THE HAWTHORNE CHILDREN.

THE Hawthorne children, seven in all,

Are famous friends of mine;

And with what pleasure I recall

How, years ago, one gloomy fall

I took a tedious railway line,

And journeyed by slow stages down

Unto that soporiferous town

( Albeit one worth seeing )

Where Hildegarde, John, Henry, Fred,

And Beatrix and Gwendolen,

And she that was the baby then,—

These famous seven, as aforesaid,

Lived, moved, and had their being.

The Hawthorne children gave me such

A welcome by the sea

That the eight of us were soon in touch,

And, though their mother marvelled much,

Happy as larks were we.

Egad, I was a boy again

With Henry, John, and Gwendolen;

And oh the funny capers

I cut with Hildegarde and Fred!

And oh the pranks we children played;

And oh the deafening noise we made —

‘ Twould shock my family if they read

About it in the papers!

The Hawthorne children all were smart:

The girls, as I recall,

Had comprehended every art

Appealing to the head and heart;

The boys were gifted, all.

‘ Twas Hildegarde who showed me how

To hitch a horse and milk a cow

And cook the best of suppers;

With Beatrix upon the sands

I sprinted daily, and was beat;

‘ Twas Henry trained me to the feat

Of walking round upon my hands

Instead of on my uppers.

The Hawthorne children liked me best

Of evenings, after tea,

For then, by general request,

I spun them yarns about the West,—

Yarns all involving Me!

I represented how I'd slain

The bison on his native plain;

And divers tales of wonder

I told of how I'd fought and bled

In Indian scrimmages galore,

Till Mrs. Hawthorne quoth, “No more,”

And packed her darlings off to bed,

To dream of blood and thunder.

They must have changed a deal since then;

The misses, tall and fair,

And those three handsome, lusty men,—

Would they be girls and boys again,

Were I to happen there,

Down in that spot beside the sea

Where we made such tumultuous glee

That dull autumnal weather?

Ah, me! the years go swiftly by;

And yet how fondly I recall

The week when we were children all,

Dear Hawthorne children, you and I,

Just eight of us together!