Page:Carroll - Rhyme and Reason.djvu/96

80 Thy brother, drowned in daily woe,
 * Is thankful when thou sleepest

For if I laugh, however low,
 * When thou'rt awake, thou weepest!

I took my sister t'other day
 * (Excuse the slang expression)

To Sadler's Wells to see the play,
 * In hopes the new impression

Might in her thoughts, from grave to gay
 * Effect some slight digression.

I asked three gay young dogs from town
 * To join us in our folly,

Whose mirth, I thought, might serve to drown
 * My sister's melancholy:

The lively Jones, the sportive Brown,
 * And Robinson the jolly.

The maid announced the meal in tones
 * That I myself had taught her,

Meant to allay my sister's moans
 * Like oil on troubled water: