e question as to whether
there was such a thing as a "purple cow." And even today in many of the
rural districts there are old farmers who never heard of Burgess and
his "purple cow" who will tell you solemnly that "there is a cow of a
sort of purplish color." Which goes to prove that after all nonsense is
only sense plus--NON._

The poems in this collection have appeared from time to time in The
Kentucky Post, The Cincinnati Post, The Cincinnati Commercial Tribune,
Humanity and The Valley Magazine.

WHY THE MOLE IS BLIND.

In days gone by, when cows could fly
And goblins rode on bears;
When fairies danced upon the green
And giants moped in lairs,
There lived alone upon a shelf
A tinsie, winsie little elf.

Just when the stars came out at night
And moonbeams filled the earth with light,
Down from his perch this little elf
Would jump and wander by himself.
He wore a pair of little wings
Tied in their place by golden strings.

One day he took a kind of notion
To take a trip upon the ocean.
He combed his hair and washed his face
And put his little wings in place,
Then from his shelf he softly stole
And went to see his friend the mole
Who gave to him a pea-green boat
And guaranteed that it would float.

A funny thing about this boat
'Twas patterned from a ten-pound note.
The little elf was greatly pleased
And laughed until he sneezed and sneezed;
He launched his boat upon the sea
And kicked his little heels in glee.

The mole looked on in glad surprise
(For in those days all moles had eyes.)
He shouted out a loud farewell
As the little row-boat rose and fell.
The elf picked up a golden oar
And soon lost sight of mole and shore.

The elf rowed out for quite a way
And in the waves did sport and play,
Until at length the sun sank low
And then he thought it time to go.
Now just as luck would have it then
A prowling sea gull left his den.

The savage sea gull loudly laughed
To see an elf in such a craft,
And swooping down upon the water
He did a thing he hadn't oughter,
For with his strong and sturdy beak
He caused the boat to spring a leak.

He said he longed for a little change
And the bank-note boat was just in range;
The poor young elf gave one big