And it is also plain, Tn seasons of great strain, A Cockatoo is precious little good." I trust, my friends, you'll see This tale applies to you ; Don't choose your councillors because they're blue Or even yellow, as the case may be ; Bat choose them for the work they've got to do. LOCAL LTEICS. 21 THE EEiaN OF MORALITY. Supposed to he written hy a dis^tingwislied advocate of Temperance some years hence, and addressed to posterity. 'Tis a saddening reflection for a person who is great In all qualities wbieli make a man sublime, That shy modesty forbids him on the virtues to dilate Which have rendered him the envy of his time. Were it not for this restriction, I might venture to remark That morality has always been with me A kind of second nature — shunning doubtful ways and dark ; But no, alas ! I fear it cannot be. StiU, my children, I may tell you how a many years ago, When surrounded by a small though moral clan, A lofty scheme occurred to me, as some of you may know, To beatify my sinful fellow-man. I gazed upon the men of Leeds with bitterness and awe, I saw them waste in drink their hard-earned pelf ; And I murmured, " I will take the lot, and, aided by the law,