* * * * *

MARIANA IN WAR-TIME.

This tedious and important War
Has altered much that went before,
But did you hear about the change
At _Mariana's_ Moated Grange?
You all of you will recollect
The gross condition of neglect
In which the place appeared to be,
And _Mariana's_ apathy,
Her idleness, her want of tone,
Her--well, her absence of backbone.
Her relatives, no doubt, had tried
To single out the brighter side,
Had scolded her about the moss
And only made her extra cross.

But when the War had really come
At once the place began to hum,
And _Mariana's_, bless her heart!
She threw herself into the part
Of cooking for the V.A.D.
And wholly lost her lethargy.
She sent her gardeners off pell-mell
(They hadn't kept the gardens well),
And got a lady-gardener in
Who didn't cost her half the tin,
And who, before she'd been a day,