LITTLE ORPHANT ALLIE. BY JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY. [1853-.] LITTLE Orphant Allie's come to our house to stay An' wash the cups and saucers up, an' brush the crumbs away, We set around the kitchen fire an' has the mostest fun A list'nin' to the witch tales 'at Allie tells about, An' the gobble-uns 'at gits you Ef you Don't Watch Out! Onc't they was a little boy wouldn't say his pray'rs - His mammy heerd him holler, an' his daddy heerd him bawl, Ef you Watch An' one time a little girl 'ud allus laugh an' grin, An' onc't when they was "company," an' ole folks was there, An' little Orphant Allie says, when the blaze is blue, Ef you Don't Watch Out! GRIGGSBY'S STATION. BY JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY. PAP's got his patent right, and rich as all creation; But where's the peace and comfort that we all had before? Le's go a visitin' back to Griggsby's Station Back where we ust to be so happy and so pore! The likes of us a livin' here! It's jest a mortal pity To see us in this great big house, with cyarpets on the stairs, And the pump right in the kitchen! And the city! city! city!And nothin' but the city all around us ever'wheres! Climb clean above the roof and look from the steeple, And right here in earshot of at least a thousan' people, And none that neighbors with us, or we want to go and see! Le's go a visitin' back to Griggsby's Station Back where the latchstring's a hangin' from the door, And ever' neighbor 'round the place is dear as a relation – Back where we ust to be so happy and so pore! I want to see the Wiggenses, the whole kit and bilin' A drivin' up from Shallor Ford to stay the Sunday through; And I want to see 'em hitchin' at their son-in-law's and pilin' Out there at 'Lizy Ellen's like they ust to do! I want to see the piece quilts the Jones girls is makin'; And I want to pester Laury 'bout their freckled hired hand, And joke her 'bout the widower she come purt' nigh a takin', Le's go a visitin' back to Griggsby's Station Back where they's nothin' aggervatin' any more; Shet away safe in the woods around the old locationBack where we ust to be so happy and so pore! I want to see Marindy and he'p her with her sewin', And I want to see the Samples, on the old lower eighty What's in all this grand life and high situation, And nary pink nor hollyhawk bloomin' at the door? Le's go a visitin' back to Griggsby's Station Back where we ust to be so happy and so pore! for THE CAVE OF LIGHT.1 BY FRANK R. STOCKTON. (From "The Great Stone of Sardis.") [FRANK RICHARD STOCKTON, American story-writer, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., April 5, 1834. He was a wood engraver, and became a magazine writer, mostly of humorous short stories, with half-burlesque wonder tales for children. Among his longer books are: “Rudder Grange," a series of short stories on a common thread; "The Late Mrs. Null"; "The Hundredth Man"; "The Casting Away of Mrs. Lecks and Mrs. Aleshine," with its sequel, "The Dusantes"; "The Merry Chanter"; "The Squirrel Inn"; "Ardis Claverden"; "The Great War Syndicate"; "The Adventures of Captain Horn," with its sequel, "Mrs. Cliff's Yacht"; and "The Great Stone of Sardis."] ON the day that Margaret left Sardis, Roland began his preparations for descending the shaft. He had so thoroughly considered the machinery and appliances necessary for the undertaking, and had worked out all his plans in such detail, 1 Copyright, 1897, by Harper and Brothers. |