Page 468 - 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 ...

And beyond them both, on a narrow shelf,
I saw the speck It: d he a hide herself
Behind a pile of lloes and rakes
And pieces of boards and broken stakes,

“ Ah, ha! old hen, I have found you now,
Hut to reach your nest I don't know how,
Unless 1 could climb or creep or crawl
Along the edge of the pig-pen wall.”
AurJ while I stood in a thoughtful mood,
The speckled hen cackled ay loud as she could,
And Hew awayj as much as to say,
"F o r once my treasure is out of your way,”
1 didn't wait a moment then ;
I couldn’t be conquered by that old hen !
But along the edge of the slippery ledge
I carefully crept, for the great pigs slept,
And I dared not oven look to sec
If they were thinking of eating me.

But all at once, oh ! what a dunce!
I dropped my basket into the pen,
The one you gave me, Brother Ben;
There were two eggs in it, by the way,
That I Found in the manger under the hay,
Then the pigs got up and ran ah out
With a noise between a grunt and a shout,
A-nd when I saw them rooting, rooting,
Of course I slipped and lost my footing,
And tripped., and jumped, and finally fell
Right down among the pigs, pell-mell.

For once in my life I was afraid,
For the door that led out into the shed