The simplicity and directness of statement here employed fulfil the first of the three requirements which John Milton declared to be essential to poetry of a high order, which, he tells us must be “simple, sensuous, passionate.” The necessary sensuousness is present also, in the reference made to the repulsiveness of the medicine. But that quality is better illustrated in another of Dick’s Song Ballads which runs as follows: Possum up a ’simmon tree-- Possum dunno nuffin, He nebber know how sweet and good A possum is wid stuffin. Possum up a ’simmon tree-- A eatin’ of de blossom, Up creeps de nigga an’ It’s “good-by Mistah Possum.” Nigga at de table A cuttin’ off a slice, An’ sayin’ to de chillun-- “Possum’s mighty nice.” Here the reader will observe the instinctive dramatic skill with which the poet, having reached the climax of the situation, abruptly rings down the curtain, as it were. There is no waste of words in unnecessary explanations, no delaying of the action with needless comment. And at the end of the second stanza we encounter a masterly touch. Instead of telling us with prosaic literalness that the nigga succeeded in slaying his game, the poet suggests the entire action with the figurative phrase--“It’s ‘good-by, Mistah Possum.’” There is a fine poetic reserve too in the abrupt shifting of the scene from tree to table, and the presentation of the denouement without other preparation than such as the reader’s imagination may easily furnish for itself. We are not told that the possum was dressed and cooked; even the presence of stuffing as an adjunct to the savor of the dish is left to be inferred from the purely casual suggestion made in the first stanza of the fact that stuffing tends to enrich as well as to adorn the viand. These qualities and some others of a notable kind appear in the next example we are permitted to give of this poet’s work. Ole crow flyin’ roun’ de fiel’, A lookin’ fer de cawn; Mahstah wid he shot gun A settin’ in de bawn. Ole crow see a skeer crow A standin’ in the cawn; Nebber see de Mahstah A settin’ in de bawn. Ole crow say:--“De skeer crow, He ain’t got no gun,-- Jes’ a lot o’ ole clo’es A standin’ in de sun; Ole crow needn’t min’ him, Ole crow git some cawn; But he nebber see de Mahstah A settin’ in de bawn. Ole crow wuk like nigga A pullin’ up de cawn-- Mahstah pull de trigga, Ober in de bawn. Ole crow flop an’ flutter-- He’s done got it, _sho’!_ Skeer crow shakin’ in he sleeve A laughin’ at de crow. There is a compactness of statement here--a resolute elimination of the superfluous which might well commend the piece to those modern theatrical managers who seem to regard dialogue as an impertinence in a play.