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CONTEST BETWEEN THE NOSE
AND EYES.

BETWEEN Nose and Eyes a strange contest arose,
The spectacles set them unhappily wrong;
The point in dispute was, as all the world knows,
To which the said spectacles ought to belong.

So Tongue was the lawyer, and argued the cause With a great deal of skill, and a wig full of learning While chief-baron Ear sat to balance the laws,

So famed for his talent in nicely discerning.

"In behalf of the Nose, it will quickly appear,

And your Lordship,” he said, “will undoubtedly find That the Nose has had spectacles always in wear, Which amounts to possession time out of mind.”

Then holding the spectacles up to the court

"Your Lordship observes they are made with a straddle As wide as the ridge of the Nose is,—in short, Designed to sit close to it, just like a saddle.

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Again, would your Lordship a moment suppose ("Tis a case that has happened, and may be again), That the visage or countenance had not a Nose,

Pray who would or who could wear spectacles then

"On the whole it appears, and my argument shows,

With a reasoning the court will never condemn, That the spectacles plainly were made for the Nose, And the Nose was as plainly intended for them."

Then shifting his side, as a lawyer knows how,
He pleaded again in behalf of the Eyes;
But what were his arguments few people know,

For the court did not think they were equally wise.

So his Lordship decreed, with a grave, solemn tone,
Decisive and clear, without one if or but,
That whenever the Nose put his spectacles on,

By day-light or candle-light-Eyes should be shut.

COWPER.

THE SALE OF THE PET LAMB.

OH! poverty is a weary thing, 'tis full of grief and pain ; It boweth down the heart of man, and dulls his cunning

brain;

It maketh even the little child with heavy sighs com

plain.

The children of the rich man have not their bread to

win;

They scarcely know how labour is the penalty of sin; E'en as the lilies of the field they neither toil nor spin.

And year by year, as life wears on, no wants have they to bear;

In all the luxury of the earth they have abundant share: They walk along life's pleasant ways, where all is rich and fair.

The children of the poor man, though they be young each one,

Must rise betime each morning, before the rising sun And scarcely when the sun is set their daily task is done

Few things have they to call their own, to fill thei hearts with pride,

The sunshine, and the summer flowers upon

way side,

the high

And their own free companionship on heathy common

wide.

Hunger, and cold, and weariness, these are a frightfu

three:

But another curse there is beside, that darkens poverty It may not have one thing to love, how small soe'er it b

A thousand flocks were on the hills, a thousand flock and more,

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Feeding in sunshine pleasantly,—they were the rich man's store:

There was the while one little lamb, beside a cottagedoor;'

A little lamb that rested with the children 'neath the

tree,

That ate, meek creature, from their hands, and nestled to their knee;

That had a place within their hearts, one of the family.

But want, even as an arméd man, came down upon their shed,

The father labour'd all day long that his children might be fed,

And, one by one, their household things were sold to buy them bread.

hat father, with a downcast eye, upon his threshold

stood,

launt poverty each pleasant thought had in his heart subdued.

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What is the creature's life to us ?" said he; 'twill buy us food.

Ay, though the children weep all day, and with downdrooping head

lach does his small task mournfully, the hungry must be fed ;

and that which has a price to bring must go to buy us

bread."

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It went.

Oh! parting has a pang the hardest heart to wring,

But the tender soul of a little child with fervent love doth cling,

With love that hath no feignings false, unto each gentle thing.

Therefore most sorrowful it was those children small to

see,

Most sorrowful to hear them plead for the lamb so piteously:

"Oh! mother dear, it loveth us; and what beside have We ?"

"Let's take him to the broad green hill!" in his impotent despair,

Said one strong boy : "let's take him off, the hills are wide and fair;

I know a little hiding place, and we will keep him there."

Oh vain! They took the little lamb, and straightway tied him down,

With a strong cord they tied him fast, and o'er the common brown,

And o'er the hot and flinty roads, they took him to the

town.

The little children through that day, and throughout all the morrow,

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