But your eyes are so big and so bright,
And your spectacles frighten me so!
And I can not remember my lesson
When you look at me that way, you know.
Spell "mouse," did you say? M-O-U—
Oh, you don't know how fierce you do look!
And I think I can see a great claw
Sticking out from the edge of the book.
If you only were not quite so big,
And your nose not so pointed and queer—
M-O-U—I don't know what comes next,
I can not remember. Oh dear!
I am trying to think how to spell it;
My heart just goes thumpity-thump.
M-O-U. Won't you wait just a minute?
Oh, please don't get down off the stump!
THE CRUISE OF THE CANOE CLUB.[1]
BY W. L. ALDEN,
Author of "The Moral Pirates," "The Cruise of the 'Ghost,'" etc., etc.
Chapter II.
It was some time before the canoes were ready, and in the mean time the young canoeists met with a new difficulty. The canoe-builders wrote to them wishing to know how they would have the canoes rigged. It had never occurred to the boys that there was more than one rig used on canoes, and of course they did not know how to answer the builders' question. So they went to the Commodore, and told him their difficulty.
"I might do," said he, "just as I did when I told you to go and ask four different canoeists which is the best canoe; but I won't put you to that trouble. I rather like the Lord Ross lateen rig better than any other, but as you are going to try different kinds of canoes, it would be a good idea for you to try different rigs. For example, have your 'Rob Roy' rigged with lateen sails; rig the 'Shadow' with a balance lug; the 'Rice Laker' with a sharpie leg-of-mutton, and the canvas canoe with the standing lug. Each one of these rigs has its advocates, who will prove to you that it is better than any other, and you can't do better than to try them all. Only be sure to tell the builders that every canoe must have two masts, and neither of the two sails must be too big to be safely handled."
"How does it happen that every canoeist is so perfectly certain that he has the best canoe and the best rig in existence?" asked Tom.