CHAPTER XVI.
THE FIRST BREAK.
Persis’s first poetical effusion was found pinned on Lisa’s pin-cushion a few days after their last frolic. It followed a call from Edwin Carew and Stephen Boyd, during which Persis, in her snuggery, composed the following:
There was a little, hopping toad
Lived underneath a tree,
Who breakfasted and dined on flies,
Ate little gnats for tea;
Who found his one excitement this,
In hopping ’cross the walk,
To see a grasshopper who lived
Beside a mullein stalk.