Part 32 (2/2)

”Yea, if for the lesson that you will learn (the lesson of humbled pride) The price you fix at two-and-six, it shall not be denied; Come, take your stand at my right hand, for here is the mark we toe: Now, are you ready, and are you steady? Gird up your petticoats! Go!”

And Jill she ran like a winging bolt, a bolt from the bow released, But Jack like a stream of the lightning gleam, with its pathway duly greased; He ran down hill in front of Jill like a summer-lightning flash-- Till he suddenly tripped on a stone, or slipped, and fell to the earth with a crash.

Then straight did rise on his wondering eyes the constellations fair, Arcturus and the Pleiades, the Greater and Lesser Bear, The swirling rain of a comet's train he saw, as he swiftly fell-- And Jill came tumbling after him with a loud triumphant yell: ”You have won, you have won, the race is done! And as for the wager laid-- You have fallen down with a broken crown--the half-crown debt is paid!”

They have taken Jack to the room at the back where the family medicines are, And he lies in bed with a broken head in a halo of vinegar; While, in that Jill had laughed her fill as her brother fell to earth, She had felt the sting of a walloping--she hath paid the price of her mirth!

_Here is the tale--and now you have the whole of it, Here is the story--well and wisely planned, Beauty--Duty--these make up the soul of it-- But, ah, my little readers, will you mark and understand_?

_Anthony C. Deane_.

THE AULD WIFE

The auld wife sat at her ivied door, (_b.u.t.ter and eggs and a pound of cheese_) A thing she had frequently done before; And her spectacles lay on her ap.r.o.ned knees.

The piper he piped on the hill-top high, (_b.u.t.ter and eggs and a pound of cheese_) Till the cow said ”I die” and the goose asked ”Why;”

And the dog said nothing, but searched for fleas.

The farmer he strode through the square farmyard; (_b.u.t.ter and eggs and a pound of cheese_) His last brew of ale was a trifle hard, The connection of which with the plot one sees.

The farmer's daughter hath frank blue eyes, (_b.u.t.ter and eggs and a pound of cheese_) She hears the rooks caw in the windy skies, As she sits at her lattice and sh.e.l.ls her peas.

The farmer's daughter hath ripe red lips; (_b.u.t.ter and eggs and a pound of cheese_) If you try to approach her, away she skips Over tables and chairs with apparent ease.

The farmer's daughter hath soft brown hair; (_b.u.t.ter and eggs and a pound of cheese_) And I met with a ballad, I can't say where, Which wholly consisted of lines like these.

She sat with her hands 'neath her dimpled cheeks, (_b.u.t.ter and eggs and a pound of cheese_) And spake not a word. While a lady speaks There is hope, but she didn't even sneeze.

She sat with her hands 'neath her crimson cheeks; (_b.u.t.ter and eggs and a pound of cheese_) She gave up mending her father's breeks, And let the cat roll in her best chemise.

She sat with her hands 'neath her burning cheeks (_b.u.t.ter and eggs and a pound of cheese_), And gazed at the piper for thirteen weeks; Then she followed him out o'er the misty leas.

Her sheep followed her as their tails did them (_b.u.t.ter and eggs and a pound of cheese_), And this song is considered a perfect gem, And as to the meaning, it's what you please.

_Charles S. Calverley_.

NOT I

Some like drink In a pint pot, Some like to think, Some not.

Strong Dutch cheese, Old Kentucky Rye, Some like these; Not I.

Some like Poe, And others like Scott; Some like Mrs. Stowe, Some not.

Some like to laugh, Some like to cry, Some like to chaff; Not I.

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