THE BROOMSTICK TRAIN. Half Title 58 "Clear the track" 59 "An Essex Deacon dropped in to call" 60 "The old dwellings" 61 "The small square windows" 61 "Dark, dim, Dante-like solitudes" 63 "Norman's Woe" 64 "The Screeching Woman of Marblehead" 65 "It isn't fair" 66 "You're a good old--fellow--come, let us go" 68 "See how tall they've grown" 69 "They called the cats" 70 "The Essex people had dreadful times" 71 "The withered hags were free" 72 "A strange sea-monster stole their bait" 74 "They could hear him twenty miles" 75 "They came ... at their master's call" 76 "You can hear her black cat's purr" 78 "Catch a gleam from her wicked eye" 79 Tail Piece 80 [Illustration] _The_ Deacon's Masterpiece _or the_ _Wonderful_ One-Hoss-Shay _A Logical Story_ [Illustration] The Deacon's Masterpiece Have you heard of the wonderful one-hoss shay, That was built in such a logical way It ran a hundred years to a day, And then, of a sudden, it--ah, but stay, I'll tell you what happened without delay, Scaring the parson into fits, Frightening people out of their wits,-- Have you ever heard of that, I say? Seventeen hundred and fifty-five, _Georgius Secundus_ was then alive,-- Snuffy old drone from the German hive; That was the year when Lisbon-town Saw the earth open and gulp her down, And Braddock's army was done so brown, Left without a scalp to its crown. It was on the terrible earthquake-day That the Deacon finished the one-hoss-shay. Now in building of chaises, I tell you what, There is always _somewhere_ a weakest spot,-- In hub, tire, felloe, in spring or thill, In panel, or crossbar, or floor, or sill, [Illustration: "A chaise breaks down but doesn't wear out"] In screw, bolt, thoroughbrace,--lurking still, Find it somewhere you must and will,-- Above or below, or within or without,-- And that's the reason, beyond a doubt, A chaise _breaks down_, but doesn't _wear out_.