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To the Katydid.
Where are you, little Katydid ?
I hear your funny song;
So safe among the bushes hid,
Do you sing all night long ?
I wonder if you’re ever tired
Os chirping nothing new :
If I were you, I’d try for once
To change a note or two.
They say you are a prophet-bird;
Your voice must not be lost,
Since your first note tells the fact,
In six weeks we’ll have frost.
But, Katy, it does seem to me
You rather loudly sing ;
Y 7 ou surely make too great a noise
For such a little thing ;
For don’t you know big people say,
And we must mind their word,
That young folks should, like you and me,
Be seen, not often heard ?
Now “ Katy did,” then “Katy didn’t” —
’Tis very sad to see
That children of one family
Will sometimes disagree.
Don’t quarrel, Katy, try to sing
A little gentle song,
For mother tells me, Katy dear,
To contradict is wrong.
But then I don’t suppose you mean
To be unkind a bit;
I know you’re never rude or cross,
It only sounds like it.
God made you, Katy, thus to sing ;
He knows the reason why ;
The little while He lets yon live
You work, then humbly die.
So ought I to fulfill my part,
What I am made to do ;
Through all the life God gives mo bo
An earnest worker, too.
Written for Burke’s Weekly.
JACK DOBELL;
Or, A Boy’s Adventures in Texas.
A STORY FOR BOYS.
CHAPTER XII.
A HURRIED PROPOSAL ESCAPE FROM CAP
TIVITY B RECAPTURED —HIDING
FROM THE MEXICANS A DISMAL NIGHT
AND A BRIGHT MORNING —ON THE BACK
TRACK —A DESERTED CAMP —NO SIGNS OF
B — AND II —. COMFORTABLE QUARTERS.
UR Mexican captor pro
cam P> keeping however
at a respectful distance
OCT from us, for; although
fwfog he could see that we were totally
unarmed, he was evidently suspi
eious that we might take him, some
way or other, at an advantage.
As we walked along I hurriedly proposed
to B that when we got to a point of
timber to which I perceived the Mexican
was leading us, we should suddenly make
a break into the bottom, and endeavor to
effect our escape under cover of the tim
ber and the obscurity of the night, which
was now fast approaching. B made
no reply to this proposal, but I took it
for granted that he had consented to it,
as it was obviously the only possible mode
of effecting our escape.
BURKE’S WEEKLY.
When we were nearly abreast of this
point of timber, we suddenly darted into
the woods, but the Mexican was too quick
for B , whom he pursued and over
took, at the same time calling out to his
comrades u to come there quickly and
bring their guns.” 1 heard him also tell
ing them the direction I had gone. I had
learned to speak Spanish among the Mex
icans at Goliad, and of course I under
stood all that he said. Several of the
Mexicans who followed me passed within
a few yards of where I was secreted, but
owing to the thick undergrowth, and the
increasing darkness —for the sun by this
time had set —they did not notice me.
Very soon afterwards, the sky became
overcast with clouds, and a drizzling rain
began to fall, but I traveled on until it
grew so dark I could scarcely see my
hand before me, and finding it impossible
any longer to keep in a particular course,
I laid down at the root of a tree, upon
which there was a thick growth of Span
ish moss, which served in a measure to
protect me from the rain. I did not dare,
however, to build a fire, as I was afraid
the light from it might betray me to the
Mexicans, if they were still in pursuit
of me.
I never felt so desponding, since I had
made my escape from Goliad, as I did
that night. My separation from my com
panions—my uncertainty as to their fate
—the thought of my helpless situation,
without anything in the shape of a weap
on wherewith to protect myself against
the attacks of wild beasts or of the more
merciless Indians and Mexicans, and the
mournful howling of a number of wolves,
together with the cravings of hunger, all
conspired to fill my mind with gloomy
forebodings and anticipations. However,
notwithstanding such unpleasant
thoughts and surroundings, fatigue at
length overcame me, and I fell into a
sound sleep.
When I awoke, daylight was already
visible in the east. The birds were sing
ing and the squirrels chattering in the
tiees overhead. The storm had blown
o\ ci, and after brushing off the damp
leaves that adhered to my clothes, my
toilette was made, and I started back in
the direction I had come from the eve
ning before, determined that I would re
tui n to the place where I had separated
from my companions, in the hope that I
might rejoin one or perhaps both of
them.
I came out of the bottom just at the
point where I had entered it the evening
before, but no living thing was visible, as
far as my eye could extend upon the
prairie, except some herds of deer and a
flock of wild turkeys. I proceeded cau
tiously along the edge of the timber, un
til I came to where we had seen the Mex
ican horses staked out. They were gone
and hearing no sounds from the place
near by in the woods, where the Mexi
cans had been encamped, I ventured in
to reconoitre. Their fires were still
smoking, but they too had gone, and no
thing was left to indicate what had been
the probable fate of my companions. I
then returned to the prairie and traveled
up and down the edge of the timber for
four or five miles both ways.
All day long I wandered up and down
the timber bordering on the La Vaca, in
search of my comrades, when, having
abandoned all hopes of finding them, I
struck out across the prairie in the di
rection I intended traveling. After going
a half a mile or so, I accidentally looked
back towards the river, and discovered a
house that had been previously hid from
me by a projecting point of timber. As
I was suffering greatly from hunger, I
concluded to return and examine the
premises for something to eat. I ap
proached cautiously, for fear it might be
occcupied by a marauding party of Mex
icans, but seeing nothing to excite my
suspicions, I ventured in. Every thing
about the house—furniture broken and
strewed in fragments over the floor—beds
ripped open and their contents scattered
around, —showed plainly that it had not
escaped a visitation from some of the
plundering bands of “ Rancheros ” that
infested the country. However, in an
out-house adjoining the main building, I
found a small piece of bacon, and a bushel
or two of corn. Some of this corn I
ground upon a steel mill that I also found
upon the premises. I then made up a
small fire in the chimney, and filling a
kettle with water, I put into it a pound or
so of the bacon, and about a quart of
meal, which, when well cooked, afforded
me a sumptuous banquet. By this time it
was dark, and spreading some bed clothes
that were left in the house, upon the
floor of one of the rooms, I laid down up
on them and slept soudly till morning.
♦♦♦
J[k§M Lilly and Fred were playing at
house-keeping with a family of dolls. One
of the dollies behav.ed very badly, and
Lilly shut her up by herself, saying :
“How you must stay in your room hah
an hour.”
“ You better’pank her, Lilly,” suggested
little Fred, “ ’cause she can’t fink about
it, and she won’t never get sorry it 3 011
do shut her up.”
Pretty good reasoning for a three-yea 1 •
old.