NOT CAUGHT YET!
The Boy and the Bird! And the Bird looks so old;—
Scarce the species of fowl to be easily "sold,"—
And the Boy is so young! It seems almost absurd
To suppose that that pinch is to capture that Bird!
An old form of chase, if the legends run right;
Like that, much akin, of the wild goose in flight.
But salt, just like chaff and the plainly spread net,
Was never regarded as promising yet.
But now? Well, the Birds of the age, like its Boys,
Its Wives, and its Weather, its Tastes and its Toys,
Have suffered a change, not a sea-change, but one
Which floors half the maxims, and spoils half the fun.
Simple SIMON? Well, that's not as clear as it looks.
The typical noodles of nursery books
Were podgy and chubby, or lanky and pale,
And—they tried to drop salt on poor dicky-bird's tail!
A fat boy in tight breeks with a palpable bait
May look a great fool; but I guess we must wait,—
Before we bemock him as crass and absurd,—
To see—what effect it will have on the Bird!
The trial's well timed, and the bait looks "not bad;"
The Boy may "know his book," though he's only a lad.
Birds sometimes fall victims to Boys on the prowl,
And the Voter Bird is not the wariest fowl.
The Voter Bird shortly must show what he's worth
He may be the stupidest dicky on earth,
Predestinate victim to salt-pinch or net;
But then he may not,—and he is "not caught yet!"
AN AUTOCRAT'S ASPIRATION.—Pan-Slavism for Holy Russia, and Pan-Slav(e)ism for the rest of Europe.