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"Such feeding
                       Proclaims your breeding
                         Beyond dispute!"

  But just as, another bottle broaching,
    They came to chicken en casserole
  A ravenous cat was heard approaching,
    And, passing his guest a finger-bowl,
  The town rat murmured, "The feast is ended."
                      And then descended
                        The nearest hole.

  His cousin followed him, helter-skelter,
    And, pausing beneath the pantry floor,
  He glanced around at their dusty shelter
    And muttered, "This is a beastly bore.
  My place as an epicure resigning,
                      I'll try this dining
                        In town no more.

  "You must dine some night at my rustic cottage;
    I'll warn you now that it's simple fare:
  A radish or two, a bowl of pottage,
    And the wine that's known as ordinaire,
  But for holes I haven't to make a bee-line,
                       No prowling feline
                         Molests me there.

  "You smile at the lot of a mere commuter,
    You think that my life is hard, mayhap,
  But I'm sure than you I am far acuter:
    I ain't afraid of no cat nor trap."
  The city rat could but meekly stammer,
                       "Don't use such grammar,
                         My worthy chap."

  He dined next night with his poor relation,
    And caught dyspepsia, and lost his train,
  He waited an hour in the lonely station,
    And said some things that were quite profane.
  "I'll never," he cried, in tones complaining,
                        "Try entertaining
                          That rat again."

  It's easy to make a memorandum
    About THE MORAL these verses teach:
  De gustibus non est disputandum;
    The meaning of which Etruscan speech
  Is wheresoever you're hunger quelling
                      Pray keep your dwelling
                      In easy reach.



THE IMPECUNIOUS CRICKET

AND

THE FRUGAL ANT

  There was an ant, a spinster ant,
    Whose virtues were so many
  That she became intolerant
    Of those who hadn't any:
  She had a small and frugal mind
    And lived a life ascetic,
  Nor was her temperament the kind
    That's known as sympathetic.

  I skip details. Suffice to say
    That, knocking at her wicket,
  There chanced to come one autumn day
    A common garden cricket
  So ragged, poor, and needy that,
    Without elucidation,
  One saw the symptoms of a bat
    Of several months' duration.

  He paused beside her door-step, and,
    With one pathetic gesture,
  He called attention with his hand
    To both his shoes and vesture.
  "I joined," said he, "an opera troupe.
    They suddenly disbanded,
  And left me on the hostel stoop,
    Lugubriously stranded.

  "I therefore lay aside my pride
    And frankly ask for clothing."
  "Begone!" the frugal ant replied.
    "I look on you with loathing.
  Your muddy shoes have spoiled the lawn,
    Your hands have soiled the fence, too.
  If you need money, go and pawn
    Your watch--if you have sense to."

  THE MORAL is: Albeit lots
  Of people follow Dr. Watts,
  The sluggard, when his means are scant,
  Should seek an uncle, not an ant!



THE PAMPERED LAPDOG

AND

THE MISGUIDED ASS

  A woolly little terrier pup
    Gave vent to yelps distressing,
  Whereat his mistress took him up
    And soothed him with caressing,
      And yet he was not in the least
      What one would call a handsome beast.

  He might have been a Javanese,
    He might have been a Jap dog,
  And also neither one of these,
    But just a common lapdog,
      The kind that people send, you know,
      Done up in cotton, to the Show.

  At all events, whate'er his race,
    The pretty girl who owned him
  Caressed his unattractive face
    And petted and cologned him,
      While, watching her with mournful eye,
      A patient ass stood silent by.

  "If thus," he mused, "the feminine
    And fascinating gender
  Is led to love, I, too, can win
    Her protestations tender."
      And then the poor, misguided chap
      Sat down upon the lady's lap.

  Then, as her head with terror swam,
    "This method seems to suit you,"
  Observed the ass, "so here I am."
    Said she, "Get up, you brute you!"
      And promptly screamed aloud for aid:
      No ass was ever more dismayed.

[Illustration: "SAID SHE, 'GET UP, YOU BRUTE YOU!'"]

  They took the ass into the yard
    And there, with whip and truncheon,
  They beat him, and they beat him hard,
    From breakfast-time till luncheon.
      He only gave a tearful gulp,
      Though almost pounded to a pulp.

  THE MORAL is (or seems, at least,
    To be): In etiquette you
  Will find that while enough's a feast
    A surplus will upset you.
   Toujours, toujours la politesse, if
      The quantity be not excessive.





THE VAINGLORIOUS OAK

AND

THE MODEST BULRUSH

  A bulrush stood on a river's rim,
    And an oak that grew near by
  Looked down with cold hauteur on him,
    And addressed him this way: "Hi!"
  The rush was a proud patrician, and
   He retorted, "Don't you know,
  What the veriest boor should understand,
              That 'Hi' is low?"

  This cutting rebuke the oak ignored.
    He returned, "My slender friend,
  I will frankly state that I'm somewhat bored
    With the way you bow and bend."
  "But you quite forget," the rush replied,
    "It's an art these bows to do,
  An art I wouldn't attempt if I'd
               Such boughs as you."

  "Of course," said the oak, "in my sapling days
    My habit it was to bow,
  But the wildest storm that the winds could raise
    Would never disturb me now.
  I challenge the breeze to make me bend,
    And the blast to make me sway."
  The shrewd little bulrush answered, "Friend,
                Don't get so gay."

  And the words had barely left his mouth
    When he saw the oak turn pale,
  For, racing along south-east-by-south,
    Came ripping a raging gale.
  And the rush bent low as the storm went past,
    But stiffly stood the oak,
  Though not for long, for he found the blast
                No idle joke.

    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *
  Imagine the lightning's gleaming bars,
    Imagine the thunder's roar,
  For that is exactly what eight stars
    Are set in a row here for!
  The oak lay prone when the storm was done,
    While the rush, still quite erect,
  Remarked aside, "What under the sun
               Could one expect?"

  And THE MORAL, I'd have you understand,
    Would have made La Fontaine blush,
  For it's this: Some storms come early, and
               Avoid the rush!



THE INHUMAN WOLF

AND

THE LAMB SANS GENE

  A gaunt and relentless wolf, possessed
    Of a quite insatiable thirst,
  Once paused at a stream to drink and rest,
  And found that, bound on a similar quest,
    A lamb had arrived there first.

  The lamb was a lamb of a garrulous mind
    And frivolity most extreme:
  In the fashion common to all his kind,
  He cantered in front and galloped behind.
    And troubled the limpid stream.

  "My friend," said the wolf, with a winsome air,
    "Your capers I can't admire."
  "Go to!" quoth the lamb. (Though he said not where,
  He showed what he meant by his brazen stare
    And the way that he gambolled higher.)

  "My capers," he cried, "are the kind that are
    Invariably served with lamb.
  Remember, this is a public bar,
  And I'll do as I please. If your drink I mar,
    I don't give a tinker's ----."

  He paused and glanced at the rivulet,
    And that pause than speech was worse,
  For his roving eye a saw-mill met,
  And, near it, the word which should be set
    At the end of the previous verse.

  Said the wolf: "You are tough and may bring remorse,
    But of such is the world well rid.
  I've swallowed your capers, I've swallowed your sauce,
  And it's plain to be seen that my only course
    Is swallowing you."  He did.

  THE MORAL: The wisest lambs they are
    Who, when they're assailed by thirst,
  Keep well away from a public bar;
  For of all black sheep, or near, or far,
    The public bar-lamb's worst!




THE SYCOPHANTIC FOX

AND

THE GULLIBLE RAVEN

  A raven sat upon a tree,
    And not a word he spoke, for
  His beak contained a piece of Brie,
    Or, maybe, it was Roquefort:
      We'll make it any kind you please--
      At all events, it was a cheese.

  Beneath the
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