Therefore, though others might be quicker, sharper, more "up to
things" than he, there was no one so reliable, and it soon got to
be a proverb in the office of Bethune & Co.--and other offices,
too--"If you wish a thing done, go to Boyd."
I am bound to say this, for I am painting no imaginary portrait,
but describing an individual who really exists, and who may be
met any day walking about Edinburgh, though his name is not
Donald Boyd, and there is no such firm as Bethune & Co. But the
house he does belong to values the young fellow so highly that
there is little doubt he will rise in it, and rise in every way,
probably to the very top of the tree, and tell his children and
grandchildren the story which, in its main features, I have
recorded here, of how he first began facing the world.
BY THE AUTHOR OF "JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN."
We went to the Zoo the Leopard to see,
But found him an unsociable fellow.
He would not look at us or say where he bought
His polka-dot suit of yellow.
ROBERT OF LINCOLN.
Merrily swinging on briar and weed,
Near to the nest of his little dame,
Over the mountain-side or mead,
Robert of Lincoln is telling his name;
Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link,
Spink, spank, spink;
Snug and safe in that nest of ours,
Hidden among the summer flowers.
Chee, chee, chee.
Robert of Lincoln is gayly dressed.
Wearing a bright black wedding-coat;
White are his shoulders and white his crest,
Hear him calling his merry note:
Bob-o'-link, bob-o'-link,
Spink, spank, spink;
Look, what a nice new coat is mine,
Sure there was never a bird so fine.
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