gth.

"Now he stretches his wings like a monstrous bat;
Peeks over his shoulder, this way an' that, 25
Fer to see 'f the' 's anyone passin' by;
But the' 's on'y a ca'f an' a goslin' nigh.
_They_ turn up at him a wonderin' eye,
To see--the dragon! he's goin' to fly!
Away he goes! Jiminy! what a jump!
Flop--flop--an' plump
To the ground with a thump,
Flutt'rin' an' flound'rin', all 'n a lump!"

As a demon is hurled by an angel's spear, 5
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 barnyard, he came down, 10
In a wonderful whirl of tangled strings,
Broken braces and broken springs,
Broken tail and broken wings,
Shooting stars and various things,
Barnyard litter of straw and chaff. 15
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, 20
"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.
"Wall, I like flyin' well enough," 25
He said, "but the' ain't sich a awful sight
O' fun in't when ye come to light."

_Moral_

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. 5

1. Tell the story of Icarus and Daedalus. Compare
Darius's flying machine with a modern airplane.
When and by whom was the airplane perfected as a
practical flyer?

2. How much of the story is told from Darius's
standpoint? Through whose eyes do we see the rest?

3. Describe Darius. Is he really a clever lad? Why
do we laugh at his experiment?

4. The poem is written partially in dialect.
Explain what "dialect" is. What other poems do you
know that a