ging
For a ride, and now's your time:
Jump in,--be quick! And careful, too,
For I'm o'erpast my prime."

So, springing in, she sat there
As happy as you please,
And through the open window,
Was borne upon the breeze.

The sparrows eyed her keenly,
The doves left off their cooing,
And children, cause they couldn't go,
Set up a grand boo-hoo-ing.

She bobbed against a clothes-line,
And all the wash went flying; {278}
The good dame cried, "A witch! a witch!
The saints forefend my drying."

And next she got entangled
In the telegraphic wires;
And when she jerked away from them,
She bumped against the spires.

She hit the tallest chimneys,
And set the smoke a-curling,
Then knocked a flag-pole all awry,
The stars and stripes a-whirling.

Now, far beyond the city,
With mountains in her face,
An eagle pounced to catch her,
But she quickly won the race.

{279}

Within a mountain cavelet,
Two baby-bears so young,
Smiled on her as she passed them,
And greetings to her flung.

She heard the thunder rolling.
And saw the lightning's glare,
From clouds away beneath her,
While 'round her all was fair.

{280}

{281}

She met a cherub driving
A brace of butterflies,
While dancing on a gorgeous one,
Away in wonder-skies.

She saw an angel lighting
The stars up one by one,
As he balanced on a cloudlet
That was left behind the sun.

She heard angelic music,
Far up, the blue along,
And knew 'twas Mary crooning o'er
Her first sweet cradle-song.

{282}

She saw such wondrous pictures,
So beautiful and grand,
Such skyscapes and such cloudscapes,
Such waterscapes and land.

But now the fluttering insects
All round her plainly told
That she was nearing Mother Earth
Far o'er the daisy-wold;

And startled at the distance
From home, the baby screaming
And mother still a-mending there,
Told Nanny she'd been dreaming.

{283}

_THE RACE._

A hop, a skip, and a gambol,
A run, a tumble, a scramble,
An up-and-a-going,
A laughing-and-crowing,
A weal-and-a-woe-ing,--
Yes, a race for a ball
Or a toy we may call,
This race that is human,--
For child, man, or woman,
Tis one and the same,
A mysterious game
That is played by us all,
And we each get a fall;
And so many it may be
That fore