but a child don't not feel like a child till you miss him. Why, there he is! Punch and Judy hunting, the young wretch, it's that Billy as sartin as sin! But let me get him home, with a good grip of his hair, and I'm blest if he shall have a whole bone in his skin! THE FOX AND THE HEN. A FABLE. Speaking within _compass_, as to fabulousness I prefer _Southcote_ to _Northcote_. PIGROGROMITUS. One day, or night, no matter where or when, Sly Reynard, like a foot-pad, laid his pad Right on the body of a speckled Hen, Determined upon taking all she had; And like a very bibber at his bottle, Began to draw the claret from her throttle; Of course it put her in a pretty pucker, And with a scream as high As she could cry, She call'd for help--she had enough of sucker. Dame Partlet's scream Waked, luckily, the house-dog from his dream, And, with a savage growl In answer to the fowl, He bounded forth against the prowling sinner, And, uninvited, came to the Fox Dinner. Sly Reynard, heedful of the coming doom, Thought, self-deceived, He should not be perceived, Hiding his _brush_ within a neighboring _broom_! But quite unconscious of a Poacher's snare, And caught in copper noose, And looking like a goose, Found that his fate had "hung upon a _hare_"; His tricks and turns were rendered of no use to him, And worst of all he saw old surly Tray Coming to play Tray-Deuce with him. Tray, an old Mastiff bred at Dunstable, Under his Master, a most special constable, Instead of killing Reynard in a fury, Seized him for legal trial by a Jury; But Juries--AEsop was a sheriff then-- Consisted of twelve Brutes and not of Men. But first the Elephant sat on the body-- I mean the Hen--and proved that she was dead, To the veriest fool's head Of the Booby and the Noddy. Accordingly, the Stork brought in a bill Quite true enough to kill, And then the Owl was call'd,--for, mark, The Owl can witness in the dark. To make the evidence more plain, The Lynx connected all the chain. In short there was no quirk or quibble At which a legal Rat could nibble; The Culprit was as far beyond hope's bounds. As if the Jury had been _packed_--of hounds. Reynard, however, at the utmost nick, Is seldom quite devoid of shift and trick; Accordingly our cunning Fox, Through certain influence, obscurely channel'd A friendly Camel got into the box, When 'gainst his life the Jury was impanel'd.