Than he was at grubbing about;
And the people have thought the gentleman ought
To be made with four legs and a snout.
The idle and bad may, like to this lad,
Be dirty and black, to be sure;
But good boys are seen to be decent and clean,
Altho’ they are ever so poor.
—Jane Taylor.
2. The Boy and the Sparrows.
A boy once found a nest of young sparrows, and put them into his hat. He then set the hat on his head, thinking no one would know what was under it. As he walked through the streets, instead of lifting his hat to bow to people, he held it fast upon his head. This made everybody wonder. At last one man said, “Let me see if his hat has grown to his head.” Away went the sparrows, as he lifted the hat from the boy’s head. Everybody laughed; and now if a boy does not lift his hat when he meets any one, people say, “Perhaps he has sparrows under his hat.”—Selected.