Page:Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley (Bobbs-Merrill, 1916) Volume 1.djvu/46

 PHILIPER FLASH

OUNG Philiper Flash was a promising lad,

His intentions were good—but oh, how sad

For a person to think

How the veriest pink

And bloom of perfection may turn out bad.

Old Flash himself was a moral man,

And prided himself on a moral plan,

Of a maxim as old

As the calf of gold,

Of making that boy do what he was told.

And such a good mother had Philiper Flash;

Her voice was as soft as the creamy plash

Of the milky wave

With its musical lave

That gushed through the holes of her patent churn-dash;—

And the excellent woman loved Philiper so,

She could cry sometimes when he stumped his toe,—

And she stroked his hair

With such motherly care

When the dear little angel learned to swear.

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