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Runaway Donkey and Other Rhymes for Children

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[Pg 28] <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/028.jpg" alt="And pronounced of all good ponies wisest, dearest, best." style="width: 50%" /></div> <h3>VI. THE PONY AS COWBOY</h3> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> Oh! the flurry and the bustle! Weeks of seashore joys Were in store for all the children. "Ready, girls and boys!" </div> <div class="stanza"> But the children lingered, lingered At the stable door; "Good-by, Barney," "Good-by, Rollo," Saying yet once more. </div> <div class="stanza"> "Don't forget us, Rollo, Barney, We'll come back again! And more fun we'll have together, [Pg 29] Riding, driving then." </div> <div class="stanza"> Then to Barney and to Rollo Soon there came a change. With the absence of the children Life seemed new and strange. </div> <div class="stanza"> Barney Gray was sent to pasture With the lambs and sheep, There to run and roll in freedom, Kick and prance and leap. </div> <div class="stanza"> Still more lonely then was Rollo, But he, too, found joy, For the care of him was given To the farmer's boy. </div> <div class="stanza"> In the golden summer weather, Happy little Jack Drove the cows, from pasture daily, On the pony's back. </div> <div class="stanza"> Down the road the cattle straggled;— If they turned aside, Then would Jack with much halloaing Toward them quickly ride. [Pg 30]</div> <div class="stanza"> "There goes Brindle! At her, Rollo! Now for Lady Bess! There! Good pony! We can keep them In the road, I guess!" </div> <div class="stanza"> And the pony, clever fellow, Learned so well the knack, That to drive the cows he scarcely Needed help from Jack. </div> <div class="stanza"> Let a cow but turn a little From the road to stray, In an instant Rollo joined her, And, as if in play. </div> <div class="stanza"> He would push the truant gently With his velvet nose, Till she yielded to his guiding, And the right way chose. </div> <div class="stanza"> When the children from the seashore Back to Rollo came, As a cowboy had their pony Won some extra fame. </div> </div> [Pg 31] [Pg 32] <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/031.jpg" alt="As a cowboy had their pony" style="width: 50%" /></div> <hr class="tb" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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