one hears
Is the question, “What’s in it for me?”

Way up near the sky on a tremulous bough
Sang the robin, so guileless and gay,
And his song brought a welcome as-surance that now
From greed I was far, far away.
But his melody ceased and he turned a shrewd eye
Now and then on a big cherry tree;
What he meant by the glance I di vined with a sigh,
He meant, “What is there in it for me?”

And then I went fishing, the water was clear,
And I gazed with a pitying eye,
As the innocent, curious creatures swam near,
To be lured to their fate by and by.
They would cautiously wait, as they studied the bait
With an air it surprised me to see.
The remark that each made, I am ready to state,
Was, “What’s in it for me?”

The mole that went burrowing into the soll,
The bee that inspected the bloom.
The insects that kept up their clamor and toll
Far into the night’s restful gloom,
The frog in the swamp and the bat in the tower,
All these, whom I so long to see.
Untouched by the selfishness rife in this hour,
Were saying, “What’s in it for me?”
-Washington Star.