If you are sauntering round your yard,
And meet a creature there
Who hugs you very, very hard,
You'll know it is the Bear.
If you have any doubt, I guess
He'll give you just one more caress.
Whene'er a quadruped you view
Attached to any tree,
It may be 'tis the Wanderoo,
Or yet the Chimpanzee.
If right side up it may be both,
If upside down it is the Sloth.
Though to distinguish beasts of prey
A novice might nonplus;
Yet from the Crocodile you may
Tell the Hyena, thus:
'Tis the Hyena if it smile;
If weeping, 'tis the Crocodile.
The true Chameleon is small—
A lizard sort of thing;
He hasn't any ears at all
And not a single wing.
If there is nothing on the tree
'Tis the Chameleon you see.
I REMEMBER, I REMEMBER
BY PHŒBE CARY
I remember, I remember,
The house where I was wed,
And the little room from which that night,
My smiling bride was led.
She didn't come a wink too soon,
Nor make too long a stay;
But now I often wish her folks
Had kept the girl away!
I remember, I remember,
Her dresses, red and white,
Her bonnets and her caps and cloaks,—
They cost an awful sight!
The "corner lot" on which I built,
And where my brother met
At first my wife, one washing-day,—
That man is single yet!
I remember, I remember,
Where I was used to court,
And thought that all of married life
Was just such pleasant sport:—
My spirit flew in feathers then,
No care was on my brow;
I scarce could wait to shut the gate,—
I'm not so anxious now!