Two children small, looked up and said,
Oh, Mister, beg your pardon!
Or, if you will not answer that,
Say, sonny, where’s your garden?
“What d’ye call those two large flowers?
An’ what’ll ye take, an’ sell em?
You’d better put a ladder up,
So folks our size can smell ’em.
“We heard old Mrs. Grubber say,
‘That spot ye needn’t covet;
He’d better turn it into hay,
Or make a grass-plot of it.’”
But Johnny never answered back,
But went and dug it over,
And soon again, his sprouting seeds,
He plainly could discover.
He said, “I’ll have a garden yet.
And make a little money;
I never liked those Podger twins,—
They try to be so funny.”
BOY BILLY AND THE RABBIT.
Billy, boy! Billy, boy!
He was his mother’s joy,
But he couldn’t shoot an arrow worth a cent;
And a rabbit almost laughed
As she watched the flying shaft,
And the place upon the target where it went.
The rabbit passing by,
So very soft and sly,
Took Billy for a hunter gaily dressed;
But when she came anear,
She said, “’Tis very clear
It’s safe enough to stay and take a rest.”
Said the rabbit, “Billy, boy,
You never will annoy
Anybody, by your shooting at a mark;
With an arrow and a bow,
I just would like to show,
I can reach the bull’s-eye nearer in the dark.”