The Daily Telegraph

THE THREE CENT STAMP.

[Eugene Field, Chicago News.]

Good by, old stamp. It's nasty luck
That ends our friendship so.
When others failed you gamely stuck,
But now you've got to go.
So here's a flood of honest tears.
And here's an honest sigh--
Good-bye, old friend of many years--
Good-by, old stamp, good by?

Your life has been a varied one,
With curious phases fraught--
Sometimes a check, sometimes a dun,
Your daily coming brought:
Smiles to a waiting lover's face,
Tears to a mother's eye;
Or joy or pain to every place--
Good by, old stamp, good by.

You bravely toiled, and better men
Will vouch for what I say;
Although you have been licked, 'twas
when
Your face turned t'other way.

'Twas often in a box you got
(As you will not deny)--
For going through the mails, I wot--
Good by, old stamp good by!

Ah, in your last expiring breath!
The tale of years is heard--
The sound of voices hushed in death,
A mother's dying word,
A maiden's answer, soft and sweet.
A wife's regretful sigh.
The patter of the baby's feet--
Good by, old stamp, good by!

What wonder, then, that at this time
When you and I must part
I should aspire to speak in rhyme
The promptings of my heart.

Go, bide with all those memories dear
That live when others die--
You've nobly served your purpose here--
Good by, old stamp, good by