“HE GOES ABOUT AND SITS ON FOLK”
“SCORCHED BOTH HIS SLIPPERS OFF HIS FEET”
“AND TIBBS WILL HAVE THE BEST OF IT”
“AND THIS WAS BY THE SEA”
“I HAVE A HORSE”
[In an age of imitation, I can claim no special merit for this slight attempt at doing what is known to be so easy. Any fairly practised writer, with the slightest ear for rhythm, could compose, for hours together, in the easy running metre of ‘The Song of Hiawatha.’ Having, then, distinctly stated that I challenge no attention in the following little poem to its merely verbal jingle, I must beg the candid reader to confine his criticism to its treatment of the subject.]
“FIRST THE GOVERNOR, THE FATHER”
“NEXT THE SON, THE STUNNING-CANTAB”
“NEXT TO HIM THE ELDEST DAUGHTER”
“LAST, THE YOUNGEST SON WAS TAKEN”
“AT NIGHT SHE SIGHED”
[Sent to a friend who had complained that I was glad enough to see him when he came, but didn’t seem to miss him if he stayed away.]