THE BUTTERFLY AND THE GRASSHOPPER.
"Pretty Butterfly, stay!
Come down here and play,"
A Grasshopper said,
As he lifted his head.
"Oh, no! and oh, no!
Daddy Grasshopper, go!
Once you weren't so polite,
But said, 'Out of my sight,
You base, ugly fright!'"
"Oh, no! and oh, no!
I never said so,"
The Grasshopper cried:
"I'd sooner have died
Than been half so rude.
You misunderstood."
"Oh, no! I did not;
'Twas near to this spot:
The offence, while I live,
I cannot forgive."
"I pray you explain
When and where such disdain,
Such conduct improper,
Was shown by this Hopper."
"I then was a worm:
'Tis a fact, I affirm,"
The Butterfly said,
With a toss of her head.
"In my humble condition,
Your bad disposition
Made you spurn me as mean,
And not fit to be seen.
In my day of small things
You dreamed not that wings
Might one day be mine,—
Wings handsome and fine,
That help me soar up
To the rose's full cup,
And taste of each flower
In garden and bower.
This moral now take
For your own better sake:
Insult not the low;
Some day they may grow
To seem and to do
Much better than you.
Remember; and so,
Daddy Grasshopper, go!"
Emily Carter.
