frogs, and lobsters could be hypnotised like human beings.]

'Tis the voice of the Lobster, I hear him complain,
That hypnotic suggestion is on me again;
I was mesmerised once and behold, since that time,
I have yielded myself to suggestions of crime:
I have compassed the death of an innocent "dab,"
And attempted to poison an elderly crab.

You'll not wonder my tricks give my relatives shocks,
And they're holding a meeting just now in the rocks
To decide whether I, who was once quite a saint,
Should be put, as the doctors say, under restraint.
I intend to go there in the midst of a trance.
And, may I be boiled, but I'll lead them a dance!

It's a terrible thing, when to virtue inclined.
That some vile Mesmeriser debauches your mind;
When awake I recoil from the things that I've done,
Such as scrunching the poor little mussels for fun.
In these fetters hypnotic a foe holds me fast,
And you'll find that they'll hang me, in seaweed, at last.

* * * * *

WELCOME, LITTLE STRANGER!

[Illustration]

Last Friday there appeared a startling paragraph, announcing the first