Page 240 - The model orator, or, Young folks' speaker : containing the choicest recitations and readings from the best authors for schools, public entertainments, social gatherings, Sunday schools, etc. : including recitals in prose and verse ...

210 D ESC TIT V I' I YE A XD D R A M A TT C RE A Dl -N t } S,

is a long da 11 streak o f black ; an;] there s hoar-frost on the finger­
post, and thaw upon the track; and the ;ce isn't water, and ihe water
isn't free; and you couldn’t say that any tiling if; what.it ought to be;
bill he's coming;, coming, coming!— ;:|
And here, if you like, the crickt’t did clmne in with Chirmpf chir­
rup. chirrup ! o f such magnitude, by way of chorus, :h i 1.h a voice so
astour.dingly di.sproportioil.':tc to its ai:-';;, a;; comuared with the kettle,
(jize, you couldn’t see it!)— that if it had then and there burst iL.i:elf
like nn overcharged gim f if lL bad fallen a victim on I.be -pot, and
chirruped it.? litde body irao fifty pieces, Ir. v, ouli.1 bave seemed a
natural and inevitable consequence, for which it had expressly labored.
The kett’e had had the last of its solo performances. It per.1.; eve red
wi'b ur diminished ardor; bat the cricket took first. fiddle. and kept itr
Good heaven, how it chirped! Its sbri’k sharp, piercing voice
resounded through the house, and seemed to twinkle in lliC outer
darkness like a star.
Thc^e was ~.n indescribable little thrill nnd 1.reml.ilo ill it, at ils
loudest, which .suggested it? being carried off it-; loi^s, and made to leap
again, by its own intense enthusiasm. Yet they went very welL
together, the cricket and the kettie. The burden of the song wa-; s;il'.
the same ; and louder. 1 judur, louder still they sang it in theireir.uladcn,
'1'tiere u-as all the excitement, o f a r;ice about it. Chirp, chirpt
chirp! cricket a mile ahead, ihuus km a, ! beetle mak ii ii;
play in the distance, like a great top. Chirp, chirp. chirp! cricket
round the corner, Hum, htan, hum m-m J k el lie s1 irking to him in
j j.i:T; c-'.m way; tio idea of giving in. Chrrj\ chirps chirp I cricket
fresher tJuni ever. Hum, hum, hiua-m-ml kettle :ilow and steady.
Cl;up, chirp chirp! ci'ieket going in to finish him. hi.’ant httnf,

hum-m-m ! kettle not to be finished.
UniII a(. la?!' Jncy f-or so jllh'jo]ed togethert in i.lnj hiirry-scu!,]y 1
helter-skelter of the match, diat whether die kettle chirped and ike
cricket, hummed, or the erida:l chirped and the kettle hummed, or they
both chirped and both hi mimed, it would have taken a clearer head
tiiis.ii yours or mine to bave decided with certainty,