A milkmaid, who poised a full pail on her head,
Thus mused on her prospects in life, it is said:
“Let me see,--I should think that this milk will procure
One hundred good eggs, or fourscore, to be sure.
“Well then,--stop a bit,--it must not be forgotten,
Some of these may be broken, and some may be rotten;
But if twenty for accident should be detached,
It will leave me just sixty sound eggs to be hatched.
“Well, sixty sound eggs,--no, sound chickens, I mean:
Of these some may die,--we’ll suppose seventeen,
Seventeen! not so many--say ten at the most,
Which will leave fifty chickens to boil or to roast.
“But then there’s their barley: how much will they need?
Why, they take but one grain at a time when they feed,--
So that’s a mere trifle; now then, let us see,
At a fair market price how much money there’ll be.
“Six shillings a pair--five--four--three-and-six.
To prevent all mistakes, that low price I will fix;
Now what will that make? Fifty chickens, I said,--
Fifty times three-and-sixpence--I’ll ask Brother Ned.
“O, but stop,--three-and-sixpence a pair I must sell ’em:
Well, a pair is a couple,--now then let us tell ’em:
A couple in fifty will go (my poor brain!)
Why, just a score times and five pair will remain.
“Twenty-five pair of fowls--now how tiresome it is
That I can’t reckon up so much money as this:
Well, there’s no use in trying, so let’s give a guess,--
I’ll say twenty pounds, and it can’t be no less.
“Twenty pounds, I am certain, will buy me a cow,
Thirty geese and two turkeys,--eight pigs and a sow;
Now if these turn out well, at the end of a year,
I shall fill both my pockets with guineas, ‘tis clear.”
Forgetting her burden, when this she had said,
The maid superciliously tossed up her head;
When, alas for her prospects! her milk-pail descended,
And so all her schemes for the future were ended.
This moral, I think, may be safely attached,--
“Reckon not on your chickens before they are hatched.”
--JEFFREYS TAYLOR.
* * * * *
’Tis always morning somewhere, and above
The awakening continents from shore to shore
Somewhere the birds are singing evermore.