First Boy.
S'pose we'd jest be pretendin'
Like we had a show,
Down in the stable
Where we mustn't go—
Ma says, "the earthquake
Might make it fall;"
An' Pop says, "more'n like
Swaller barn an' all."
Landy! ef we wuz
Runin' away from school,
Down in the shady woods
Where it's all so cool!
Ma says "a big tree
Might squash our head;"
An' Pop says, "chop 'em out
Both killed-dead."
Both Boys.
But where is a boy a-goin',
An' what's he goin' to do,
An' how's he going' to do it,
Er the world bust through.
The little fellows recited this with scared faces and such comical gravity as to keep every one laughing. Amy came next with "Songs of Seven," by Jean Ingelow.
There's no dew left on the daisies and clover,
There's no rain left in Heaven,
I've said my Seven times over and over,
Seven times one are seven.
I am old, so old, I can write a letter,
My birthday lessons are done;
The lambs play always, they know no better;
They are only one times one.
Oh, moon! in the night I've seen you sailing
And shining so round and low,
You were bright; ah, bright! but your light is
Failing, you are nothing now but a bow.