Littell's Living Age/Volume 173/Issue 2236/The Pick of the Whelps

A PICTURE AND AN ALLEGORY

barn, with open door; Gold strawy litter on the floor; A wire-haired terrier lying by; Six short-tailed puppies romping nigh; The farmer’s son, just turned sixteen; A keeper, in brown velveteen; A rough-shod ploughboy standing near In quilted smock, a knowing leer O’er-spreading all his rosy face. Accessories about the place, Fowls, bags of grain, the keeper’s dog, A gorse-hook, chips and chopping-log — All these, and what your taste doth snore Desire, are there in seemly store. But to complete the simple scene The central figure must, I ween, Be pictured now — a little maid, With sad, wet eyes, who seems afraid To lose but one of all her pets — The child of tears and vain regrets!