He'd no time to say more, For already the roar Of the waters was heard as they reach'd the church-door, While, high on the first wave that roll'd in, was seen, Riding proudly, the form of the angry Lurline; And all might observe, by her glance fierce and stormy, She was stung by the _spretæ injuriâ formæ_. What she said to the Knight, what she said to the bride, What she said to the ladies who stood by her side, What she said to the nice little boys in white clothes, Oh, nobody mentions,--for nobody knows; For the roof tumbled in, and the walls tumbled out, And the folks tumbled down, all confusion and rout, The rain kept on pouring, The flood kept on roaring, The billows and water-nymphs roll'd more and more in; Ere the close of the day All was clean washed away-- One only survived who could hand down the news, A little old woman that open'd the pews; She was borne off, but stuck, By the greatest good luck. In an oak-tree, and there she hung, crying and screaming, And saw all the rest swallow'd up the wild stream in; In vain, all the week, Did the fishermen seek For the bodies, and poke in each cranny and creek; In vain was their search After ought in the church, They caught nothing but weeds, and perhaps a few perch; The Humane Society Tried a variety Of methods, and brought down, to drag for the wreck, tackles, But they only fish'd up the clerk's tortoise-shell spectacles. MORAL. This tale has a moral. Ye youths, oh, beware Of liquor, and how you run after the fair! Shun playing at _shorts_--avoid quarrels and jars-- And don't take to smoking those nasty cigars! --Let no run of bad luck, or despair for some Jewess-eyed Damsel, induce you to contemplate suicide! Don't sit up much later than ten or eleven!-- Be up in the morning by half after seven! Keep from flirting--nor risk, warned by Rupert's miscarriage, An action for breach of a promise of marriage;-- Don't fancy old fishes! Don't prig silver dishes! And to sum up the whole, in the shortest phrase I know, BEWARE OF THE RHINE, AND TAKE CARE OF THE RHINO! * * * * *