A PUZZLED PAPA.

We're going this year to Littleton,

My wife, our Jack, and Nan and I.

Now Nan is seven, and Jack is ten;

How many tickets shall I buy?

Jack pays half-fare, and Nan pays none,

Though with her dolls she fills a seat;

However stern conductors are,

They give her only glances sweet.

But this year, Nan her kitten takes,

A little, purring, playful thing;

While Jacky has a grave young pug,

Which everywhere he's bound to bring.

Nan has a long-legged Brahma chick,—

She loves that pet with all her heart;

And Jacky owns three pretty doves,

From which he can not bear to part.

"In cage and basket," say the two,

"Well covered up, our pets can go."

They have no doubts; but I have mine,—

And this is what I want to know:

If the cat mews, the puppy barks,

And if the doves at once all coo,

And if the Brahma chicken crows,

As the conductor passes through,

What will he say? How will he look?

What shall I do, in my despair?

Can I, for such a tribe, hand up

Our tickets two, and one half-fare?

We're going this year to Littleton,

My wife, our Jack, and Nan and I,

Dog, cat, three dolls, three doves, a chick—

How many tickets shall I buy?