THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY.

ACTOR, LENOX AND YLEEN FOUNDATIONS.

TOBY'S SUPPER.

BY CAROLINE M. SAWYER.

A WEARY day had Toby had of it,

Driving the cows to pasture, putting up
The bars behind them- bars that would not fit
At either end, but down again would drop
From out their rests, now one and then another,
Till he grew hot and sweaty with the pother!

Then there was weeding in the garden rows;

And what young back was there so stout as his To stoop and pull the sly weeds, which the hoes Could not dislodge, or older eyes might miss, Beneath the tall corn hidden — though in truth Such groping labor did not please our youth.

Yet on he worked like any little man;

Stopping at times to fan his sweaty brow
With his coarse poplar hat, or lift the can
Of milk-and-water to his lips, or throw
Himself beneath the shady apple-trees,
To rest a moment in the cooling breeze.

So went the day — but evening came at last;

The cows were milked; the chickens had been fed