Laid down his pipe, flew to the gate,
And thus accosted him:

"What news? what news? your tidings tell;

Tell me you must and shall

Say why bareheaded you are come,

Or why you come at all? "

Now Gilpin had a pleasant wit,
And loved a timely joke;
And thus unto the calender
In merry guise he spoke:

"I came because your horse would come; And, if I well forbode,

My hat and wig will soon be here,

They are upon the road."

The calender, right glad to find
His friend in merry pin,
Return'd him not a single word,

But to the house went in;

Whence straight he came with hat and wig,
A wig that flow'd behind,

A hat not much the worse for wear
Each comely in its kind.

He held them up, and in his turn

Thus show'd his ready wit

"My head is twice as big as yours, They therefore needs must fit.

"But let me scrape the dirt away
That hangs upon your face;
And stop and eat, for well you may
Be in a hungry case."

Said John, "It is my wedding-day,
And all the world would stare
If wife should dine at Edmonton,
And I should dine at Ware."

So turning to his horse, he said, "I am in haste to dine;

'Twas for your pleasure you came here You shall go back for mine.”

Ah, luckless speech and bootless boast,
For which he paid full dear!
For, while he spake, a braying ass
Did sing most loud and clear;

Whereat his horse did snort, as he
Had heard a lion roar,

And gallop'd off with all his might,
As he had done before.

Away went Gilpin, and away
Went Gilpin's hat and wig:
He lost them sooner than at first,
For why? - they were too big.

Now Mistress Gilpin, when she saw
Her husband posting down

Into the country far away,

She pull'd out half a crown;

And thus unto the youth she said

That drove them to the Bell,

"This shall be yours when you bring back

My husband safe and well."

The youth did ride, and soon did meet
John coming back amain

Whom in a trice he tried to stop,
By catching at his rein;

But not performing what he meant,
And gladly would have done,
The frighted steed he frighted more,
And made him faster run.

Away went Gilpin, and away

Went post-boy at his heels,

The post-boy's horse right glad to miss
The lumbering of the wheels.

Six gentlemen upon the road,
Thus seeing Gilpin fly,

With post-boy scampering in the rear,

They raised the hue and cry:

"Stop thief! stop thief- a highwayman!"

Not one of them was mute;

And all and each that pass'd that way

Did join in the pursuit.

And now the turnpike-gates again
Flew open in short space:
The toll-men thinking as before,
That Gilpin rode a race.

And so he did, and won it too,
For he got first to town;

Nor stopp'd till where he had got up

He did again get down.

Now let us sing, Long live the king!
And Gilpin, long live he;

And when he next doth ride abroad,
May I be there to see!

AN EXPERIENCE AND A MORAL

BY FREDERICK SWARTWOUT COZZENS

I lent my love a book one day;

She brought it back; I laid it by:

"T was little either had to say,

She was so strange, and I so shy.

The sprouting buds, the birds in tune, And Time stood still and wreathed his wings With rosy links from June to June.

For her, what task to dare or do?

What peril tempt? what hardship bear? But with her ah! she never knew

-

My heart, and what was hidden there!

And she, with me, so cold and coy,
Seemed a little maid bereft of sense;
But in the crowd, all life and joy,
And full of blushful impudence.

She married,

well,

a woman needs

A mate, her life and love to share, And little cares sprang up like weeds And played around her elbow-chair.

And years rolled by,

but I, content,

Trimmed my own lamp, and kept it bright,

Till age's touch my hair besprent

With rays and gleams of silver light.

And then it chanced I took the book
Which she perused in days gone by;
And as I read, such passion shook

My soul, I needs must curse or cry.

For, here and there, her love was writ,
In old, half-faded pencil-signs,
As if she yielded bit by bit —

-

Her heart in dots and underlines.

Ah, silvered fool, too late you look!
I know it; let me here record
This maxim: Lend no girl a book
Unless you read it afterward!