O Doctor Watts, thou didst not right
In telling dogs to bark and bite!
O Towser, thou didst little know
How great the wreck thy wrath would show!
The man who says that childhood’s woes
Are small, but little childhood knows.
The children wept and scolded sore,
And Towser they would love no more!
But through their tears like summer rain,
The sun of hope shone out again.
One glad discovery came to light,
“The pumpkin isn’t hurt a mite!”
XIV
What did it matter after that
If Helen’s head and Helen’s hat
Were badly damaged by the fall?
The pumpkin was not harmed at all!
“Cheer up!” cried Carl. “Nell, do not cry!
It still will make a monstrous pie.
Your hat’s all right. ’Twas pretty old,
And mother, I am sure, won’t scold!”
They dried their tears and soon did start
To seek their steed and broken cart.
Towser, who waited them hard by,
But wagged his tail and winked his eye!