Page:Reuben and other poems.pdf/82



’Twas at Dumbledown Hill that Nell Antony’s Will, Oh dear! he did give me a start! For, to lighten the load, all the men took the road, An’ Zack, he jump’d down ere the horses was slow’d, An’ Willy (bit jealous, poor heart!), He’d be as clever—but there! he did drop Right in a puddle, pop-wallopy-plop! As his neck wasn’t broke, we could relish the joke, An’ we just sat an’ laugh’d, till the schoolmaster spoke: “Good thing that the ground didn’t give, Willy lad! You’d have frightened New Zealand by now, if it had.” “Give?. Give him the want of a wash pretty bad,” Says Benny— Won’t know him at Mennen.”

“Oh! aren’t we unkind! Poor Will, don’t you mind! Have a bull’s eye to warm ’ee,” cries Grace. An’ Willy, poor chil’, he looks up with a smile, Like saying the top made the bottom worth while, An’ he had got a fancy work face! But wet! And as chattery-cold as you’d ask, An’ Peter, he whispers to get out the flask. Zack is teetotal, an’ Schoolmaster too, So the three of ’em shared it an’ made it just do. All of us saying ’twould only be fair,