Around the corner to see him work
Sitting cross-legged, like a Turk,

Drawing the waxed-end through with a jerk,
And boring the holes with a comical quirk
Of his wise old head, and a knowing smirk.
But vainly they mounted each other's backs,

And poked through knot-holes and pried through cracks;
With wood from the pile and straw from the stacks
He plugged the knot-holes and calked the cracks;
And a dipper of water, which one would think
He had brought up into the loft to drink

When he chanced to be dry,

Stood always nigh,

For Darius was sly!

And whenever at work he happened to spy
At chink or crevice a blinking eye,

He let the dipper of water fly.

"Take that! an' ef ever ye git a peep,

Guess ye'll ketch a weasel asleep!"
And he sings as he locks

His big strong box :

"The weasel's head is small an' trim, An' he is little an' long an' slim,

An' quick of motion an' nimble of limb,

An' ef you'll be

Advised by me,

Keep wide awake when ye 're ketchin' him!"

So day after day

He stitched and tinkered and hammered away,
Till at last 'twas done

The greatest invention under the sun!

"An' now," says Darius, “hooray fur some fun! "

'Twas the Fourth of July,
And the weather was dry,

And not a cloud was on all the sky,

Save a few light fleeces, which here and there,
Half mist, half air,

Like foam on the ocean went floating by -
Just as lovely a morning as ever was seen
For a nice little trip in a flying-machine.
Thought cunning Darius: "Now I shan't go
Along 'ith the fellers to see the show.
I'll say I've got sich a terrible cough!
An' then, when the folks 'ave all gone off,
I'll hev full swing fur to try the thing,

An' practise a little on the wing."

"Ain't goin' to see the celebration?"
Says brother Nate. "No; botheration!
I've got sich a cold - a toothache - I-
My gracious! - feel's though I should fly!"
Said Jotham, "'Sho!

Guess ye better go."

But Darius said, “No!

Shouldn't wonder 'f you might see me, though,
'Long 'bout noon, ef I get red

O' this jumpin', thumpin' pain'n my head."
For all the while to himself he said:

"I tell ye what!

I'll fly a few times around the lot,

To see how 't seems, then soon's I've got
The hang o' the thing, ez likely 's not,
I'll astonish the nation,

An' all creation,

By flyin' over the celebration!

Over their heads I'll sail like an eagle;

I'll balance myself on my wings like a sea-gull;

I'll dance on the chimbleys; I'll stand on the steeple ;

I'll flop up to winders an' scare the people!

I'll light on the liberty-pole, an' crow;

Ah' I'll say to the gawpin' fools below,
What world's this 'ere

That I've come near?'

Fur I'll make 'em b'lieve I'm a chap f'm the moon; An' I'll try a race 'ith their ol' balloon!"

He crept from his bed;

And, seeing the others were gone, he said, "I'm gittin' over the cold 'n my head." And away he sped,

To open the wonderful box in the shed.

His brothers had walked but a little way,
When Jotham to Nathan chanced to say,
"What is the feller up to, hey?”

"Don'o'the''s suthin' ur other to pay,
Ur he wouldn't 'a' stayed to hum to-day.”
Says Burke," His toothache 's all 'n his eye!
He never'd miss a Fo'th-o'-July,

Ef he hedn't got some machine to try."
Then Sol, the little one, spoke: "By darn!
Le's hurry back an' hide 'n the barn,

An'

pay him fur tellin' us that yarn!"

"Agreed!" Through the orchard they creep back, Along by the fences, behind the stack,

And one by one, through a hole in the wall,

In under the dusty barn they crawl,

Dressed in their Sunday garments all;

And a very astonishing sight was that,
When each in his cobwebbed coat and hat
Came up through the floor like an ancient rat.
And there they hid;

And Reuben slid

The fastenings back, and the door undid. "Keep dark!" said he,

"While I squint an' see what the' is to see.

Iron breeches, and on the head

No hat, but an iron pot instead,

And under the chin the bail,

(I believe they called the thing a helm,) Then sallied forth to overwhelm

The dragons and pagans that plagued the realmSo this modern knight

Prepared for flight,

Put on his wings and strapped them tight-
Jointed and jaunty, strong and light-
Buckled them fast to shoulder and hip-
Ten feet they measured from tip to tip!
And a helm had he, but that he wore,
Not on his head, like those of yore,

But more like the helm of a ship.

"Hush!" Reuben said,
"He's up in the shed!

He's opened the winder -I see his head!
He stretches it out, an' pokes it about,
Lookin' to see 'f the coast is clear,

An' nobody near;

Guess he don'o' who 's hid in here!

He's riggin' a spring-board over the sill!
Stop laffin', Solomon! Burke, keep still!
He's a climbin' out now Of all the things!
What's he got on? I van, it's wings!
An' that t' other thing? I vum, it's a tail!
An' there he sets like a hawk on a rail!

Steppin' careful, he travels the length

Of his spring-board, and teeters to try its strength. Now he stretches his wings, like a monstrous bat;

Peeks over his shoulder, this way an' that,

Fur to see 'f the' 's any one passin' by

But the''s on'y a ca'f an' a goslin' nigh.
They turn up at him wonderin' eye,

To see

The dragon! he's goin' to fly!

Away he goes! Jimminy! what a jump!
Flop-flop-an' plump

To the ground with a thump!

Flutt'rin' an' flound’rin', all ʼn a lump!"
As a demon is hurled by an angel's spear,
Heels over head, to his proper sphere
Heels over head, and head over heels,
Dizzily down the abyss he wheels

So fell Darius. Upon his crown,

In the midst of the barn-yard, he came down,
In a wonderful whirl of tangled strings,
Broken braces and broken springs,

Broken tail and broken wings,
Shooting-stars, and various things-
Barn-yard litter of straw and chaff,
And much that wasn't so sweet by half.
Away with a bellow fled the calf,

And what was that? Did the gosling laugh?
'Tis a merry roar from the old barn-door,

And he hears the voice of Jotham crying,

66

Say, D'rius! how do you like flyin'?"

Slowly, ruefully, where he lay,

Darius just turned and looked that way,

As he stanched his sorrowful nose with his cuff.

"Wal, I like flyin' well enough,"

He said; “but the' ain't sich a thunderin' sight
O' fun in 't when ye come to light."

I just have room for the moral here:
And this is the moral- Stick to your sphere.
Or if you insist, as you have the right,
On spreading your wings for a loftier flight,
The moral is Take care how you light.

J. T. TROWBRIDGE.