-
The same that the farmer's son wore as his best.

With snout aloft, he started out,
Then on the green he gazed about:
He whisked his tail with pure delight,
Saying--"I shall not lodge here to-night."
The geese came hissing at his heel,
But, 'midst their noise he heard a squeal;
And looking to see from whence it came,
He spied his mother down the lane.

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"Her son," said he, "so tall, she'll never know,
Dressed smartly as I am, so like a beau."
His heart beat quickly as his ma' he passed,
But, bowing, "How d'ye do, good dame?" he asked;
Then biting from out the hedge a nice cane,
And putting his hat on, said "All's right again;
Now over the world I'll roam, as fast as I can:"
Then he flourished his cane, and onward he ran.

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And trotting on briskly, Piggy soon came
To a field where some schoolboys were having a game;
Said he, "As I'm tired, I'll lie down to rest,
And perhaps if I do so, just here 'twill be best:
For I should not much like these poor boys to disturb,
As they possibly might be so very absurd
As to leave off their game, for respect towards me,
No occasion for which I can possibly see."

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But, just then, a boy spied him, and giving a call,
Thus said to his comrades, "Come here, my lads, all."
Then they left off their play, and they chased the poor pig,
Until he had lost both his hat and his wig.
They left him, at last, overcome with fatigue;
"Though," said he, "it is not for myself that I grieve,
But to think of the manners of these country clowns!
Such conduct would never be met with in towns."

To get back his wig, he was greatly perplexed,
About which and his hat, he was equally vexed;
For the wind, when the boys were hardest in chase,
Blew them both in the river, its surface to grace;
And they seemed to mock Piggy, as there they did float;
"But I'll have you," said Jack, who pushed off in a boat;
When his finery reaching, the boat he upset,
"I can swim," cried the blade, "and I don't mind the wet."

But, beside his own hide, both his wig and his hat
Were wet and deranged; so, to remedy that,
"I'll enter this cottage; here's a fire," he said,
"I'll hang them to dry, while I lie in the bed."
When the dame returned home, as he slumbered so snug,
She soon spied the gentleman under the rug,
And basted him well with a stick like a log,
Turning him and his wardrobe out into a bog.

[Illustration]

In the miry mess Piggy long