Four more soldier-ants beside, Lent an air of splendid pride To the kittens shy inside! Two to ride postillion-wise; Two to guard and supervise From the seat behind! Thus to meet the Queen they fared; Nothing wanting, nothing spared To please the eye and mind! But, before they reached the Queen, There was quite a little scene—— That a temporary stoppage did entail; For, with not a warning note, From the Rosary remote,— Came a sound that made the anxious Marshal quail! It was due to some field crickets, Who, on coming through the pickets, Had been told to be quite ready To play something soft and steady When Her Majesty the Moon,— (Who conferred on them the boon!) Should come forth to meet her guests upon the Lawn! But the Band, At its stand, Should have waited the command To begin the music mystic, With its Summer strain artistic,— Ere it broke At a stroke Into tunings that the sleeping echoes woke! So, the worried Marshal spider, Sent a swallow-scout outrider With most mandatory orders To retire behind the borders, And await the time propitious To begin the strain ambitious, Which should tell in martial bars That the Queen and Court of stars, With attendant satellites, And the page boy stellar sprites Were in waiting on the Lawn! On the smooth and spacious Lawn! When the episode was ended, And a like mistake forfended, Forward went the line extended Down the carriage drive! Turning, where the beds give entry, Past a Robin Redbreast sentry, Without haste, as do the gentry, On the lawn did they arrive! And the Moon that moment walking, With her starry daughters, talking, From the Summer-house came forth! On the instant, came the crashing Of the cricket music dashing, Swift as pallid lightning flashing From the far-off sombre North! Stood aside the Heralds then, Stepped behind attendants ten, And The Mower and his Lady met the Queen!! What a scene! Surely ne’er before was seen So much majesty serene, So much graciousness and light As graced the lawn that autumn night! For, as each made due obeisance, With polite and sweet complaisance,— And passed on; Into scattered knots and groups, Into merry little troups They fell; And the swell Of the mingled conversations, And the witty observations; The soft requests And whispered jests, With the laughter That came after, To the Queen and all her Court was music rare! And the supper fine that followed! Oh! what quantities they swallowed Of the dainties and the delicacies rare! Black ants’ milk and box-tree honey; Manna flakes, the shapes of money; All the richest kinds of berries,