Page:Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley (Bobbs-Merrill, 1916) Volume 1.djvu/47

Rh Old Flash himself would sometimes say

That his wife had "such a ridiculous way,—

She'd humor that child

Till he'd soon be sp'iled,

And then there'd be the devil to pay!"

And the excellent wife, with a martyr's look,

Would tell old Flash himself "he took

No notice at all

Of the bright-eyed doll

Unless when he spanked him for getting a fall!"

Young Philiper Flash, as time passed by,

Grew into "a boy with a roguish eye":

He could smoke a cigar,

And seemed by far

The most promising youth.—"He's powerful sly,"

Old Flash himself once told a friend,

"Every copper he gets he's sure to spend—

And," said he, "don't you know

If he keeps on so

What a crop of wild oats the boy will grow!"

But his dear good mother knew Philiper's ways

So—well, she managed the money to raise;

And old Flash himself

Was "laid on the shelf,"

(In the manner of speaking we have nowadays).

For "gracious knows, her darling child,

If he went without money he'd soon grow wild."

So Philiper Flash