A century of children's books

by Florence V. Barry

To loosen the stone which was fast in the sand;

Pull’d harder—then dozed as I found it no use;—

Awoke the next summer, and lo! it was loose.”

...

The next sleep (“for a century or more”) gives time to dream; the dreamer, awakened,

“Grew pensive—discovered that life is a load;

Began to be weary of being a toad:”

It is a daring moralist who laughs at her own moral:

“To find a moral when there’s none

Is hard indeed—yet must be done:”