The Deacon lay on his first wife's bed, His second wife's pillow beneath his head, His third wife's coverlet o'er him wide, His fourth wife slumbering by his side. The parson visioned his Sunday's text, And what he should hurl at Satan next; The doctor a drowsy half-vigil kept, Still studying, as he partly slept, How men might glutton, and tope, and fly In the face of Death, and still not die; The lawyer dreamed that his clients meant To club together, and then present, As proof that their faith had not grown dim, A small bright silver hatchet to him; The laborer such sound slumber knew, He hadn't a dream the whole night through; The ladies dreamed--but I can't say well What 'tis they dream, for they never tell! In short, such a general drowsy time Had ne'er been known in that sleepy clime, As on the night Of clamor and fright, We were roused the treacherous foe to fight-- The foe so greedy and grand and bright, And carrying such an appetite-- That plagued old Deacon Tompkins. III. When all at once the old court-house bell (Which had a voice like a maniac's yell) Cried out, as if in its dim old sight The judgment-day had come in the night. "Bang whang whang bang clang dang bang whang," The poor old parcel of metal sang; Whereat, from mansion, cottage, and shed, Rose men and women as from the dead, In different stages of attire, And shouted, "The town is all afire!" (Which came as near to being true As some more leisurely stories do.) They saw on the Deacon's house a glare, And everybody hurried there; And such a lot of visitors he Had never before the luck to see. The Deacon received these guests of night In a costume very simple and white; And after a drowsy, scared "Ahem!" He asked them what he could do for them. "Fire! fire!" they shouted; "your house's afire!" And then, with energy sudden and dire, They rushed through the mansion's solitudes, And helped the Deacon to move his goods. And that was the sight We had that night, When roused by the people who saw the light Atop of the cottage, cozy and white, Where lived old Deacon Tompkins. [Illustration: HOW WE FOUGHT THE FIRE.] IV.