Dick Sly was the smartest mouse in Mousetown. He knew any kind of a new trap that was set to catch him, and he always warned the rest. The houses in Mousetown are called “holes,” you know. Next to the hole where Dick lived with his parents was the hole where pretty Nan Spry lived. She could run faster than any mouse in Mousetown; even Dick could not catch her, if she tried to run away from him. At last it was told in Mousetown that Dick and Nan were to be married, and every body said, “What a grand pair they’ll make.” Judge Mouse, who married them, put on his best gold spectacles, and they were married on a big wedding cake, which some folks called a “cheese.” Every one in Mousetown had a bit of it, and declared it to be the best wedding cake they had ever eaten.
She had never seen a Tree.
They took the little London girl, from out the city street,
To where the grass was growing green, the birds were singing sweet;
And every thing along the road, so filled her with surprise,
The look of wonder fixed itself, within her violet eyes.
The breezes ran to welcome her; they kissed her on each cheek,
And tried in every way they could, their ecstacy to speak,
Inviting her to romp with them, and tumbling up her curls,
Expecting she would laugh or scold, like other little girls.
But she didn’t—no she didn’t; for this crippled little child
Had lived within a dingy court, where sunshine never smiled;
And for weary, weary days and months, the little one had lain
Confined within a narrow room, and on a couch of pain.
The out-door world was strange to her—the broad expanse of sky,
The soft, green grass, the pretty flowers, the stream that trickled by;
But all at once she saw a sight, that made her hold her breath,
And shake and tremble as if she were frightened near to death.
Oh, like some horrid monster, of which the child had dreamed,
With nodding head, and waving arms, the angry creature seemed;
It threatened her, it mocked at her, with gestures and grimace
That made her shrink with terror, from its serpent-like embrace.
They kissed the trembling little one; they held her in their arms,
And tried in every way they could to quiet her alarms,
And said, “Oh, what a foolish little girl you are, to be
So nervous and so terrified, at nothing but a tree!”