(Translated for the Irish Penny Journal.)
No. V.—THE OLD MAN AND THE YOUTHS.
(FROM THE FRENCH OF LAFONTAINE.)
A man of eighty years was planting trees:—
“Ha! ha!” laughed out three striplings from the village,
“Planting at eighty!—Had his task been tillage,
Or building houses, or aught else you please,
The folly might have passed as less worth noting.
But—planting trees! He must indeed be doting!
Why, in the name of all that’s odd, old neighbour,
What fruit can such as you expect to gather