at.

THE HEN AND FOX.

My own fat hen
Did go one day
Out in the lot,
An egg to lay.

The day was hot;
A cow sat by,
And in her ear
Was a big fly.

"Buz, buz, buz, buz,"
The fly did go,
In the cow's ear,
And bit it so.

The cow did say,
"O moo! O moo!
Do go a-way,
O do! O do!

"Go to the pig,
You bad old fly,
Get out! get out!
O moo! O my!"

It did not go,
The bad old fly;
And now it lit
In the cow's eye.

Up she did hop!
And ran a-way;
And now my hen
Her egg did lay.

But oh! oh! oh!
A sly red fox,
Who was all hid
In an old box,

Did get my hen
And get her egg,
Tho' she did cry,
And she did beg.

But the red fox,
O me! O my!
He bit and bit,
So she did die.

He ate her up
In his old den:
He ate her up,
My own fat hen.

And I so sad
All day, did spy
To see the bad
Red fox go by.

I set a net,
And oh! I saw
The bad red fox
Put in his paw.

Now _he_ did cry,
And _he_ did beg,
But no! I had
Him by the leg.

To let him go
Was not to be,
And our old Dan
Did say to me:

"O the bad fox!
As I say 'one,'
I'll hit him--pop!
Out of my gun."

The fox did die,
And my new hen
Can lay an egg,
Or two, or ten.

For now no fox
Can eat my hen,
Or get her egg,
Or two, or ten.

BEN AND BOB.

One day Ben did go up to his pa-pa, and say: "O pa-pa! my cap is so
old, it is not fit to be put on; do buy me a new one!"

His pa-pa did say: "If you are not bad all day, I can say 'yes' to
you, but if you are bad, the old cap will do for a bad boy."

But Ben was not bad; so his pa-pa got him the cap. It had fur on it.
Ben put it on; and as it fit him, he ran out in the air, and did cry
as he ran: "See my new cap! see my new cap!"

Far off, by an old log, he saw a fat hen. She was by her nest. In it
was an egg. Ben ran up to her, and he did cry, "Sho! sho! sho!" till
she did fly off. So he got the old hen's egg, and put it in the top of
his cap. As he did so a boy ran up to