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,
(_Butter and eggs and a pound of cheese_)
A thing she had frequently done before;
And her spectacles lay on her aproned knees.
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