[_They descend_.] SECOND EPISODE. * * * * * LOCALITY--_The Kitchen_. PRESENT--JOSEPH, SAMUEL, REBEKAH, _and other_ CHILDREN. * * * * * THE QUESTION ILLUSTRATED BY STORY. _Joseph_. Have we not had "Button-Button" enough, And "Forfeits," and all such silly stuff? _Samuel_. Well, we were playing "Blind-Man's-Buff" Until you fell, and rose in a huff, And declared the game was too rude and rough. Poor boy! What a pity he isn't tough! _All_. Ha! ha! ha! what a pretty boy! Papa's delight, and mamma's joy! Wouldn't he like to go to bed, And have a cabbage-leaf on his head? _Joseph_. Laugh, if you like to! Laugh till you're gray; But I guess you'd laugh another way If you'd hit your toe, and fallen like me, And cut a bloody gash in your knee, And bumped your nose and bruised your shin, Tumbling over the rolling-pin That rolled to the floor in the awful din That followed the fall of the row of tin That stood upon the dresser. _Samuel_. Guess again--dear little guesser! You wouldn't catch this boy lopping his wing, Or whining over anything. So stir your stumps, Forget your bumps, Get out of your dumps, And up and at it again; For the clock is striking ten, And Ruth will come pretty soon and say, "Go to your beds You sleepy heads!" So--quick! What shall we play? _Rebekah_. I wouldn't play any more, For Joseph is tired and sore With his fall upon the floor. _All_. Then he shall tell a story. _Joseph_. About old Mother Morey? _All_. No! Tell us another. _Joseph_. About my brother? _Rebekah_. Now, Joseph, you shall be good, And do as you'd be done by; We didn't mean to be rude When you fell and began to cry: We wanted to make you forget your pain; But it frets you, and we'll not laugh again. _Joseph_. Well, if you'll all sit still, And not be frisking about, Nor utter a whisper till You've heard my story out, I'll tell you a tale as weird As ever you heard in your lives, Of a man with a long blue beard, And the way he treated his wives. _All_. Oh, that will be nice! We'll be still as mice. _Joseph_. [_Relates the old story of Blue Beard, and_ DAVID, _and_ RUTH _enter from the cellar unperceived_.] Centuries since there flourished a man, (A cruel old Tartar as rich as the Khan), Whose castle was built on a splendid plan, With gardens and groves and plantations; But his shaggy beard was as blue as the sky, And he lived alone, for his neighbors were shy. And had heard hard stories, by the by, About his domestic relations.