Page:All quiet along the Potomac and other poems.djvu/51

Rh THE BIRDS' CAMP-MEETING.

ID you ever hear of the bird's camp-meeting? It was held the loveliest day of June; Brother Blackbird wisely led the preaching, And Bob-o'-Lincoln led off each tune.

The Magpie, out on a circuit going, Declared himself a repentant sinner, And then flew off and purloined a spoon That was lying close by a poor man's dinner.

The Parrot spoke with a claw uplifted, And told them a story as old as sin, And exceeding dull; so the brethren whispered, And voted it an unmeaning din.

Kingfisher came from the reedy meadow, Piping a measure that nobody knew, Till Robert-o'-Lincoln was quite discouraged Before the singer was halfway through.

A Cuckoo told, with a sound of crying, How slyly a Starling's nest she stole, And that ever since she had been bemoaning The weary weight on her burdened soul.

Then Elder Raven his head shook sadly; He "hoped the bird might in earnest be; But he didn't know; there had been confession So oft before this— Well, we would see."