Page:Fugitive Poetry 1600-1878.djvu/494
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476
THE CASE ALTERED.
And when the pipe grows foul within,
Think on thy soul defiled with sin;
For then the fire
It does require:
Thus think, and smoke tobacco.
Think on thy soul defiled with sin;
For then the fire
It does require:
Thus think, and smoke tobacco.
Thou seest the ashes cast away,
Then to thyself thou mayest say,
That to the dust
Return thou must:
Thus think, and smoke tobacco.
Then to thyself thou mayest say,
That to the dust
Return thou must:
Thus think, and smoke tobacco.
The Case Altered.
Hodge held a farm, and smiled content
While one year paid another's rent;
But if he ran the least behind,
Vexation stung his anxious mind;
For not an hour would landlord stay,
But seized the very quarter-day.
How cheap soe'er or scant the grain,
Though urged with truth, was urged in vain.
The same to him, if false or true,
For rent must come when rent was due.
Yet that same landlord's cows and steeds
Broke Hodge's fence, and cropped his meads.
In hunting, that same landlord's hounds—
See! how they spread his new-sown grounds!
Dog, horse, and man alike o'erjoyed,
While half the rising crop's destroyed;
Yet tamely was the loss sustained.
'Tis said the sufferer once complained:
The squire laughed loudly while he spoke,
And paid the bumpkin—with a joke.
While one year paid another's rent;
But if he ran the least behind,
Vexation stung his anxious mind;
For not an hour would landlord stay,
But seized the very quarter-day.
How cheap soe'er or scant the grain,
Though urged with truth, was urged in vain.
The same to him, if false or true,
For rent must come when rent was due.
Yet that same landlord's cows and steeds
Broke Hodge's fence, and cropped his meads.
In hunting, that same landlord's hounds—
See! how they spread his new-sown grounds!
Dog, horse, and man alike o'erjoyed,
While half the rising crop's destroyed;
Yet tamely was the loss sustained.
'Tis said the sufferer once complained:
The squire laughed loudly while he spoke,
And paid the bumpkin—with a joke.
But luckless still poor Hodge's fate;
His worship's bull had forced a gate,
And gored his cow, the last and best;
By sickness he had lost the rest.
Hodge felt at heart resentment strong—
The heart will feel that suffers long.
A thought that instant took his head,
And thus within himself he said:
"If Hodge, for once, don't sting the squire,
May people post him for a liar!"
His worship's bull had forced a gate,
And gored his cow, the last and best;
By sickness he had lost the rest.
Hodge felt at heart resentment strong—
The heart will feel that suffers long.
A thought that instant took his head,
And thus within himself he said:
"If Hodge, for once, don't sting the squire,
May people post him for a liar!"