Читать книгу Rhymes and Jingles - Mary Mapes Dodge - Страница 16

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"Ho, for a frolic!"

Said Johnny the stout;

"There's coasting and sledding—

I'm going out!"

Scarcely had Johnny

Plunged in the snow,

When there came a complaint

Up from his toe:—

"We're cold," said the toe,

"I and the rest;

There are ten of us freezing

Standing abreast."

Then up spoke an ear:

"My! but it's labor

Playing in winter. Eh,

Opposite neighbor?"

"Pooh!" said his nose,

Angry and red;

"Who wants to tingle?

Go home to bed!"

Eight little fingers,

Four to a thumb,

All cried together,

"Johnny, we're numb!"

But Johnny the stout

Wouldn't listen a minute;

Never a snow-bank

But Johnny was in it.

Tumbling and jumping,

Shouting with glee,

Wading the snow-drifts

Up to his knee.

Soon he forgot them,

Fingers and toes—

Never once thought of

The ear and the nose.

Ah, what a frolic!

All in a glow,

Johnny grew warmer

Out in the snow.

Often his breathing

Came with a joke:

"Blaze away, Johnny!

I'll do the smoke."

"And I'll do the fire,"

Said Johnny the bold;

"Fun is the fuel

For driving off cold."

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A farmer in Bungleton had a colt

That couldn't be taught to moo;

And he kept his cow under lock and bolt

Till the smith could make her a shoe.

His ducks wouldn't gobble, his geese wouldn't quack,

His cat couldn't bark at all.

"I'm clean discouraged!" he cried; "alack!

I'll give up my farm in the fall."

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