220

THE WARY TROUT.

THE WARY TROUT.

Down in the deep

Dark holes I keep,

And there in the noontide I float and sleep:

By the hemlock log,

And the springing bog,

And the arching alders I lie incog.

The angler's fly

Comes dancing by,

But never a moment it cheats my eye;

For the wary trout

Is not such a lout

As to be by a wading boy pulled out.

King of the brook,

No fisher's hook

Fills me with dread of the toiling cook;

But here I lie

And laugh as they try ;

Shall I bite at their bait? No, no; not I.

But when the streams,
With moonlight beams,

Sparkle all silver and starlight gleams,
Then, then look out

For the wary trout;

For he springs and dimples the shallows about, While the tired angler dreams.

BOYS' PLAY AND GIRLS' PLAY.

"Now, let's have a game of play,
Lucy, Jane, and little May.
I will be a grizzly bear,

Prowling here and prowling there,
Sniffing round and round about,
Till I find you children out;
And my dreadful den shall be
Deep within the hollow tree."

66

Oh, no! please not, Robert, dear,
Do not be a grizzly bear:

Little May was half afraid

When she heard the noise you made,

Roaring like a lion strong,

Just now as you came along;

And she'll scream and start to-night,

If you give her any fright."

222

BOYS' PLAY AND GIRLS' PLAY.

"Well, then, I will be a fox!
You shall be the hens and cocks,
In the farmer's apple-tree,
Crowing out so lustily.

I will softly creep this way -
Peep- and pounce upon my prey;

"Oh, no, Robert! you're so strong,
While you're dragging us along
I'm afraid you'll tear our frocks.
We won't play at hens and cocks."
"If you won't play fox or bears,
I'm a dog, and you be hares;
Then you'll only have to run.
Girls are never up to fun."

"You've your play, and we have ours,
Go and climb the trees again.

I, and little May, and Jane,
Are so happy with our flowers.
Jane is culling foxglove bells,
May and I are making posies,

And we want to search the dells
For the latest summer roses."

MRS. HAWTREY.

JOHN GILPIN.

John Gilpin was a citizen

Of credit and renown,

A train-band captain eke was he
Of famous London town.

John Gilpin's spouse said to her dear,
"Though wedded we have been
These twice ten tedious years, yet we
No holiday have seen.

"To-morrow is our wedding-day,
And we will then repair
Unto the Bell' at Edmonton,
All in a chaise and pair.

"My sister, and my sister's child,
Myself and children three,

Will fill the chaise; so you must ride On horseback after we."

224

JOHN GILPIN.

"I am a linen-draper bold
As all the world doth know,

And my good friend the calender
Will lend his horse to go."

Quoth Mrs. Gilpin, "That's well said;

And for that wine is dear, We will be furnished with our own,

Which is both bright and clear."