o plane
You could tell by the dent of the heel and the sole
They was lot o' fun on hands at the old swimmin'-hole.
But the lost joys is past! Let your tears in sorrow roll
Like the rain that ust to dapple up the old swimmin'-hole.

Thare the bullrushes growed, and the cattails so tall,
And the sunshine and shadder fell over it all;
And it mottled the worter with amber and gold
Tel the glad lilies rocked in the ripples that rolled;
And the snake-feeder's four gauzy wings fluttered by
Like the ghost of a daisy dropped out of the sky,
Or a wownded apple-blossom in the breeze's controle
As it cut acrost some orchurd to'rds the old swimmin'-hole.

Oh! the old swimmin'-hole! When I last saw the place,
The scenes was all changed, like the change in my face;
The bridge of the railroad now crosses the spot
Whare the old divin'-log lays sunk and fergot.
And I stray down the banks whare the trees ust to be--
But never again will theyr shade shelter me!
And I wish in my sorrow I could strip to the soul.
And dive off in my grave like the old swimmin'-hole.

Their little jaws dropped!
Their little eyes distended!
Their little ears stood erect!

They fairly bristled with an intense attention.
You said the last word, of the last line.
Then--absolute, unbroken--Silence!
Finally--but without another word--you reached
down, patted the youngest one on his wet curly Locks.
The Wizard whispered to the driver "Go."
As the team, in a brisk trot, started away.
you, still standing, coatless, hatless, waved your
hand--in that quick little jerky fashion peculiar
to you--to those little naked Urchins.
With a mighty Shout, they ran back to the Pool,
and gave a rapid-firing Exhibition of the Single
Dive; the Double Dive; and one--a dare-devil--the Triple Dive!
What a Memory, what a Priceless Memory, you must
have given those Boys of Martinsville, that Ideal
Summer Afternoon, in the Long While Ago!
Martinsville! To you of Blessed Memory!
For the sake of an early, enduring, Friendship,
did you not encrust one Jap Miller of
Martinsville with no mean verse?
And did it not run something like this?

Jap Miller down at Martinsville's the blamedest feller yit!
When _he_ starts in a-talkin' other folks is apt to quit!--
'Pears like that mouth o' his'n wuzn't made fer nothin' else
But jes' to argify 'em down and gether in their pelts:
He