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Ol' Noah kep' a-nailin', an' a-chippin', an' a-sawin';
An' all de wicked neighbors kep' a-laughin' an' a-pshawin',
But Noah didn't min' 'em, knowin' whut wuz gwine to hap-
pen,

An' forty days an' forty nights de rain it kep' a-drappin'.

Now, Noah had done catched a lot ob ebry sort o' beas'es, Ob all de shows a-trabbelin', it beat 'em all to pieces!

He had a Morgan colt an' sebral head o' Jarsey cattleAn' druv 'em board de Ark as soon's he heered de thunder rattle.

Den sech anoder fall ob rain! It come so awful hebby
De ribber riz immejitly, an' busted troo de lebbee;

De people all wuz drownded out-'cep' Noah an' de critters

An' men he'd hired to work de boat, an' one to mix de bitters.

De Ark she kep' a-sailin' an' a-sailin' an' a-sailin';
De lion got his dander up, an' like to bruk de palin';

De sarpints hissed; de painters yelled; tell whut wid all de fussin'

You c'u'dn't hardly heah de mate a-bossin' 'roun' an' cussin'.

Now Ham, de only nigger whut wuz runnin' on de packet, Got lonesome in de barber-shop an c'u'dn't stan' de racket; An' so, fur to amuse hisse'f, he steamed some wood an' bent it,

An' soon he had a banjo made - de fust dat was invented.

He wet de ledder, stretched it on; made bridge an' screws an' aprin,

An' fitted in a proper neck— 'twuz berry long an' tap'rin'. He tuk some tin, an' twisted him a thimble fur to ring it; An' den de mighty question riz: how wuz he gwine to string it?

De 'possum had as fine a tail as dis dat I's a-singin';

De ha'rs so long an' thick an' strong- des fit fur banjostringin';

Dat nigger shaved 'em off as short as washday-dinner graces;

An' sorted ob 'em by de size, f'om little E's to bases.

He strung her, tuned her, struck a jig-'twuz "Nebber min' de wedder "

She soun' like forty-leben bands a-playin' all togedder. Some went to pattin'; some to dancin'; Noah called de figgers,

An' Ham he sot an' knocked de tune, de happiest ob niggers!

Now, sence dat time—it's mighty strange- dere's not de slightes' showin'

Ob any ha'r at all upon de 'possum's tail a-growin';

An' curi's, too, dat nigger's ways: his people nebber los' 'em

Fur whar you finds de nigger-dar's de banjo an' de 'possum.

WANDERERS

Irwin Russell

As o'er the hill we roam'd at will,

My dog and I together,

We mark'd a chaise, by two bright bays
Slow-moved along the heather:

Two bays arch-neck'd, with tails erect,
And gold upon their blinkers;
And by their side an ass I spied;
It was a travelling tinker's.

The chaise went by, nor aught cared I;
Such things are not in my way:

I turned me to the tinker, who
Was loafing down a byway:

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And on he trudged; I rightly judged
The stare said, "Where I can, sir."

I ask'd him if he'd take a whiff
Of 'bacco; he acceded;
He grew communicative, too,
(A pipe was all he needed),
Till of the tinker's life, I think,
I knew as much as he did.

"I loiter down by thorp and town;
For any job I'm willing;

Take here and there a dusty brown,
And here and there a shilling.

"I deal in every ware in turn,
I've rings for buddin' Sally,

That sparkle like those eyes of her'n;
I've liquor for the valet.

"I steal from th' parson's strawberry-plots,
I hide by th' squire's covers;

I teach the sweet young housemaids what's
The art of trapping lovers.

"The things I've done 'neath moon and stars

Have got me into messes:

I've seen the sky through prison bars,
I've torn up prison dresses:

I've sat, I've sigh'd, I've gloom'd, I've glanced

With envy at the swallows

That through the window slid, and danced

(Quite happy) round the gallows.

"But out again I come, and show

My face, nor care a stiver,

For trades are brisk and trades are slow,
But mine goes on forever."

Thus on he prattled like a babbling brook.
Then I, "The sun hath slipped behind the hill,
And my Aunt Vivian dines at half-past six."
So in all love we parted; I to the Hall,
They to the village. It was noised next noon
That chickens had been miss'd at Syllabub Farm.

Charles Stuart Calverley

FERDINANDO AND ELVIRA

OR, THE GENTLE PIEMAN

PART I.

At a pleasant evening party I had taken down to supper One whom I will call Elvira, and we talked of love and Tupper.

Mr. Tupper and the Poets, very lightly with them dealing, For I've always been distinguished for a strong poetic feeling.

Then we let off paper crackers, each of which contained a motto,

And she listened while I read them, till her mother told her not to.

Then she whispered, “To the ballroom we had better, dear, be walking;

If we stop down here much longer, really people will be talking."

There were noblemen in coronets, and military cousins, There were captains by the hundred, there were baronets by dozens.

Yet she heeded not their offers, but dismissed them with a blessing;

Then she let down all her back hair, which had taken long in dressing.

Then she had convulsive sobbings in her agitated throttle, Then she wiped her pretty eyes and smelt her pretty smelling, bottle.

So I whispered, "Dear Elvira, say, what can the matter be with you?

Does anything you've eaten, darling Popsy, disagree with you?"

But spite of all I said, her sobs grew more and more distressing,

And she tore her pretty back hair, which had taken long in dressing.

Then she gazed upon the carpet, at the ceiling, then above me,

And she whispered, “Ferdinando, do you really, really love me?"

"Love you?" said I, then I sighed, and then I gazed upon her sweetly

For I think I do this sort of thing particularly neatly.

66

Send me to the Arctic regions, or illimitable azure,

On a scientific goose-chase, with my Coxwell or my Glaisher!

"Tell me whither I may hie me— tell me, dear one, that I may know

Is it up the highest Andes? down a horrible volcano?"

But she said, "It isn't polar bears, or hot volcanic grottoes; Only find out who it is that writes those lovely cracker mottoes!"

PART II.

“Tell me, Henry Wadsworth, Alfred, Poet Close, or Mister Tupper,

Do you write the bon-bon mottoes my Elvira pulls at supper?"

But Henry Wadsworth smiled, and said he had not had that honor;

And Alfred, too, disclaimed the words that told so much upon her.

"Mister Martin Tupper, Poet Close, I beg of you inform us;"

But my question seemed to throw them both into a rage

enormous.

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