"HO! plowman Kelly! How does it feel
To get in a wagon by climbing the wheel?"
"Nay, nay, little master, don't try it, I beg,
For that is the way that I broke my leg."
"Kelly, Kelly! Come, show me the way
They turn this machine when they cut the hay!"
"No, no, little master, just let it be--
That hay-cutter cut off my thumb for me."
"Ho, Kelly! The well-curb is rimmed with moss.
Now look at me while I jump across!"
"Hold, hold, young master! 'T would be a sin!
I tried it once, and I tumbled in."
"Kelly, Kelly! Send me to jail,
But I'll pluck a hair from yon pony's tail."
"Oh, master, master! Come back! Don't try--
That's the very way that I lost my eye."
"Why, Kelly, man, how under the sun
Can you be so frisky and full of fun?--
With all your mishaps, you are never a spoon--
You're as brave as a lion and wise as a coon."
"Well, well, young master, maybe it's so,
And maybe it isn't. But this I know:
It just brings trouble and mischief and slaughter,
To be fussin' around where one hadn't ought ter."
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[Illustration]