pipe and hod, he left his parlor-door,
You felt the country had a vote it didn't have before.

"Not much was M. O'Mulligan to festive ways inclined;
For chiefly on affairs of State he bent his giant mind;
But just for relaxation's sake he'd venture now and then,
To lead a jig, or break a head, like other Irishmen.

"Says Mrs. Mike O'Mulligan, when Christmas came, said she:
'Suppose we give a little ball this evening after tea;
The entry-way is broad enough to dance a dozen pairs,
And thim that doesn't wish to dance can sit upon the stairs.'

"'And sure,' said M. O'Mulligan, "'I don't object to that;
But mind ye ask the girls entire, and ev'ry mother's Pat;
I'd wish them all, both girls and boys, to look at me and see,
That, though I'm School Commissioner, I'm noways proud,' says he.

"The matter being settled thus, the guests were notified,
And none to the O'Mulligans their presences denied;
But all throughout the spacious house the colleens went to fix,
And left the men to clane themselves and twirl their bits of sticks.

"'Twas great to see O'Mulligan, when came the proper hour,
Stand smiling in the entry-way, as blooming as a flower,
And hear him to each lady say, 'Well now, upon me sowl!
Ye look more like an angel than like any other fowl.'

"And first came Teddy Finnigan, in collar tall and wide,
With Norah B. O'Flannigan demurely by his side;
And Alderman O'Grocery, and Councilman Maginn,
And both the Miss Mulrooneys, and the widowed Mrs. Flynn.

"The Rileys, and the Shaunesseys, and Murphys all were there,
Both male and female creatures of the manly and the fair;
And crowded was the entry-way to such a great degree
They had to take their collars off to get their breathing free.

"O'Grady with his fiddle was the orchestra engaged,
He tuned it on the banisters, and then the music raged;
'Now face your partners ev'ry man, and keep your eyes on me,
And don't be turning in your toes indacently,' says he.

"And when the dance began to warm, the house began to shake,
The windows, too, like loosen'd teeth, began to snap and break;
The stove-pipes took the ague fit, and clattered to the floors,
And all the knobs and keys and locks were shaken from the doors.

"The very shingles on the roof commenced to rattle out:
The chimney-stacks, like drunken men, insan