"Oh! leap, little Eng" (this, Gluck said to his latest,
A froggy half-grown), "bring of doctors the greatest,
And look to thy speed, that thou never abatest.
Bring Tightskin, or Squatt,
Or my cousin Paff-Puff;
But don't bring them all—
One doctor's enough.
O horror! he fails! Be quick, Eng, be quick!
His eye-balls are sinking! his breath's growing thick.
Either Tightskin or Squatt will be better than Paff—"
But Eng never heard,
He had left at the word,
Bound, of course, for the third of that medical staff.
IV.
"Oh! look at me, son! Oh! lift up your head!
And don't lie so limp, for you fill me with dread
For pity's sake, hear me. Your mother is dead!"
"Dead!" gasped Master Gluck,
"And I lying here?
Oh! why will these mothers
Step out of their sphere?
If ever I needed good nursing 'tis now,
And your masculine paw, sir, it scratches my brow.
I need some one gentle—more gentle than air—
O father! I fear
I am injured in here."
And our frog pressed his heart in the deepest despair.
V.
"Now, bear up, my son," cried the sorrowing Gluck.
"See! the doctor is coming. He'll bring us good luck.
By my croak! but it's Paff, the conceited old buck."
Then, quick to the doctor,
"My child! Is he killed?
Oh! save me my son
From the phaeton spilled.
Haste! give me the lotion! I'll pour it on here."
"No, no," moaned the patient, "I can't have him near,
His rubbing is torture. I'd rather be hung.
Dear doctor, he's rough—
He's nursed me enough—
Oh! send little Eng for that oldest Miss Gung."
VI.
Then outspake the uncle, with wrath in his face,
And a grunt of denial that filled all the place,
"No, no, Master Gluck, I'll attend to your case,
Humph! nursing indeed!
You've called me too late.
In less than an hour, sir,
We'll lay you out straight.
No Miss Gung shall you have. Her father's my friend.
If you'd done as you ought—Never mind. I intend
To have all my sons, cousin Gluck, marry early.
Had my patient seen fit
To wed, I'll admit
He might have been saved," said this doctor so surly.