Brownies: Their Book

<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</SPAN></span></p> <h2>THE BROWNIES' GOOD WORK.</h2> <div class='center'> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="First stanza"> <tr><td align='left'>One time, while Brownies passed around<br/> An honest farmer's piece of ground,<br/> They paused to view the garden fair<br/> And fields of grain that needed care.<br/> "My friends," said one who often spoke<br/> About the ways of human folk,<br/> </td><td align='left'><ANTIMG src="images/i030a.png" width-obs="120" height-obs="159" alt="Explaining farming" title="" /> </td></tr> </table></div> <div class='center'> <table class="farm" summary="farm"> <tr><td align='left'> <div class='poem5'> "Now here's a case in point, I claim,<br/> Where neighbors scarce deserve the name:<br/> This farmer on his back is laid<br/> With broken ribs and shoulder-blade,<br/> Received, I hear, some weeks ago;<br/> While at the village here below,<br/></div> <div class='poem6'> He checked a running<br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">team, to save</span><br/> Some children from an<br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">early grave.</span><br/> Now overripe his harvest<br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">stands</span><br/> In waiting for the reaper's<br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">hands;</span><br/> The piece of wheat we<br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">lately passed</span><br/> Is shelling out at every<br/> <span style="margin-left: 2em;">blast.</span><br/></div> <br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/></td> </tr></table></div> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</SPAN></span></p> <div class='center'> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="gardening"> <tr><td align='left'><ANTIMG src="images/i031a.png" width-obs="131" height-obs="139" alt="Poking a vegetable" title="" /> </td><td align='left'>Those pumpkins in that corner plot<br/> Begin to show the signs of rot;<br/> The mold has fastened on their skin,<br/> The ripest ones are caving in,<br/> And soon the pig in yonder sty<br/> With scornful grunt would pass them by.<br/> His Early Rose potatoes there<br/></td><td align='left'><ANTIMG src="images/i031b.png" width-obs="182" height-obs="215" alt="Raking" title="" /> </td></tr> </table></div> <div class='poem'> Are much in need of light and air;<br/> The turnip withers where it lies,<br/> The beet and carrot want to rise.<br/> 'Oh, pull us up!' they seem to cry<br/> To every one that passes by;<br/> 'The frost will finish our repose,<br/> The grubs are working at our toes;<br/></div> <div class='center'> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Explaining"> <tr><td align='left' valign='top'>Unless you come<br/> We'll not be worth<br/> The corn is breaking<br/> The hens around the<br/> And with their ever<br/> May pick the ker-<br/> His neighbors are<br/> </td><td align='left'><ANTIMG src="images/i031c.png" width-obs="110" height-obs="130" alt="Explaining further" title="" /> </td><td align='left' valign='top'>and save us soon,<br/> a picayune!'<br/> from the stalk,<br/> hill can walk,<br/> ready bill<br/> nels at their will.<br/> a sordid crowd,<br/></td></tr> </table></div> <div class='poem'> Who've such a shameful waste allowed<br/> So wrapped in self some men can be,<br/> Beyond their purse they seldom see;<br/> 'T is left for us to play the friend<br/> And here a helping hand extend.<br/> But as the wakeful chanticleer<br/> Is crowing in the stable near,<br/> Too little of the present night<br/> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</SPAN></span>Is left to set the matter right.<br/> <br/> "To-morrow eve, at that dark hour<br/> When birds grow still in leafy bower<br/> And bats forsake the ruined pile<br/> To exercise their wings awhile,<br/> In yonder shady grove we'll meet,<br/> With all our active force complete,<br/> Prepared to give this farmer aid<br/> With basket, barrel, hook, and spade.<br/></div> <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/i032.png" width-obs="402" height-obs="494" alt="Prepared with basket, barrel, hook and spade" title="" /></div> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</SPAN></span></p> <div class='center'> <table class="druggist" summary="druggist"> <tr><td align='left'><div class='poem'> But, ere we part, one caution more:<br/> Let some invade a druggist's store,<br/> And bring along a coated pill;<br/> <br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/></div> </td></tr> </table></div> <div class='poem'> We'll dose the dog to keep him still.<br/> For barking dogs, however kind,<br/> Can oft disturb a Brownie's mind."<br/> &mdash;When next the bat of evening flew,<br/> And drowsy things of day withdrew,<br/> When beetles droned across the lea,<br/> And turkeys sought the safest tree<br/> To form aloft a social row<br/> And criticise the fox below,&mdash;<br/> Then cunning Brownies might be seen<br/> Advancing from the forest green;<br/> Now jumping fences, as they ran,<br/> Now crawling through (a safer plan);<br/> Now keeping to the roads awhile,<br/> Now "cutting corners," country style;<br/> Some bearing hoes, and baskets more,<br/> Some pushing barrows on before,<br/> While others, swinging sickles bright,<br/> Seemed eager for the grain in sight.<br/> But in advance of all the throng<br/> Three daring Brownies moved along,<br/> Whose duty was to venture close<br/> And give the barking dog his dose.<br/></div> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</SPAN></span></p> <div class='center'> <table class="upstairs" summary="upstairs"> <tr><td align='left'><br/> <span style="margin-left: 12em;">Now soon the work was under way,</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 12em;">Each chose the part he was to play:</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 12em;">While some who handled hoes the best</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 12em;">Brought "Early Roses" from their nest,</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 12em;">To turnip-tops some laid their hands,</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 12em;">More plied the hook, or twisted bands.</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 11em;">And soon the sheaves lay piled around,</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 10em;">Like heroes on disputed ground.</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 9em;">Now let the eye turn where it might,</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 8em;">A pleasing prospect was in sight;</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 7em;">For garden ground or larger field</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 6em;">Alike a busy crowd revealed:</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 5em;">Some pulling carrots from their bed,</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 4em;">Some bearing burdens on their head,</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">Or working at a fever heat</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">While prying out a monster beet.</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">Now here two heavy loads have met,</span><br/> <span style="margin-left: 3em;">And there a barrow has upset,</span><br/> </td> </tr></table></div> <div class='poem'> While workers every effort strain<br/> The rolling pumpkins to regain;<br/></div> <div class="figleft"> <ANTIMG src="images/i034c.png" width-obs="283" height-obs="255" alt="water pump" title="" /></div> <div class='poem'> And long before the stars withdrew,<br/> The crop was safe, the work was through.<br/> In shocks the corn, secure and good,<br/> Now like a Sioux encampment stood;<br/> The wheat was safely stowed away;<br/> In bins the "Early Roses" lay,<br/></div> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</SPAN></span></p> <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/i035a.png" width-obs="396" height-obs="485" alt="wheelbarrow tipping" title="" /></div> <div class='poem'>While carrots, turnips, beets, and all<br/> Received attention, great and small.<br/> When morning dawned, no sight or sound<br/> Of friendly Brownies could be found;<br/> And when at last old Towser broke<br/> The spell, and from his slumber woke,<br/> He rushed around, believing still<br/> Some mischief lay behind the pill.<br/> But though the field looked bare and strange,<br/> His mind could hardly grasp the change.<br/> And when the farmer learned at morn<br/> That safe from harm were wheat and corn,<br/> That all his barley, oats, and rye<br/> Were in the barn, secure and dry,<br/> That carrots, beets, and turnips round<br/> Were safely taken from the ground,<br/> The honest farmer thought, of course,<br/></div> <div class='center'> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poem and bird"> <tr><td align='left'>His neighbors had turned out in force<br/> While helpless on the bed he lay,<br/> And kindly stowed his crop away.<br/></td><td align='left'><ANTIMG src="images/i035b.png" width-obs="222" height-obs="76" alt="Brownie" title="" /> </td></tr> </table></div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />