FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   >>  
p him!--stop him!" is the cry. Stand back! he 's only just begun-- He's having out three heats in one! "Don't rush in front! he'll smash your brains; But follow up and grab the reins!" Old Hiram spoke. Dan Pfeiffer heard, And sprang impatient at the word; Budd Doble started on his bay, Old Hiram followed on his gray, And off they spring, and round they go, The fast ones doing "all they know." Look! twice they follow at his heels, As round the circling course he wheels, And whirls with him that clinging boy Like Hector round the walls of Troy; Still on, and on, the third time round They're tailing off! they're losing ground! Budd Doble's nag begins to fail! Dan Pfeiffer's sorrel whisks his tail! And see! in spite of whip and shout, Old Hiram's mare is giving out! Now for the finish! at the turn, The old horse--all the rest astern-- Comes swinging in, with easy trot; By Jove! he's distanced all the lot! That trot no mortal could explain; Some said, "Old Dutchman come again!" Some took his time,--at least they tried, But what it was could none decide; One said he couldn't understand What happened to his second hand; One said 2.10; that could n't be-- More like two twenty-two or three; Old Hiram settled it at last; "The time was two--too dee-vel-ish fast!" The parson's horse had won the bet; It cost him something of a sweat; Back in the one-horse shay he went; The parson wondered what it meant, And murmured, with a mild surprise And pleasant twinkle of the eyes, That funeral must have been a trick, Or corpses drive at double-quick; I should n't wonder, I declare, If brother--Jehu--made the prayer! And this is all I have to say About that tough old trotting bay, Huddup! Huddup! G'lang! Good day! Moral for which this tale is told A horse can trot, for all he 's old. AN APPEAL FOR "THE OLD SOUTH" "While stands the Coliseum, Rome shall stand; When falls the Coliseum, Rome shall fall." FULL sevenscore years our city's pride-- The comely Southern spire-- Has cast its shadow, and defied The storm, the foe, the fire; Sad is the sight our eyes behold; Woe to the three-hilled town, When through the land the tale is told-- "The brave 'Old South' is down!" Let darkness blot the starless dawn That hears our children tell, "Here rose the walls, now wrecked and gone, Our fathers loved so well; Here, while his brethren stood aloof, The herald's blast was blown That shook St. Stephen's p
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   >>  



Top keywords:
follow
 
Huddup
 

parson

 

Coliseum

 

Pfeiffer

 

APPEAL

 

declare

 

funeral

 

corpses

 
twinkle

pleasant
 

wondered

 

murmured

 

surprise

 

double

 
prayer
 

trotting

 

brother

 
children
 

wrecked


darkness

 

starless

 

fathers

 

herald

 
Stephen
 

brethren

 

comely

 

Southern

 

sevenscore

 

stands


behold
 
hilled
 
shadow
 

defied

 

happened

 
circling
 

wheels

 

clinging

 

whirls

 
ground

begins

 
sorrel
 

losing

 

tailing

 

Hector

 
spring
 
impatient
 
sprang
 

started

 
brains