31 JOHN BARLEYCORN. JOHN BARLEYCORN.— Burns. THERE were three kings into the East, They took a plough and ploughed him down. Put clods upon his head, An' they hae sworn a solemn oath John Barleycorn was dead. But the cheerful spring came kindly on, And Barleycorn got up again, And sore surprised them all. The sultry suns of summer came, The sober autumn entered mild, His color sickened more and more, He faded into age; And then his enemies began To show their deadly rage. JOHN BARLEYCORN. They 've ta'en a weapon long and sharp, And cut him by the knee; Then tied him fast upon a cart, Like a rogue for forgery. They laid him down upon his back, They filled up a darksome pit They laid him out upon the floor, They wasted o'er a scorching flame But a miller used him worst of all, For he crushed him 'tween two stones. And they have ta'en his very heart's blood, And still the more and more they drank, D 35 36 THE GREAT-GRANDFATHER. THE GREAT-GRANDFATHER.—Miss Lamb. MOTHER'S grandfather lives still, His age is fourscore years and ten; Though years lie on him like a load, His great-grandchildren on his knee. When we our parents have displeased, Our bad ones in the shade, are seen. His love's a line that 's long drawn out, His heart is oak, yet unto us It like the gentlest reed can bend. A fighting soldier he has been,— His talk is all of things long past, Of the famed year of forty-five, Of William, and Culloden's field. THE WIND IN A FROLIC. The deeds of this eventful age, 37 Which princes from their thrones have hurled, Can no more interest wake in him Than stories of another world. When I his length of days revolve, How like a strong tree he hath stood, It brings into my mind almost Those patriarchs old before the flood. THE wind one morning sprang up from sleep, I'll make a commotion in every place!" So it swept with a bustle right through a great town. Then away to the fields it went blustering and humming, And the cattle all wondered whatever was coming. They all turned their backs and stood silently mute. 38 THE NORTHERN SEAS. Puffing the birds, as they sat on the spray, Of the beggar, and flutter his dirty rags. "I was so bold that it feared not to play its joke And it made them bow without more ado, Or it cracked their great branches through and through. Then it rushed like a monster o'er cottage and farm, Striking their inmates with sudden alarm; And they ran out like bees in a midsummer swarm. There were dames with their kerchiefs tied over their caps, To see if their poultry were free from mishaps; But the wind had passed on, and had met in a ane With a schoolboy, who panted and struggled in vain, For it tossed him, and twirled him, then passed, and he stood With his hat in a pool, and his shoe in the mud. THE NORTHERN SEAS.-William Howitt. Up! up! let us a voyage take; Why sit we here at ease? Bound for the Northern Seas. |