diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:18:23 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 02:18:23 -0700 |
| commit | a0cffd6db936052c2e6b66227692f026e53077e4 (patch) | |
| tree | 872c2aea204fd83baf20e6235fae2b6e139529c2 | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 25681-8.txt | 1015 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 25681-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 19863 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 25681-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 27833 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 25681-h/25681-h.htm | 1308 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 25681-h/images/illus-001-s.jpg | bin | 0 -> 4516 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 25681.txt | 1015 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 25681.zip | bin | 0 -> 19833 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
10 files changed, 3354 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/25681-8.txt b/25681-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..726a65d --- /dev/null +++ b/25681-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1015 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Quadrupeds' Pic-Nic, by F. B. C. + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Quadrupeds' Pic-Nic + +Author: F. B. C. + +Release Date: June 2, 2008 [EBook #25681] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE QUADRUPEDS' PIC-NIC *** + + + + +Produced by David Wilson and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + +THE QUADRUPEDS' PIC-NIC + + +LONDON +WILLIAM PICKERING +1840 + +C. Whittingham, Tooks Court, +Chancery Lane. + + + + +ADVERTISEMENT + +The "Quadrupeds' Pic-Nic" is a very humble imitation of Mrs. Dorset's +"Peacock at Home." Even in my imitation I find I am not original. The +Quadrupeds, it appears, have already had an "Elephants' Ball," and a +"Lions' Masquerade." + + F. B. C. + + + + +THE QUADRUPEDS' PIC-NIC. + + No doubt you have heard how the grasshoppers' feasts + "Excited the spleen of the birds and the beasts;" + How the peacock and turkey "flew into a passion," + On finding that insects "pretended to fashion." + Now, I often have thought it exceedingly hard, + That nought should be said of the beasts by the bard; + Who, by some strange neglect, has omitted to state + That the quadrupeds gave a magnificent fête; + So, out of sheer justice I take up my pen, + To tell you the how, and the where, and the when. + + The place which they chose was a wild chestnut ground, + (And many such spots in the new world are found,) + Where the evergreen oak and the cucumber trees + Rear aloft their tall branches, and wave in the breeze; + Where the hickory, cypress, and cabbage-tree grow, + And shade the sweet flowers that blossom below; + And the creepers and vines form a beautiful sight, + As they climb the tall shaft, and hang down from a height; + Or they mix with the long pendant moss which is found + Growing high on the branches, yet touching the ground: + From amidst the dark foliage the mocking-birds sing, + Or mimic the hum of the honey-bees' wing, + As they whirl round a flower enjoying the feast, + So unsparingly spread for bird, insect, or beast. + From afar the bald eagle is seen in the sky, + Now darting below, and now soaring on high; + Now he takes from the fish-hawk his newly caught prey, + And with speed to the forest he bears it away; + Whilst the wood is alive with a feathery throng, + Who from morning till night fill the air with their song. + On one side is the lake where the wild cattle drink, + And trample the rice which grows wild on its brink; + The freshness untouch'd of earth's beauties declare, + Neither pride, pomp, nor envy, have ever been there; + Here Nature resides--nothing human is seen; + Foot of man hath not pass'd o'er that prairie I ween, + Unless some few wandering Indians have pass'd-- + Of their sorrowing tribe perhaps nearly the last. + + I should fail to describe in a picturesque manner + The splendid repose of that grassy Savanna; + Tall shadows swept out from the forest of pine, } + The site was a fair one, the weather so fine, } + That even a quadruped thought it divine. } + + To this wild grassy spot, on the long look'd for day, + Merry parties of beasts made the best of their way; + There were bears, long and short-legg'd, black, brown, grey, and white, + From different parts, to enjoy the fine sight. + The polar bear came in a sledge, and she said + That the journey had caused a sharp pain in her head: + For, although well protected from snout to her tail, + She thought she had got a slight "coup-de-soleil;" + So she hastily called for a gallon of ice, + Which a monkey in waiting served up in a trice. + Then the jaguar, the couguar, and fierce Ocelot, + And Sir Hans Armadillo, who came at full trot, + Brother Jonathan Beaver, escaped from the trappers, + Sloth, Tortoise, and Dormouse, notorious nappers. + That beau, the musk-Ox, with his long scented hair, + And John Bull just arrived on his travels, were there; + Messrs. Martin, Hare, Squirrel, the Ermine, and Stoat, + And the rock-mountain sheep, with his cousin, the goat; + Then the sociable marmot, and tiny shrew mouse, + The raccoon and agouti from hollow-tree house. + Chinchilla the soft, musk and Canada rats, + Hounds, mastiffs, wolves, foxes, and wild tiger cats; + Jerboa just roused from his long winter nap, + Opossum, with four little babes in her lap. + The morse, seal, and otter--amphibious group! + And of bisons (the humpbacked) there came a whole troop. + It seems that the elk out of pride staid away, + Having just shed his horns, which he does about May. + The fallow and red-deer were gone to a lick, + With a numerous party, who thought themselves sick; + But the antelope, stag, and the Wapiti deer, + Notwithstanding the age of the latter, were there. + The Esquimaux dogs, red, white, brindled, and black, + Who, for fear of the wolves, had arrived in a pack, + Were not heard to speak in the course of the day, + And were thought by the rest "to have nothing to say." + But if they were silent, 'twas clear they could growl, + And on meeting the wolf, gave a wild dismal howl; + For although 'twas supposed they were slightly connected, + In quarrels and fights they'd been often detected; + Though 'tis true, all dislikes for this day were forbidden, + Yet mutual antipathies could not be hidden. + Noble horses of Spanish extraction there came, + The chief of whose party was terribly lame; + For it seems that in one of his frolicsome scampers, + Beneath a hot sun in the wide spreading Pampas, + By the rich purple fruit of the Cactus allured, + And feeling a thirst that could not be endured, + He approach'd it to eat, but his nose was not proof + Against the sharp thorns, so he struck with his hoof, + When they pierced his bare foot, and so now he limp'd in + With his fetlock bound up in a garter-snake's skin: + The vampire-bat, surgeon, now offered to bleed it, + In case as he thought his poor patient would need it; + And added, at least it could do him no harm + To try his specific, the juice of the palm. + + From the South came the puma, American lion, + Of the old house of Leo degenerate scion. + The tapir, and also that excellent diver, + Alligator, or Cayman, from Amazon river; + And with him the Llama, whose sad trick of spitting + Was thought by the company very unfitting. + But, to shorten my tale, all the New World were there, + From the tiny shrew mouse to the fierce grisly bear; + Though it seems that the peccary was not invited, + For he as a nuisance had just been indicted. + From the Old World, the lion and tiger with glee + Would have join'd them, but dreaded the journey by sea. + + Beneath some fine trees, on the beautiful green, + A knot of philosophers was to be seen + Looking gravely about, and conversing together; + Some on learning and science, and some on the weather. + Dr. Mole on geology talk'd in high strain, + And declared his researches had not been in vain, + And that many geologists would have been glad + To have found opportunities such as he had; + For whilst searching for food in his underground travel, + Midst fossils, roots, shells, hid in chalk, sand, or gravel, + He the monstrous remains of great mammoths had seen, + Who no longer existed, but who once had been; + "The theories about them are various," said he, + "As to how they came there, and what they may be; + But not one of these I incline to receive, + For that they were elephants, who can believe? + There was one Mr. Cuvier, who talk'd of the sloth, + But to listen to nonsense like this I am loth; + From the strength of their limbs, and the make of their paws, + From the shape of their bodies, and length of their claws, + I am firmly convinced they're related to me, + And to this all philosophers ought to agree; + For how could such creatures have got into holes, + Unless, ('tis my theory,) they had been moles?" + He ceased, then just turn'd his diminutive eyes, + First round to the company, then to the skies, + And receiving applause from all who sate round, + He threw up his hill, and escaped underground. + Signor Greyhound, a foreigner, talk'd of the swamps, + Of the ague and fever, both caused by the damps; + Then quickly proceeded the climate to quiz, + And exclaim'd, "In Italia we've nothing of this!" + + Mr. Hog said that he had sent over his daughter + To England, to have all the sciences taught her; + And learned she was, all the world must allow, + For the Savants pronounced her a wonderful sow. + She was heard to grunt forth an unwilling apology, + For daring to boast of her skill in Nosology, + And presuming to hint what a dab she'd been found, + At extracting the root, whether square root, or round. + + Some beavers complain'd of that biped call'd man, + Who does to their race all the harm that he can, + Some of whom, not long since, came to kidnap and pillage + The whole of their neighbouring water-bound village, + And they guess'd the snake-Indians caught many a score, + To stew down the tails for their great Sagamore. + + The hedgehog, who always lies snug in his nest, + Till his fourfooted neighbours betake them to rest, + Now changed his old custom for once in a way, + Unroll'd his warm nose, and came forth in the day. + He sought for the cow, and implored the good dame + Would find out some means to restore his fair fame, + For there still was prevailing a cruel belief + That oft in the night he came forth as a thief; + So he lived in continual danger and strife, + Though he never had tasted her milk in his life. + On the faith of a hedgehog he dared to affirm, + That he seldom found courage to injure a worm. + Mrs. Cow was astonish'd; she never had heard + A report more untrue, a belief so absurd. + She urged that his mouth was too little by half + To steal the sweet milk that she meant for Miss Calf; + And concluded by saying, "'Tis surely enough + To mention (excuse me) your coat is so rough, + If even supposing that you should not fear me, + I never could suffer your skin to come near me." + + An old porcupine, too, just begg'd leave to observe, + That reports had been spread which he did not deserve; + To say he was "fretful," was using him ill, + He would prove the reverse to his very last quill; + Though he now bristled up at the simple idea, + This was often, with him, but a symptom of fear. + As he spoke, a poor toad, who had sate quite aloof + In a hovel of earth, with a stone for a roof, + Now slowly, on tiptoe, crept out of his hole, + And into the midst of the company stole; + The quadrupeds gazed as the reptile drew nigh, + Half afraid of his looks, though they could not tell why. + Mouse's hair stood on end, and, still stranger to say, + Miss Chameleon changed colour, and fainted away. + Poor bufo confess'd, as he sate in the dark, + He had listen'd to porcupine's brilliant remark, + And had thought it was due to himself and posterity, + T' expose a new case of the poets' temerity. + The poets, who kindly, but falsely, had said, + That he carried a beautiful gem in his head; + A jewel he thought would be quite out of place, + With his rustic brown coat, and his sallow green face, + And he knew not how people could think it was true, + Unless they had seen him when spangled with dew. + His Surinam friend could they possibly mean, + Who carried her little ones set in her skin. + Those alone were the jewels his friend ever wore, + Like Cornelia's, the good Roman matron of yore. + Having stated the case with regard to attire, + He said, with some warmth, that he did not spit fire: + And he ask'd why the wise ones omitted to hint + Where he carried his tinder, his steel, and his flint: + That his time was more usefully spent, he might say, + In chasing the vagrants and spectres away. + Every member of reptile society knew + That of insects and grubs he destroy'd not a few: + His wife had just miss'd a huge pioneer spider, + Who fled to his home, and then rudely defied her, + And e'en bang'd his door in her face to deride her. + + The marmot was "tchatting" away without end, + With a burrowing owl, his old neighbour and friend, + Who, being a bird in whom marmot confided, + Had hired his cottage, in which he resided. + The landlord just hinted, that when he lived there, + He had kept the old hovel in charming repair; + The walls neatly mended, the parlour swept clean, + And never a cobweb nor grain to be seen; + But that now this once pleasant and rural retreat, + By his tenant, the owl, was no longer kept neat; + That the little round chamber, and long slanting hall, + For the want of attention, were likely to fall; + Such a mess and confusion he could but deplore, + And he thought, at the least, she might plaster the floor, + Just turn out of doors all the shells of her eggs, + And those heaps of dried beetles' and butterflies' legs. + The poor owl, who spoke well in the prairie-dog tongue, + Now found an excuse, in the care of her young; + Alleged the hard times; that is, beetles were few, + So to find them in food she had plenty to do. + + The raccoon stood apart in a beautiful glade, + Much disturb'd by the noise that the company made, + And there with a friend he stay'd fretting and pining, + To hear such a bellowing, howling, and whining. + "Oh! those red-monkeys' shrieks," his old friend would begin, + "Niagara surely don't make such a din; + Let us get in this tree, 'tis the squirrel's old barn, + And (as Captain Seal says) I'll there spin a yarn. + I awoke very early to come to this feast, + Ere the sun warm'd the top of that hill in the east, + And forth from my lodging proceeded to creep, + For the wild turkey's 'gobble' had broken my sleep. + Then I climb'd some tall maize plants, and ate up the ears, + And enjoy'd the repast, notwithstanding my fears; + For great is my awe of the red Indian's gun, + And I thought I had caught a slight glimpse of one. + I saw, too, a rattlesnake creeping hard by, + And heard his tail clatter, and mark'd his red eye. + He coil'd himself up, for he spied me right soon, + And was wishing, no doubt, for a bit of raccoon; + Then, thinking the risk of a rifle in truth, + Was better by far than his poisonous tooth, + I hasten'd away from the much dreaded place, + That I might not be coil'd in his slimy embrace. + I rambled along to our nook in the beach, + And swallow'd the oysters that lay within reach. + Then traversed in haste the Savanna so wide, + Till I found the tall pine where you usually hide. + Then I scamper'd away o'er the Indigo fields, + Soon pass'd the old maple, (what sugar it yields!) + I travell'd along to the cabbage-palm quay, + Turn'd short by the far-spreading tall tulip tree. + Through forest and plain, and through dark dismal swamp, + And lighted alone by the firefly's lamp, + Which, fluttering around me, now here and now there, + Rings of gold to my fancy seem'd form'd in the air, + Till now at the brink of the lake I arrive, + Reconnoitre the spot, and prepare for a dive, + Then plunged in the water, and over I swam, + Quickly climb'd the green bank, and so now here I am! + + "But I will not detain you with tales of the north, + Of the riches and beauties that nature brings forth; + I should fail in describing what flowers abound, + Rhododendrons and kalmias empurpling the ground; + How the laurels' gay berries, of deep coral red, + Hang far out from their cones on a bright silver thread; + How white lilies, azalias, enliven the green, + But will speak of the south, which will vary the scene. + + "The Puma, the Llama, and tapir elate, + Tell their tales of the Mexican gardens and state; + That in midst of a lake those bright swimming isles float, + Which are paddled about like a raft or a boat; + Then they boast of the flowers, the pepper, and maize, + And give one accounts of the natives' strange ways: + If a man be annoy'd by his neighbour, they say, + He will take his plantation and row it away. + The trees are luxuriant, the mora, whose size + Fills the wanderer's mind with delight and surprise; + The ebony, green-heart, and letter-wood tree, + The locust and parasite fig you may see; + On the Concourite's branch Ara parrots assemble, + Whose blue and red feathers the rainbow resemble. + There the trumpeter's sounds and the goatsucker's moans + Are mistaken sometimes for the dying man's groans: + And faintly is heard near the Essequibo + The sad 'whip-poor-will,' and the 'willy-come-go.'" + + Here a seal shuffled up, and, just waving his fin, + Requested permission a word to put in. + "Though the beauties of plain and of forest you know, + Yet who can describe all the wonders below? + On a soft bed of sponge in the deep sea I lie, + And watch the huge shark and the grampus glide by; + Or amidst groves of coral I play at bo-peep, + Or I float where the porpoise and flying-fish leap. + I have seen the thin nautilus trimming her sail, + And the Geyser-like waterspout made by the whale; + To this lord of the ocean there clung a whole bevy + Of parasite barnacles waiting his 'levée.' + I have seen the small soldier-crab coated in red, + With the shell of a whelk for a home overhead; + And the limpet, who, cased in a house of his own, + Shuts out all the air, and sticks fast to a stone; + And the fights of the quarrelsome swordfish and shark, + Which have lasted from morning until it was dark. + + "Bright clusters of zoophite flowers I've seen, + Sea anemonies, purple, red, orange, and green, + That with petal-like fingers waylay the small fry + Who gaze on their hues, but gaze only to die; + Like the flower that buries a fly in its cup, + They draw in their feelers, and swallow them up. + One day, after lingering long in that place, + The cuttlefish spurted some ink in my face, + As it enter'd my eyes, for a time I was blind, + From a fish with three hearts this was very unkind. + + "In the course of my travels I often have seen + Th' effects of the dreadful electric machine; + Of the gymnotus eel, with one stroke of his tail + He would make the stout African elephant quail, + Or the heart of the horny rhinoceros quake, + Oh! may he ne'er visit this land or this lake. + The small swimming spider, with silky lined cell, + I have seen her manoeuvre her own diving-bell. + They are endless the wonders of shallow and deep, + But I spare you the list, you are falling asleep." + + The rest of the party amused themselves well, + Seeking insects and fruits in each dingle and dell: + Some stroll'd in the shade, others bask'd in the sun, + Whilst some with the cubs had a good game of fun. + The much injured hedgehog was hunting for plants, + The ant-bears, both greater and lesser, caught ants; + With their long slimy tongues hanging out from the mouth, + Though they thought they preferr'd the great grubs of the south. + Some traced out the store of the wild honey-bee, + Hoarded up in the trunk of an old hollow tree, + Then but sparingly tasted, although it was good, + Being told by their dams it was dangerous food. + The sloths, two and three toed, were hardly awake; + The fox caught his tail, and the Caiman a snake, + Which was wriggling along to a lark's low-built nest, + To tear the soft young from the mother's warm breast. + The sheep and the cow, in apparent dejection, + Were quietly chewing the cud of reflection. + The cavies and ermines were running a race, + Armadillo was off to a grasshopper chace. + The cat was surprised to see animals roam, + And she purr'd when she thought of her kitten at home. + + Report said, a puppy got into a scrape, + By making remarks on the walrus's shape, + On her great staring eyes, and her ugly thick lips, + Her small head, her short neck, and the breadth of her hips; + But he said, "upon honour he meant no offence," + And she, by forgiving him, shew'd her good sense. + The fox (cunning rogue!) too, complain'd of opossum, + For smuggling her young to the feast in her bosom; + For, as he was peeping and prying about, + "He had seen the young scapegraces get in and out." + + The land mouse, the water, and long-tail'd mouse, too, + Tiny field mouse, that turn'd up nose vixen the shrew, + The harvest mouse, fresh from a settler's rick, + Were condemn'd by the great ones as not of their clique; + These reclined round a mole hill, and each dipp'd his paw + In a cocoa-nut bowl fill'd with rice, "en pillau." + And the harvest mouse took most exceeding great pains + To squeak them a stanza in honour of grains. + + +MOUSE'S SONG. + + "An ear of corn, a grain of rice, + Banquet rich for simple mice; + A leaf his bed, a hole his house, + Who could hurt a harmless mouse? + + "Grasshopper, so green and gay, + See him as he bounds away! + Without bridle, spur, or stirrup, + Oh! what music in that chirrup! + + "Mosquito humming merrily, + Glads us all most cheerily; + Admire his transparent wing, + But as you look, avoid his sting. + + CHORUS. + + "Squeak! squeak! beware the owl's beak, + Our hearts, like our voices, are so very weak." + + +THE SUPPER. + + "Hark! hark! to the sound now my comrades rejoice, + 'Tis the bell-bird who calls us, I know well his voice; + Campanero, who graciously offer'd his song + When the feast was prepared, 'tis his ding-a-dong-dong;" + So exclaim'd a poor turnspit, their cook, who'd been toiling + All day very busily roasting or broiling. + At this moment that spoiler of pic-nics, a shower, + Obliged them to rush to the vine-cover'd bower, + Where in it--oh! joy to the hungry! they found + The repast long expected laid out on the ground. + They had raised to the office of "maître d'hotel" + The glutton, (and who could perform it so well?) + Who with excellent taste, and an eye to a share, + Had collected the following luxuries there:-- + The cat-fish, the sturgeon, and hickory shad, + Bass and gar in such plenty it made their hearts glad; + The sun and the moon-fish, the star-fish and dab, + The sting-ray and sheepshead, drum, grooper and crab; + Turkey-buzzards, swans, eagles, form'd excellent hashes, + When flavour'd with tallow-nuts, pompions, and squashes; + Baked frogs, "en surprise," from a forest on fire, + Flamingoes, removed by a huge Lammergeyer; + Gulls, ravens, herons, boobies, bald-coots, water-hens, + And yards of strung ortolans, linnets, and wrens; + Loons, noddies, and nuthatches cook'd in a stew, + Whale blubber "en gras," and guanas "au bleu;" + Jerk'd beef from the south, and large watersnake broth, + And a great dish of pemmican brought from the north; + Green branches of trees from the beaver's damp hut, + Bowls of milk from the cow-tree and hickory-nut; + Then venison "en câche," maize, wild rice, and, to boot, + Guavas, cranberries, mangoes, grapes, shaddock, breadfruit! + + Here they sate and discuss'd the magnificent fare + Which the glutton had superintended with care. + The monkeys in helping were very officious, + The bears suck'd their paws, and pronounced it delicious. + Of the noise-dreading Mr. Raccoon it was said, + That he sopp'd all his food, which was voted ill-bred; + And that, puff'd with conceit, he declared he look'd wise, + A distinction he owed to his spectacled eyes. + 'Twas observed too (you know how the gossips will talk,) + Master guinea-pig stuff'd till he hardly could walk, + Though which dainty was best it was hard to determine: + The meat was too fresh for the epicure ermine; + To which glutton answered, "That all he could say + Was, that it, like himself, was 'bien mortifiée.'" + + All the others declared themselves very well pleased, + Though it must be confess'd they were terribly squeezed + By the poor little cubs, whom their dams would insert + Between the grown quadrupeds' seats at dessert. + + The llamas departed while yet it was light, + As they always objected to travel by night, + And were trotting along, never thinking of harm, + When their friends heard the tree-frog foretelling a storm; + There he sate on a bough, with his keen glassy eye + Most sagaciously blinking and watching the sky, + Then he look'd to the east, and thus hoarsely he spoke, + "There's a terrible storm coming up, croak! croak! croak!" + + The soft cooing ground-dove creeps close to her mate + At this sound of alarm, which all living things hate; + The snake-bird is startled, and drops from her bough + To dive in the stream that runs swiftly below. + Whilst perch'd on a tree the wood-pelican's dreams + Are disturb'd by the crane's and the crying-bird's screams. + The tortoise made off at the mention of rain, + And troops of scared quadrupeds scour the plain! + + The rest quickly rise from their seats in affright, + To see if the warner has told them aright, + As they flatter themselves that it may be mere fancy, + Or put little faith in the toad's necromancy; + They find he speaks truly, the storm is approaching, + Dark clouds o'er the beautiful blue are encroaching, + The tempest lays low the tall grass in the field, + To the furious blasts even forest-trees yield; + All is silent at first, then the loud cracking thunder + Bursts at once o'er their heads, and o'erwhelms them with wonder! + His danger by instinct each quadruped knows, + Now confusion has taken the place of repose: + The bears shake their coats, and roll off with a growl, + Wolves, dogs, wolverenes, scamper off in full howl. + With their quills mounting guard, timid porcupines wait, + Whilst the Jaguar and Couguar crouch low and retreat. + The sloth gently draws himself up on a bough, + The raccoon slyly enters the hollow below. + Mice, hedgehogs, and tortoises creep to their holes, + And their fortified refuge is sought by the moles. + Seals and otters plunge silently into the lake, + Mrs. Beaver, too, dives with her young in her wake. + The tapir returns to his home in the fens, + The marmots are off to their underground dens, + And the wishtonwish marmot, the kind prairie dog, + Makes room in his hole for the tortoise and frog. + The hamster runs home, with the pouch in his cheek + Stuff'd with various provisions enough for a week; + Then stores in his dark lonely cell the rich pelf, + For, ill bred and greedy, he cares but for self. + No children, no wife, no companion had he, + With his very best friend he could never agree, + But lived by himself without pleasure or mirth, + In a hermit-like vault, five feet deep in the earth; + But the sentinel marmot's shrill whistle of fear + Echoes loud o'er the plain, and is heard far and near + By his joyous allies, for whose safety he cared, + And whose dangers, mirth, sorrows, and dwelling he shared. + And Mrs. Opossum, good dame, holds her breath, + Safely pockets her young, and as usual, feigns death; + Till the storm has blown over they lie in their sack, + Whilst the seal scrambles home with her cub pic-a-back. + Sir Hans Armadillo, coil'd up in a ball, + From the edge of a precipice lets himself fall; + Being arm'd "cap-à-pie," he rolls safely away, + And lives, without doubt, in his hole to this day. + The rein-deer most kindly was offer'd to share + In her cold wintry drive by the white polar bear; + And she proffers a seat in her sledge, for she knows + 'Tis a long weary way to her region of snows; + Besides, she is eager to join the dear child + She had left on an ice-floe alone to run wild. + Savage wolf, being greedy, fell into a trap, + Mr. Glutton was kill'd e'en whilst taking a nap; + And the badger, poor fellow! for shelter must roam, + For he finds the red fox has got into his home. + On an island of ice floats the walrus away, + With her cub in her fins, who upbraided her stay, + The joys of the feast deeply sank in her heart, + Like the rest of the guests she was loth to depart. + + And now, the repast being greatly diminish'd, + By ravens and vultures is speedily finish'd. + The tempest has ceased, the wilds beasts are at rest, + And each tiny quadruped lies in his nest. + Once more o'er the landscape the long shadows creep, + The repose and the darkness soon lull them to sleep, + For nothing is heard in the once noisy land, + Save the whip-poor-will telling that night is at hand. + + +MORAL. + + In life, as in prairies, there's danger abroad, + While love and kind hearts the best pleasures afford; + Though what we are seeking the pleasantest seems, + Disappointments and storms oft assail our best schemes. + + Howe'er we may plan them, wherever we roam, + Our comforts and joys we at last find at home; + There we live on in quiet with those we love best, + And the voice of affection there lulls us to rest! + + +C. WHITTINGHAM, TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Quadrupeds' Pic-Nic, by F. B. C. + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE QUADRUPEDS' PIC-NIC *** + +***** This file should be named 25681-8.txt or 25681-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/6/8/25681/ + +Produced by David Wilson and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/25681-8.zip b/25681-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9bf1be1 --- /dev/null +++ b/25681-8.zip diff --git a/25681-h.zip b/25681-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..043c0bc --- /dev/null +++ b/25681-h.zip diff --git a/25681-h/25681-h.htm b/25681-h/25681-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..533632c --- /dev/null +++ b/25681-h/25681-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1308 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Quadrupeds' Pic-Nic, by F. B. C.</title> +<style type="text/css"> + /* slight differences for print and screen */ + @media print { + span.pgmark {border: 0 !important; + display: none; visibility: hidden; } + hr.pg {display: none; visibility: hidden; } + } + @media screen { + span.pgmark {border-top: thin solid silver; + border-bottom: thin solid silver; + display: inline; } + } + + + body {margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + font-size: large; + text-align: left; } + + div.main {margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + max-width: 30em; + page-break-after: always; } + div.mouse {margin-left: 12%; + margin-right: 12%; } + h1 {font-weight: normal; + text-indent: 0; + text-align: center; + letter-spacing: 0.2em; + line-height: 1.7; } + h1 small {font-size: 60%; } + h2 {font-weight: normal; + font-size: 130%; + padding-top: 4em; + padding-bottom: 1em; + text-indent: 0; + text-align: center; + word-spacing: 0.15em; } + h4 {font-weight: normal; + font-size: 80%; + padding-top: 1em; + padding-bottom: 0; + text-indent: 0; + text-align: center; } + p {text-indent: 0; + text-align: justify; + margin-top: 0; + margin-bottom: 0; } + p.publisher {text-align: center; + padding-top: 4em; + line-height: 1.4; + page-break-after: always; + letter-spacing: 0.2em; } + p.publisher small {letter-spacing: 0; } + p.printer {text-align: center; + font-size: 80%; + padding-top: 6em; + page-break-after: always; } + p.printer2 {text-align: center; + font-size: 50%; + margin-top: 8em; + padding-top: 0.3em; + border-top: 1px solid black; + padding-bottom: 6em; + word-spacing: 0.2em; + letter-spacing: 0.1em; } + p.rt {text-align: right; + padding: 0 2em 1em 0; + white-space: nowrap; } + .drop {font-size: 275%; + float: left; + line-height: 90%; + padding-right: 2px;} + + div.poem {text-align: left; + margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%; } + div.poem .stanza {margin-top: .75em; /* vertical break between stanzas */ + } + .stanza div { /* default line */ + line-height: 1.3em; + margin-top: 0em; + margin-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; } + .indent {margin-left: 4.5em !important; } + .indent2 {margin-left: 6em !important; } + .indent0 {margin-left: 0 !important; + text-indent: 0 ! important; } + .bigmo big {font-size: 400%; line-height: 1.3; + position: absolute; left: 1em; top: -0.6em;} + .bigmo {position: relative; margin-left: 0; text-indent: 0;} + .triple {white-space: nowrap ! important; } + + hr {background-color: black; color: inherit; padding: 0; + margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;} + hr.pg {width: 100%; + height: 5px; + margin-top: 15px; + margin-bottom: 15px; } + + img {margin: 1em auto 3em auto; } + + span.pgmark {font-size: x-small; + font-family: serif; + font-variant: normal; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + line-height: 1.2; + text-indent: 0; text-align: left; + margin: 0; padding: .05em 0.5em !important; + position: absolute; left: 1%; } + /* for trivial notes */ + ins.TNsilent {text-decoration: none; + border-bottom: 0; } + + .ns {display: none; visibility: hidden; } + .smc {font-variant: small-caps; } + .pgbrk {page-break-after: always; } + .newpg {page-break-before: always; } + +</style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Quadrupeds' Pic-Nic, by F. B. C. + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Quadrupeds' Pic-Nic + +Author: F. B. C. + +Release Date: June 2, 2008 [EBook #25681] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE QUADRUPEDS' PIC-NIC *** + + + + +Produced by David Wilson and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + +<hr class="pg" /> + + +<h1 class="newpg"><a name="png.001" id="png.001"></a><span class="ns">[p</span><span + class="pgmark">1</span><span class="ns">]<br + /></span><small>THE</small><br + />QUADRUPEDS’ PIC-NIC</h1> + +<p class="publisher"><img src="images/illus-001-s.jpg" width="101" height="154" + alt="Publisher's device" title="Publisher's device" /><br + /><big>LONDON</big><br + />WILLIAM PICKERING<br + /><small>1840</small></p> + + +<p class="printer"><a name="png.002" id="png.002"></a><span class="ns">[p</span><span + class="pgmark">2</span><span class="ns">]<br + /></span>C. Whittingham, Tooks Court,<br + />Chancery Lane.</p> + + + + +<div class="main"> +<h2><a name="png.003" id="png.003"></a><span class="ns">[p</span><span + class="pgmark">3</span><span class="ns">]<br + /></span>ADVERTISEMENT</h2> + + +<p><span class="smc">The</span> “Quadrupeds’ Pic-Nic” is a very humble imitation +of Mrs. Dorset’s “Peacock at Home.” Even +in my imitation I find I am not original. The Quadrupeds, +it appears, have already had an “Elephants’ +Ball,” and a “Lions’ Masquerade.”</p> + +<p class="rt pgbrk">F. B. C.</p> + + + + +<h2><a name="png.005" id="png.005"></a><span class="ns">[p</span><span + class="pgmark">5</span><span class="ns">]<br + /></span>THE QUADRUPEDS’ PIC-NIC.</h2> + + +<div class="poem pgbrk"> +<div class="stanza"> +<div class="indent0"><span class="drop">N</span>O doubt you have heard how the grasshoppers’ feasts</div> +<div class="indent0">“Excited the spleen of the birds and the beasts;”</div> +<div>How the peacock and turkey “flew into a passion,”</div> +<div>On finding that insects “pretended to fashion.”</div> +<div>Now, I often have thought it exceedingly hard,</div> +<div>That nought should be said of the beasts by the bard;</div> +<div>Who, by some strange neglect, has omitted to state</div> +<div>That the quadrupeds gave a magnificent fête;</div> +<div>So, out of sheer justice I take up my pen,</div> +<div>To tell you the how, and the where, and the when.</div> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<div class="indent">The place which they chose was a wild chestnut ground,</div> +<div>(And many such spots in the new world are found,)</div> +<div><a name="png.006" id="png.006"></a><span class="ns">[p</span><span + class="pgmark">6</span><span class="ns">]<br + /></span>Where the evergreen oak and the cucumber trees</div> +<div>Rear aloft their tall branches, and wave in the breeze;</div> +<div>Where the hickory, cypress, and cabbage-tree grow,</div> +<div>And shade the sweet flowers that blossom below;</div> +<div>And the creepers and vines form a beautiful sight,</div> +<div>As they climb the tall shaft, and hang down from a height;</div> +<div>Or they mix with the long pendant moss which is found</div> +<div>Growing high on the branches, yet touching the ground:</div> +<div>From amidst the dark foliage the mocking-birds sing,</div> +<div>Or mimic the hum of the honey-bees’ wing,</div> +<div>As they whirl round a flower enjoying the feast,</div> +<div>So unsparingly spread for bird, insect, or beast.</div> +<div>From afar the bald eagle is seen in the sky,</div> +<div>Now darting below, and now soaring on high;</div> +<div>Now he takes from the fish-hawk his newly caught prey,</div> +<div>And with speed to the forest he bears it away;</div> +<div>Whilst the wood is alive with a feathery throng,</div> +<div>Who from morning till night fill the air with their song.</div> +<div>On one side is the lake where the wild cattle drink,</div> +<div>And trample the rice which grows wild on its brink;</div> +<div>The freshness untouch’d of earth’s beauties declare,</div> +<div>Neither pride, pomp, nor envy, have ever been there;</div> +<div><a name="png.007" id="png.007"></a><span class="ns">[p</span><span + class="pgmark">7</span><span class="ns">]<br + /></span>Here Nature resides—nothing human is seen;</div> +<div>Foot of man hath not pass’d o’er that prairie I ween,</div> +<div>Unless some few wandering Indians have pass’d—</div> +<div>Of their sorrowing tribe perhaps nearly the last.</div> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<div class="indent">I should fail to describe in a picturesque manner</div> +<div>The splendid repose of that grassy Savanna;</div> +<div class="triple">Tall shadows swept out from the forest of pine,<span + class="ns"> }</span></div> +<div class="triple">The site was a fair one, the weather so fine,<span + class="ns"> </span><span + class="bigmo"> <big>}</big></span></div> +<div class="triple">That even a quadruped thought it divine.<span + class="ns"> }</span></div> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<div class="indent">To this wild grassy spot, on the long look’d for day,</div> +<div>Merry parties of beasts made the best of their way;</div> +<div>There were bears, long and short-legg’d, black, brown, grey, and white,</div> +<div>From different parts, to enjoy the fine sight.</div> +<div>The polar bear came in a sledge, and she said</div> +<div>That the journey had caused a sharp pain in her head:</div> +<div>For, although well protected from snout to her tail,</div> +<div>She thought she had got a slight “coup-de-soleil;”</div> +<div>So she hastily called for a gallon of ice,</div> +<div>Which a monkey in waiting served up in a trice.</div> +<div><a name="png.008" id="png.008"></a><span class="ns">[p</span><span + class="pgmark">8</span><span class="ns">]<br + /></span>Then the jaguar, the couguar, and fierce Ocelot,</div> +<div>And Sir Hans Armadillo, who came at full trot,</div> +<div>Brother Jonathan Beaver, escaped from the trappers,</div> +<div>Sloth, Tortoise, and Dormouse, notorious nappers.</div> +<div>That beau, the musk-Ox, with his long scented hair,</div> +<div>And John Bull just arrived on his travels, were there;</div> +<div>Messrs. Martin, Hare, Squirrel, the Ermine, and Stoat,</div> +<div>And the rock-mountain sheep, with his cousin, the goat;</div> +<div>Then the sociable marmot, and tiny shrew mouse,</div> +<div>The raccoon and agouti from hollow-tree house.</div> +<div>Chinchilla the soft, musk and Canada rats,</div> +<div>Hounds, mastiffs, wolves, foxes, and wild tiger cats;</div> +<div>Jerboa just roused from his long winter nap,</div> +<div>Opossum, with four little babes in her lap.</div> +<div>The morse, seal, and otter—amphibious group!</div> +<div>And of bisons (the humpbacked) there came a whole troop.</div> +<div>It seems that the elk out of pride staid away,</div> +<div>Having just shed his horns, which he does about May.</div> +<div>The fallow and red-deer were gone to a lick,</div> +<div>With a numerous party, who thought themselves sick;</div> +<div>But the antelope, stag, and the Wapiti deer,</div> +<div>Notwithstanding the age of the latter, were there.</div> +<div><a name="png.009" id="png.009"></a><span class="ns">[p</span><span + class="pgmark">9</span><span class="ns">]<br + /></span>The Esquimaux dogs, red, white, brindled, and black,</div> +<div>Who, for fear of the wolves, had arrived in a pack,</div> +<div>Were not heard to speak in the course of the day,</div> +<div>And were thought by the rest “to have nothing to say.”</div> +<div>But if they were silent, ’twas clear they could growl,</div> +<div>And on meeting the wolf, gave a wild dismal howl;</div> +<div>For although ’twas supposed they were slightly connected,</div> +<div>In quarrels and fights they’d been often detected;</div> +<div>Though ’tis true, all dislikes for this day were forbidden,</div> +<div>Yet mutual antipathies could not be hidden.</div> +<div>Noble horses of Spanish extraction there came,</div> +<div>The chief of whose party was terribly lame;</div> +<div>For it seems that in one of his frolicsome scampers,</div> +<div>Beneath a hot sun in the wide spreading Pampas,</div> +<div>By the rich purple fruit of the Cactus allured,</div> +<div>And feeling a thirst that could not be endured,</div> +<div>He approach’d it to eat, but his nose was not proof</div> +<div>Against the sharp thorns, so he struck with his hoof,</div> +<div>When they pierced his bare foot, and so now he limp’d in</div> +<div>With his fetlock bound up in a garter-snake’s skin:</div> +<div>The vampire-bat, surgeon, now offered to bleed it,</div> +<div>In case as he thought his poor patient would need it;</div> +<div><a name="png.010" id="png.010"></a><span class="ns">[p</span><span + class="pgmark">10</span><span class="ns">]<br + /></span>And added, at least it could do him no harm</div> +<div>To try his specific, the juice of the palm.</div> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<div class="indent">From the South came the puma, American lion,</div> +<div>Of the old house of Leo degenerate scion.</div> +<div>The tapir, and also that excellent diver,</div> +<div>Alligator, or Cayman, from Amazon river;</div> +<div>And with him the Llama, whose sad trick of spitting</div> +<div>Was thought by the company very unfitting.</div> +<div>But, to shorten my tale, all the New World were there,</div> +<div>From the tiny shrew mouse to the fierce grisly bear;</div> +<div>Though it seems that the peccary was not invited,</div> +<div>For he as a nuisance had just been indicted.</div> +<div>From the Old World, the lion and tiger with glee</div> +<div>Would have join’d them, but dreaded the journey by sea.</div> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<div class="indent">Beneath some fine trees, on the beautiful green,</div> +<div>A knot of philosophers was to be seen</div> +<div>Looking gravely about, and conversing together;</div> +<div>Some on learning and science, and some on the weather.</div> +<div>Dr. Mole on geology talk’d in high strain,</div> +<div>And declared his researches had not been in vain,</div> +<div><a name="png.011" id="png.011"></a><span class="ns">[p</span><span + class="pgmark">11</span><span class="ns">]<br + /></span>And that many geologists would have been glad</div> +<div>To have found opportunities such as he had;</div> +<div>For whilst searching for food in his underground travel,</div> +<div>Midst fossils, roots, shells, hid in chalk, sand, or gravel,</div> +<div>He the monstrous remains of great mammoths had seen,</div> +<div>Who no longer existed, but who once had been;</div> +<div>“The theories about them are various,” said he,</div> +<div>“As to how they came there, and what they may be;</div> +<div>But not one of these I incline to receive,</div> +<div>For that they were elephants, who can believe?</div> +<div>There was one Mr. Cuvier, who talk’d of the sloth,</div> +<div>But to listen to nonsense like this I am loth;</div> +<div>From the strength of their limbs, and the make of their paws,</div> +<div>From the shape of their bodies, and length of their claws,</div> +<div>I am firmly convinced they’re related to me,</div> +<div>And to this all philosophers ought to agree;</div> +<div>For how could such creatures have got into holes,</div> +<div>Unless, (’tis my theory,) they had been moles?”</div> +<div>He ceased, then just turn’d his diminutive eyes,</div> +<div>First round to the company, then to the skies,</div> +<div>And receiving applause from all who sate round,</div> +<div>He threw up his hill, and escaped underground.</div> +<div><a name="png.012" id="png.012"></a><span class="ns">[p</span><span + class="pgmark">12</span><span class="ns">]<br + /></span>Signor Greyhound, a foreigner, talk’d of the swamps,</div> +<div>Of the ague and fever, both caused by the damps;</div> +<div>Then quickly proceeded the climate to quiz,</div> +<div>And exclaim’d, “In Italia we’ve nothing of this!”</div> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<div class="indent">Mr. Hog said that he had sent over his daughter</div> +<div>To England, to have all the sciences taught her;</div> +<div>And learned she was, all the world must allow,</div> +<div>For the Savants pronounced her a wonderful sow.</div> +<div>She was heard to grunt forth an unwilling apology,</div> +<div>For daring to boast of her skill in Nosology,</div> +<div>And presuming to hint what a dab she’d been found,</div> +<div>At <em>extracting the root</em>, whether <em>square root</em>, or round.</div> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<div class="indent">Some beavers complain’d of that biped call’d man,</div> +<div>Who does to their race all the harm that he can,</div> +<div>Some of whom, not long since, came to kidnap and pillage</div> +<div>The whole of their neighbouring water-bound village,</div> +<div>And they guess’d the snake-Indians caught many a score,</div> +<div>To stew down the tails for their great Sagamore.</div> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<div class="indent">The hedgehog, who always lies snug in his nest,</div> +<div>Till his fourfooted neighbours betake them to rest,</div> +<div><a name="png.013" id="png.013"></a><span class="ns">[p</span><span + class="pgmark">13</span><span class="ns">]<br + /></span>Now changed his old custom for once in a way,</div> +<div>Unroll’d his warm nose, and came forth in the day.</div> +<div>He sought for the cow, and implored the good dame</div> +<div>Would find out some means to restore his fair fame,</div> +<div>For there still was prevailing a cruel belief</div> +<div>That oft in the night he came forth as a thief;</div> +<div>So he lived in continual danger and strife,</div> +<div>Though he never had tasted her milk in his life.</div> +<div>On the faith of a hedgehog he dared to affirm,</div> +<div>That he seldom found courage to injure a worm.</div> +<div>Mrs. Cow was astonish’d; she never had heard</div> +<div>A report more untrue, a belief so absurd.</div> +<div>She urged that his mouth was too little by half</div> +<div>To steal the sweet milk that she meant for Miss Calf;</div> +<div>And concluded by saying, “’Tis surely enough</div> +<div>To mention (excuse me) your coat is so rough,</div> +<div>If even supposing that you should not fear me,</div> +<div>I never could suffer your skin to come near me.”</div> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<div class="indent">An old porcupine, too, just begg’d leave to observe,</div> +<div>That reports had been spread which he did not deserve;</div> +<div><a name="png.014" id="png.014"></a><span class="ns">[p</span><span + class="pgmark">14</span><span class="ns">]<br + /></span>To say he was “fretful,” was using him ill,</div> +<div>He would prove the reverse to his very last quill;</div> +<div>Though he now bristled up at the simple idea,</div> +<div>This was often, with him, but a symptom of fear.</div> +<div>As he spoke, a poor toad, who had sate quite aloof</div> +<div>In a hovel of earth, with a stone for a roof,</div> +<div>Now slowly, on tiptoe, crept out of his hole,</div> +<div>And into the midst of the company stole;</div> +<div>The quadrupeds gazed as the reptile drew nigh,</div> +<div>Half afraid of his looks, though they could not tell why.</div> +<div>Mouse’s hair stood on end, and, still stranger to say,</div> +<div>Miss Chameleon <em>changed colour</em>, and fainted away.</div> +<div>Poor bufo confess’d, as he sate in the dark,</div> +<div>He had listen’d to porcupine’s brilliant remark,</div> +<div>And had thought it was due to himself and posterity,</div> +<div>T’ expose a new case of the poets’ temerity.</div> +<div>The poets, who kindly, but falsely, had said,</div> +<div>That he carried a beautiful gem in his head;</div> +<div>A jewel he thought would be quite out of place,</div> +<div>With his rustic brown coat, and his sallow green face,</div> +<div>And he knew not how people could think it was true,</div> +<div>Unless they had seen him when spangled with dew.</div> +<div><a name="png.015" id="png.015"></a><span class="ns">[p</span><span + class="pgmark">15</span><span class="ns">]<br + /></span>His Surinam friend could they possibly mean,</div> +<div>Who carried her little ones set in her skin.</div> +<div>Those alone were the jewels his friend ever wore,</div> +<div>Like Cornelia’s, the good Roman matron of yore.</div> +<div>Having stated the case with regard to attire,</div> +<div>He said, with some warmth, that he did not spit fire:</div> +<div>And he ask’d why the wise ones omitted to hint</div> +<div>Where he carried his tinder, his steel, and his flint:</div> +<div>That his time was more usefully spent, he might say,</div> +<div>In chasing the vagrants and spectres away.</div> +<div>Every member of reptile society knew</div> +<div>That of insects and grubs he destroy’d not a few:</div> +<div>His wife had just miss’d a huge pioneer spider,</div> +<div>Who fled to his home, and then rudely defied her,</div> +<div>And e’en bang’d his door in her face to deride her.</div> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<div><ins class="TNsilent" title="Transcriber's note: + this stanza not indented in original">The</ins> marmot was “tchatting” away without end,</div> +<div>With a burrowing owl, his old neighbour and friend,</div> +<div>Who, being a bird in whom marmot confided,</div> +<div>Had hired his cottage, in which he resided.</div> +<div>The landlord just hinted, that when he lived there,</div> +<div>He had kept the old hovel in charming repair;</div> +<div><a name="png.016" id="png.016"></a><span class="ns">[p</span><span + class="pgmark">16</span><span class="ns">]<br + /></span>The walls neatly mended, the parlour swept clean,</div> +<div>And never a cobweb nor grain to be seen;</div> +<div>But that now this once pleasant and rural retreat,</div> +<div>By his tenant, the owl, was no longer kept neat;</div> +<div>That the little round chamber, and long slanting hall,</div> +<div>For the want of attention, were likely to fall;</div> +<div>Such a mess and confusion he could but deplore,</div> +<div>And he thought, at the least, she might plaster the floor,</div> +<div>Just turn out of doors all the shells of her eggs,</div> +<div>And those heaps of dried beetles’ and butterflies’ legs.</div> +<div>The poor owl, who spoke well in the prairie-dog tongue,</div> +<div>Now found an excuse, in the care of her young;</div> +<div>Alleged the hard times; that is, beetles were few,</div> +<div>So to find them in food she had plenty to do.</div> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<div><ins class="TNsilent" title="Transcriber's note: + this stanza not indented in original">The</ins> raccoon stood apart in a beautiful glade,</div> +<div>Much disturb’d by the noise that the company made,</div> +<div>And there with a friend he stay’d fretting and pining,</div> +<div>To hear such a bellowing, howling, and whining.</div> +<div>“Oh! those red-monkeys’ shrieks,” his old friend would begin,</div> +<div>“Niagara surely don’t make such a din;</div> +<div><a name="png.017" id="png.017"></a><span class="ns">[p</span><span + class="pgmark">17</span><span class="ns">]<br + /></span>Let us get in this tree, ’tis the squirrel’s old barn,</div> +<div>And (as Captain Seal says) I’ll there spin a yarn.</div> +<div>I awoke very early to come to this feast,</div> +<div>Ere the sun warm’d the top of that hill in the east,</div> +<div>And forth from my lodging proceeded to creep,</div> +<div>For the wild turkey’s ‘gobble’ had broken my sleep.</div> +<div>Then I climb’d some tall maize plants, and ate up the ears,</div> +<div>And enjoy’d the repast, notwithstanding my fears;</div> +<div>For great is my awe of the red Indian’s gun,</div> +<div>And I thought I had caught a slight glimpse of one.</div> +<div>I saw, too, a rattlesnake creeping hard by,</div> +<div>And heard his tail clatter, and mark’d his red eye.</div> +<div>He coil’d himself up, for he spied me right soon,</div> +<div>And was wishing, no doubt, for a bit of raccoon;</div> +<div>Then, thinking the risk of a rifle in truth,</div> +<div>Was better by far than his poisonous tooth,</div> +<div>I hasten’d away from the much dreaded place,</div> +<div>That I might not be coil’d in his slimy embrace.</div> +<div>I rambled along to our nook in the beach,</div> +<div>And swallow’d the oysters that lay within reach.</div> +<div>Then traversed in haste the Savanna so wide,</div> +<div>Till I found the tall pine where you usually hide.</div> +<div><a name="png.018" id="png.018"></a><span class="ns">[p</span><span + class="pgmark">18</span><span class="ns">]<br + /></span>Then I scamper’d away o’er the Indigo fields,</div> +<div>Soon pass’d the old maple, (what sugar it yields!)</div> +<div>I travell’d along to the cabbage-palm quay,</div> +<div>Turn’d short by the far-spreading tall tulip tree.</div> +<div>Through forest and plain, and through dark dismal swamp,</div> +<div>And lighted alone by the firefly’s lamp,</div> +<div>Which, fluttering around me, now here and now there,</div> +<div>Rings of gold to my fancy seem’d form’d in the air,</div> +<div>Till now at the brink of the lake I arrive,</div> +<div>Reconnoitre the spot, and prepare for a dive,</div> +<div>Then plunged in the water, and over I swam,</div> +<div>Quickly climb’d the green bank, and so now here I am!</div> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<div class="indent">“But I will not detain you with tales of the north,</div> +<div>Of the riches and beauties that nature brings forth;</div> +<div>I should fail in describing what flowers abound,</div> +<div>Rhododendrons and kalmias empurpling the ground;</div> +<div>How the laurels’ gay berries, of deep coral red,</div> +<div>Hang far out from their cones on a bright silver thread;</div> +<div>How white lilies, azalias, enliven the green,</div> +<div>But will speak of the south, which will vary the scene.</div> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<div class="indent"><a name="png.019" id="png.019"></a><span class="ns">[p</span><span + class="pgmark">19</span><span class="ns">]<br + /></span>“The Puma, the Llama, and tapir elate,</div> +<div>Tell their tales of the Mexican gardens and state;</div> +<div>That in midst of a lake those bright swimming isles float,</div> +<div>Which are paddled about like a raft or a boat;</div> +<div>Then they boast of the flowers, the pepper, and maize,</div> +<div>And give one accounts of the natives’ strange ways:</div> +<div>If a man be annoy’d by his neighbour, they say,</div> +<div>He will take his plantation and row it away.</div> +<div>The trees are luxuriant, the mora, whose size</div> +<div>Fills the wanderer’s mind with delight and surprise;</div> +<div>The ebony, green-heart, and letter-wood tree,</div> +<div>The locust and parasite fig you may see;</div> +<div>On the Concourite’s branch Ara parrots assemble,</div> +<div>Whose blue and red feathers the rainbow resemble.</div> +<div>There the trumpeter’s sounds and the goatsucker’s moans</div> +<div>Are mistaken sometimes for the dying man’s groans:</div> +<div>And faintly is heard near the Essequibo</div> +<div>The sad ‘whip-poor-will,’ and the ‘willy-come-go.’”</div> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<div class="indent">Here a seal shuffled up, and, just waving his fin,</div> +<div>Requested permission a word to put in.</div> +<div><a name="png.020" id="png.020"></a><span class="ns">[p</span><span + class="pgmark">20</span><span class="ns">]<br + /></span>“Though the beauties of plain and of forest you know,</div> +<div>Yet who can describe all the wonders below?</div> +<div>On a soft bed of sponge in the deep sea I lie,</div> +<div>And watch the huge shark and the grampus glide by;</div> +<div>Or amidst groves of coral I play at bo-peep,</div> +<div>Or I float where the porpoise and flying-fish leap.</div> +<div>I have seen the thin nautilus trimming her sail,</div> +<div>And the Geyser-like waterspout made by the whale;</div> +<div>To this lord of the ocean there clung a whole bevy</div> +<div>Of parasite barnacles waiting his ‘levée.’</div> +<div>I have seen the small soldier-crab coated in red,</div> +<div>With the shell of a whelk for a home overhead;</div> +<div>And the limpet, who, cased in a house of his own,</div> +<div>Shuts out all the air, and sticks fast to a stone;</div> +<div>And the fights of the quarrelsome swordfish and shark,</div> +<div>Which have lasted from morning until it was dark.</div> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<div class="indent">“Bright clusters of zoophite flowers I’ve seen,</div> +<div>Sea anemonies, purple, red, orange, and green,</div> +<div>That with petal-like fingers waylay the small fry</div> +<div>Who gaze on their hues, but gaze only to die;</div> +<div><a name="png.021" id="png.021"></a><span class="ns">[p</span><span + class="pgmark">21</span><span class="ns">]<br + /></span>Like the flower that buries a fly in its cup,</div> +<div>They draw in their feelers, and swallow them up.</div> +<div>One day, after lingering long in that place,</div> +<div>The cuttlefish spurted some ink in my face,</div> +<div>As it enter’d my eyes, for a time I was blind,</div> +<div>From a fish with three hearts this was very unkind.</div> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<div class="indent">“In the course of my travels I often have seen</div> +<div>Th’ effects of the dreadful electric machine;</div> +<div>Of the gymnotus eel, with one stroke of his tail</div> +<div>He would make the stout African elephant quail,</div> +<div>Or the heart of the horny rhinoceros quake,</div> +<div>Oh! may he ne’er visit this land or this lake.</div> +<div>The small swimming spider, with silky lined cell,</div> +<div>I have seen her manœuvre her own diving-bell.</div> +<div>They are endless the wonders of shallow and deep,</div> +<div>But I spare you the list, you are falling asleep.”</div> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<div class="indent">The rest of the party amused themselves well,</div> +<div>Seeking insects and fruits in each dingle and dell:</div> +<div>Some stroll’d in the shade, others bask’d in the sun,</div> +<div>Whilst some with the cubs had a good game of fun.</div> +<div><a name="png.022" id="png.022"></a><span class="ns">[p</span><span + class="pgmark">22</span><span class="ns">]<br + /></span>The much injured hedgehog was hunting for plants,</div> +<div>The ant-bears, both greater and lesser, caught ants;</div> +<div>With their long slimy tongues hanging out from the mouth,</div> +<div>Though they thought they preferr’d the great grubs of the south.</div> +<div>Some traced out the store of the wild honey-bee,</div> +<div>Hoarded up in the trunk of an old hollow tree,</div> +<div>Then but sparingly tasted, although it was good,</div> +<div>Being told by their dams it was dangerous food.</div> +<div>The sloths, two and three toed, were hardly awake;</div> +<div>The fox caught his tail, and the Caiman a snake,</div> +<div>Which was wriggling along to a lark’s low-built nest,</div> +<div>To tear the soft young from the mother’s warm breast.</div> +<div>The sheep and the cow, in apparent dejection,</div> +<div>Were quietly chewing the cud of reflection.</div> +<div>The cavies and ermines were running a race,</div> +<div>Armadillo was off to a grasshopper chace.</div> +<div>The cat was surprised to see animals roam,</div> +<div>And she purr’d when she thought of her kitten at home.</div> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<div class="indent">Report said, a puppy got into a scrape,</div> +<div>By making remarks on the walrus’s shape,</div> +<div><a name="png.023" id="png.023"></a><span class="ns">[p</span><span + class="pgmark">23</span><span class="ns">]<br + /></span>On her great staring eyes, and her ugly thick lips,</div> +<div>Her small head, her short neck, and the breadth of her hips;</div> +<div>But he said, “upon honour he meant no offence,”</div> +<div>And she, by forgiving him, shew’d her good sense.</div> +<div>The fox (cunning rogue!) too, complain’d of opossum,</div> +<div>For smuggling her young to the feast in her bosom;</div> +<div>For, as he was peeping and prying about,</div> +<div>“He had seen the young scapegraces get in and out.”</div> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<div class="indent">The land mouse, the water, and long-tail’d mouse, too,</div> +<div>Tiny field mouse, that turn’d up nose vixen the shrew,</div> +<div>The harvest mouse, fresh from a settler’s rick,</div> +<div>Were condemn’d by the great ones as not of their <i>clique</i>;</div> +<div>These reclined round a mole hill, and each dipp’d his paw</div> +<div>In a cocoa-nut bowl fill’d with rice, “en pillau.”</div> +<div>And the harvest mouse took most exceeding great pains</div> +<div>To squeak them a stanza in honour of grains.</div> +</div> +</div> + + + + +<div class="mouse"> +<h2><a name="png.024" id="png.024"></a><span class="ns">[p</span><span + class="pgmark">24</span><span class="ns">]<br + /></span>MOUSE’S SONG.</h2> + + +<div class="poem pgbrk"> +<div class="stanza"> +<div class="indent">“<span class="smc">An</span> ear of corn, a grain of rice,</div> +<div class="indent2">Banquet rich for simple mice;</div> +<div class="indent">A leaf his bed, a hole his house,</div> +<div class="indent2">Who could hurt a harmless mouse?</div> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<div class="indent">“Grasshopper, so green and gay,</div> +<div class="indent2">See him as he bounds away!</div> +<div class="indent">Without bridle, spur, or stirrup,</div> +<div class="indent2">Oh! what music in that chirrup!</div> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<div class="indent">“Mosquito humming merrily,</div> +<div class="indent2">Glads us all most cheerily;</div> +<div class="indent">Admire his transparent wing,</div> +<div class="indent2">But as you look, avoid his sting.</div> +</div> + +<h4>CHORUS.</h4> + +<div class="stanza"> +<div>“Squeak! squeak! beware the owl’s beak,</div> +<div>Our hearts, like our voices, are so very weak.”</div> +</div> +</div> +</div> + + +<h2><a name="png.025" id="png.025"></a><span class="ns">[p</span><span + class="pgmark">25</span><span class="ns">]<br + /></span>THE SUPPER.</h2> + + +<div class="poem pgbrk"> +<div class="stanza"> +<div>“<span class="smc"><ins class="TNsilent" title="Transcriber's note: + this stanza not indented in original">Hark</ins></span>! hark! to the sound now my comrades rejoice,</div> +<div>’Tis the bell-bird who calls us, I know well his voice;</div> +<div>Campanero, who graciously offer’d his song</div> +<div>When the feast was prepared, ’tis his ding-a-dong-dong;”</div> +<div>So exclaim’d a poor turnspit, their cook, who’d been toiling</div> +<div>All day very busily roasting or broiling.</div> +<div>At this moment that spoiler of pic-nics, a shower,</div> +<div>Obliged them to rush to the vine-cover’d bower,</div> +<div>Where in it—oh! joy to the hungry! they found</div> +<div>The repast long expected laid out on the ground.</div> +<div>They had raised to the office of “maître d’hotel”</div> +<div>The glutton, (and who could perform it so well?)</div> +<div>Who with excellent taste, and an eye to a share,</div> +<div>Had collected the following luxuries there:—</div> +<div><a name="png.026" id="png.026"></a><span class="ns">[p</span><span + class="pgmark">26</span><span class="ns">]<br + /></span>The cat-fish, the sturgeon, and hickory shad,</div> +<div>Bass and gar in such plenty it made their hearts glad;</div> +<div>The sun and the moon-fish, the star-fish and dab,</div> +<div>The sting-ray and sheepshead, drum, grooper and crab;</div> +<div>Turkey-buzzards, swans, eagles, form’d excellent hashes,</div> +<div>When flavour’d with tallow-nuts, pompions, and squashes;</div> +<div>Baked frogs, “en surprise,” from a forest on fire,</div> +<div>Flamingoes, removed by a huge Lammergeyer;</div> +<div>Gulls, ravens, herons, boobies, bald-coots, water-hens,</div> +<div>And yards of strung ortolans, linnets, and wrens;</div> +<div>Loons, noddies, and nuthatches cook’d in a stew,</div> +<div>Whale blubber “en gras,” and guanas “au bleu;”</div> +<div>Jerk’d beef from the south, and large watersnake broth,</div> +<div>And a great dish of pemmican brought from the north;</div> +<div>Green branches of trees from the beaver’s damp hut,</div> +<div>Bowls of milk from the cow-tree and hickory-nut;</div> +<div>Then venison “en câche,” maize, wild rice, and, to boot,</div> +<div>Guavas, cranberries, mangoes, grapes, shaddock, breadfruit!</div> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<div><ins class="TNsilent" title="Transcriber's note: + this stanza not indented in original">Here</ins> they sate and discuss’d the magnificent fare</div> +<div>Which the glutton had superintended with care.</div> +<div><a name="png.027" id="png.027"></a><span class="ns">[p</span><span + class="pgmark">27</span><span class="ns">]<br + /></span>The monkeys in helping were very officious,</div> +<div>The bears suck’d their paws, and pronounced it delicious.</div> +<div>Of the noise-dreading Mr. Raccoon it was said,</div> +<div>That he sopp’d all his food, which was voted ill-bred;</div> +<div>And that, puff’d with conceit, he declared he look’d wise,</div> +<div>A distinction he owed to his spectacled eyes.</div> +<div>’Twas observed too (you know how the gossips will talk,)</div> +<div>Master guinea-pig stuff’d till he hardly could walk,</div> +<div>Though which dainty was best it was hard to determine:</div> +<div>The meat was too fresh for the epicure ermine;</div> +<div>To which glutton answered, “That all he could say</div> +<div>Was, that it, like himself, was ‘bien mortifiée.’”</div> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<div class="indent">All the others declared themselves very well pleased,</div> +<div>Though it must be confess’d they were terribly squeezed</div> +<div>By the poor little cubs, whom their dams would insert</div> +<div>Between the grown quadrupeds’ seats at dessert.</div> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<div class="indent">The llamas departed while yet it was light,</div> +<div>As they always objected to travel by night,</div> +<div>And were trotting along, never thinking of harm,</div> +<div>When their friends heard the tree-frog foretelling a storm;</div> +<div><a name="png.028" id="png.028"></a><span class="ns">[p</span><span + class="pgmark">28</span><span class="ns">]<br + /></span>There he sate on a bough, with his keen glassy eye</div> +<div>Most sagaciously blinking and watching the sky,</div> +<div>Then he look’d to the east, and thus hoarsely he spoke,</div> +<div>“There’s a terrible storm coming up, croak! croak! croak!”</div> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<div class="indent">The soft cooing ground-dove creeps close to her mate</div> +<div>At this sound of alarm, which all living things hate;</div> +<div>The snake-bird is startled, and drops from her bough</div> +<div>To dive in the stream that runs swiftly below.</div> +<div>Whilst perch’d on a tree the wood-pelican’s dreams</div> +<div>Are disturb’d by the crane’s and the crying-bird’s screams.</div> +<div>The tortoise made off at the mention of rain,</div> +<div>And troops of scared quadrupeds scour the plain!</div> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<div class="indent">The rest quickly rise from their seats in affright,</div> +<div>To see if the warner has told them aright,</div> +<div>As they flatter themselves that it may be mere fancy,</div> +<div>Or put little faith in the toad’s necromancy;</div> +<div>They find he speaks truly, the storm is approaching,</div> +<div>Dark clouds o’er the beautiful blue are encroaching,</div> +<div>The tempest lays low the tall grass in the field,</div> +<div>To the furious blasts even forest-trees yield;</div> +<div><a name="png.029" id="png.029"></a><span class="ns">[p</span><span + class="pgmark">29</span><span class="ns">]<br + /></span>All is silent at first, then the loud cracking thunder</div> +<div>Bursts at once o’er their heads, and o’erwhelms them with wonder!</div> +<div>His danger by instinct each quadruped knows,</div> +<div>Now confusion has taken the place of repose:</div> +<div>The bears shake their coats, and roll off with a growl,</div> +<div>Wolves, dogs, wolverenes, scamper off in full howl.</div> +<div>With their quills mounting guard, timid porcupines wait,</div> +<div>Whilst the Jaguar and Couguar crouch low and retreat.</div> +<div>The sloth gently draws himself up on a bough,</div> +<div>The raccoon slyly enters the hollow below.</div> +<div>Mice, hedgehogs, and tortoises creep to their holes,</div> +<div>And their fortified refuge is sought by the moles.</div> +<div>Seals and otters plunge silently into the lake,</div> +<div>Mrs. Beaver, too, dives with her young in her wake.</div> +<div>The tapir returns to his home in the fens,</div> +<div>The marmots are off to their underground dens,</div> +<div>And the wishtonwish marmot, the kind prairie dog,</div> +<div>Makes room in his hole for the tortoise and frog.</div> +<div>The hamster runs home, with the pouch in his cheek</div> +<div>Stuff’d with various provisions enough for a week;</div> +<div>Then stores in his dark lonely cell the rich pelf,</div> +<div>For, ill bred and greedy, he cares but for self.</div> +<div><a name="png.030" id="png.030"></a><span class="ns">[p</span><span + class="pgmark">30</span><span class="ns">]<br + /></span>No children, no wife, no companion had he,</div> +<div>With his very best friend he could never agree,</div> +<div>But lived by himself without pleasure or mirth,</div> +<div>In a hermit-like vault, five feet deep in the earth;</div> +<div>But the sentinel marmot’s shrill whistle of fear</div> +<div>Echoes loud o’er the plain, and is heard far and near</div> +<div>By his joyous allies, for whose safety he cared,</div> +<div>And whose dangers, mirth, sorrows, and dwelling he shared.</div> +<div>And Mrs. Opossum, good dame, holds her breath,</div> +<div>Safely pockets her young, and as usual, feigns death;</div> +<div>Till the storm has blown over they lie in their sack,</div> +<div>Whilst the seal scrambles home with her cub pic-a-back.</div> +<div>Sir Hans Armadillo, coil’d up in a ball,</div> +<div>From the edge of a precipice lets himself fall;</div> +<div>Being arm’d “cap-à-pie,” he rolls safely away,</div> +<div>And lives, without doubt, in his hole to this day.</div> +<div>The rein-deer most kindly was offer’d to share</div> +<div>In her cold wintry drive by the white polar bear;</div> +<div>And she proffers a seat in her sledge, for she knows</div> +<div>’Tis a long weary way to her region of snows;</div> +<div>Besides, she is eager to join the dear child</div> +<div>She had left on an ice-floe alone to run wild.</div> +<div><a name="png.031" id="png.031"></a><span class="ns">[p</span><span + class="pgmark">31</span><span class="ns">]<br + /></span>Savage wolf, being greedy, fell into a trap,</div> +<div>Mr. Glutton was kill’d e’en whilst taking a nap;</div> +<div>And the badger, poor fellow! for shelter must roam,</div> +<div>For he finds the red fox has got into his home.</div> +<div>On an island of ice floats the walrus away,</div> +<div>With her cub in her fins, who upbraided her stay,</div> +<div>The joys of the feast deeply sank in her heart,</div> +<div>Like the rest of the guests she was loth to depart.</div> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<div><ins class="TNsilent" title="Transcriber's note: + this stanza not indented in original">And</ins> now, the repast being greatly diminish’d,</div> +<div>By ravens and vultures is speedily finish’d.</div> +<div>The tempest has ceased, the wilds beasts are at rest,</div> +<div>And each tiny quadruped lies in his nest.</div> +<div>Once more o’er the landscape the long shadows creep,</div> +<div>The repose and the darkness soon lull them to sleep,</div> +<div>For nothing is heard in the once noisy land,</div> +<div>Save the whip-poor-will telling that night is at hand.</div> +</div> +</div> + + + + +<h2><a name="png.032" id="png.032"></a><span class="ns">[p</span><span + class="pgmark">32</span><span class="ns">]<br + /></span>MORAL.</h2> + + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<div><span class="smc">In</span> life, as in prairies, there’s danger abroad,</div> +<div>While love and kind hearts the best pleasures afford;</div> +<div>Though what we are seeking the pleasantest seems,</div> +<div>Disappointments and storms oft assail our best schemes.</div> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<div>Howe’er we may plan them, wherever we roam,</div> +<div>Our comforts and joys we at last find at home;</div> +<div>There we live on in quiet with those we love best,</div> +<div>And the voice of affection there lulls us to rest!</div> +</div> +</div> + + + +<p class="printer2">C. WHITTINGHAM, TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON.</p> + +</div> + +<hr class="pg" /> + + + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Quadrupeds' Pic-Nic, by F. B. C. + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE QUADRUPEDS' PIC-NIC *** + +***** This file should be named 25681-h.htm or 25681-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/6/8/25681/ + +Produced by David Wilson and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/25681-h/images/illus-001-s.jpg b/25681-h/images/illus-001-s.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b358ed3 --- /dev/null +++ b/25681-h/images/illus-001-s.jpg diff --git a/25681.txt b/25681.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1e72e3b --- /dev/null +++ b/25681.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1015 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Quadrupeds' Pic-Nic, by F. B. C. + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Quadrupeds' Pic-Nic + +Author: F. B. C. + +Release Date: June 2, 2008 [EBook #25681] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE QUADRUPEDS' PIC-NIC *** + + + + +Produced by David Wilson and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + +THE QUADRUPEDS' PIC-NIC + + +LONDON +WILLIAM PICKERING +1840 + +C. Whittingham, Tooks Court, +Chancery Lane. + + + + +ADVERTISEMENT + +The "Quadrupeds' Pic-Nic" is a very humble imitation of Mrs. Dorset's +"Peacock at Home." Even in my imitation I find I am not original. The +Quadrupeds, it appears, have already had an "Elephants' Ball," and a +"Lions' Masquerade." + + F. B. C. + + + + +THE QUADRUPEDS' PIC-NIC. + + No doubt you have heard how the grasshoppers' feasts + "Excited the spleen of the birds and the beasts;" + How the peacock and turkey "flew into a passion," + On finding that insects "pretended to fashion." + Now, I often have thought it exceedingly hard, + That nought should be said of the beasts by the bard; + Who, by some strange neglect, has omitted to state + That the quadrupeds gave a magnificent fete; + So, out of sheer justice I take up my pen, + To tell you the how, and the where, and the when. + + The place which they chose was a wild chestnut ground, + (And many such spots in the new world are found,) + Where the evergreen oak and the cucumber trees + Rear aloft their tall branches, and wave in the breeze; + Where the hickory, cypress, and cabbage-tree grow, + And shade the sweet flowers that blossom below; + And the creepers and vines form a beautiful sight, + As they climb the tall shaft, and hang down from a height; + Or they mix with the long pendant moss which is found + Growing high on the branches, yet touching the ground: + From amidst the dark foliage the mocking-birds sing, + Or mimic the hum of the honey-bees' wing, + As they whirl round a flower enjoying the feast, + So unsparingly spread for bird, insect, or beast. + From afar the bald eagle is seen in the sky, + Now darting below, and now soaring on high; + Now he takes from the fish-hawk his newly caught prey, + And with speed to the forest he bears it away; + Whilst the wood is alive with a feathery throng, + Who from morning till night fill the air with their song. + On one side is the lake where the wild cattle drink, + And trample the rice which grows wild on its brink; + The freshness untouch'd of earth's beauties declare, + Neither pride, pomp, nor envy, have ever been there; + Here Nature resides--nothing human is seen; + Foot of man hath not pass'd o'er that prairie I ween, + Unless some few wandering Indians have pass'd-- + Of their sorrowing tribe perhaps nearly the last. + + I should fail to describe in a picturesque manner + The splendid repose of that grassy Savanna; + Tall shadows swept out from the forest of pine, } + The site was a fair one, the weather so fine, } + That even a quadruped thought it divine. } + + To this wild grassy spot, on the long look'd for day, + Merry parties of beasts made the best of their way; + There were bears, long and short-legg'd, black, brown, grey, and white, + From different parts, to enjoy the fine sight. + The polar bear came in a sledge, and she said + That the journey had caused a sharp pain in her head: + For, although well protected from snout to her tail, + She thought she had got a slight "coup-de-soleil;" + So she hastily called for a gallon of ice, + Which a monkey in waiting served up in a trice. + Then the jaguar, the couguar, and fierce Ocelot, + And Sir Hans Armadillo, who came at full trot, + Brother Jonathan Beaver, escaped from the trappers, + Sloth, Tortoise, and Dormouse, notorious nappers. + That beau, the musk-Ox, with his long scented hair, + And John Bull just arrived on his travels, were there; + Messrs. Martin, Hare, Squirrel, the Ermine, and Stoat, + And the rock-mountain sheep, with his cousin, the goat; + Then the sociable marmot, and tiny shrew mouse, + The raccoon and agouti from hollow-tree house. + Chinchilla the soft, musk and Canada rats, + Hounds, mastiffs, wolves, foxes, and wild tiger cats; + Jerboa just roused from his long winter nap, + Opossum, with four little babes in her lap. + The morse, seal, and otter--amphibious group! + And of bisons (the humpbacked) there came a whole troop. + It seems that the elk out of pride staid away, + Having just shed his horns, which he does about May. + The fallow and red-deer were gone to a lick, + With a numerous party, who thought themselves sick; + But the antelope, stag, and the Wapiti deer, + Notwithstanding the age of the latter, were there. + The Esquimaux dogs, red, white, brindled, and black, + Who, for fear of the wolves, had arrived in a pack, + Were not heard to speak in the course of the day, + And were thought by the rest "to have nothing to say." + But if they were silent, 'twas clear they could growl, + And on meeting the wolf, gave a wild dismal howl; + For although 'twas supposed they were slightly connected, + In quarrels and fights they'd been often detected; + Though 'tis true, all dislikes for this day were forbidden, + Yet mutual antipathies could not be hidden. + Noble horses of Spanish extraction there came, + The chief of whose party was terribly lame; + For it seems that in one of his frolicsome scampers, + Beneath a hot sun in the wide spreading Pampas, + By the rich purple fruit of the Cactus allured, + And feeling a thirst that could not be endured, + He approach'd it to eat, but his nose was not proof + Against the sharp thorns, so he struck with his hoof, + When they pierced his bare foot, and so now he limp'd in + With his fetlock bound up in a garter-snake's skin: + The vampire-bat, surgeon, now offered to bleed it, + In case as he thought his poor patient would need it; + And added, at least it could do him no harm + To try his specific, the juice of the palm. + + From the South came the puma, American lion, + Of the old house of Leo degenerate scion. + The tapir, and also that excellent diver, + Alligator, or Cayman, from Amazon river; + And with him the Llama, whose sad trick of spitting + Was thought by the company very unfitting. + But, to shorten my tale, all the New World were there, + From the tiny shrew mouse to the fierce grisly bear; + Though it seems that the peccary was not invited, + For he as a nuisance had just been indicted. + From the Old World, the lion and tiger with glee + Would have join'd them, but dreaded the journey by sea. + + Beneath some fine trees, on the beautiful green, + A knot of philosophers was to be seen + Looking gravely about, and conversing together; + Some on learning and science, and some on the weather. + Dr. Mole on geology talk'd in high strain, + And declared his researches had not been in vain, + And that many geologists would have been glad + To have found opportunities such as he had; + For whilst searching for food in his underground travel, + Midst fossils, roots, shells, hid in chalk, sand, or gravel, + He the monstrous remains of great mammoths had seen, + Who no longer existed, but who once had been; + "The theories about them are various," said he, + "As to how they came there, and what they may be; + But not one of these I incline to receive, + For that they were elephants, who can believe? + There was one Mr. Cuvier, who talk'd of the sloth, + But to listen to nonsense like this I am loth; + From the strength of their limbs, and the make of their paws, + From the shape of their bodies, and length of their claws, + I am firmly convinced they're related to me, + And to this all philosophers ought to agree; + For how could such creatures have got into holes, + Unless, ('tis my theory,) they had been moles?" + He ceased, then just turn'd his diminutive eyes, + First round to the company, then to the skies, + And receiving applause from all who sate round, + He threw up his hill, and escaped underground. + Signor Greyhound, a foreigner, talk'd of the swamps, + Of the ague and fever, both caused by the damps; + Then quickly proceeded the climate to quiz, + And exclaim'd, "In Italia we've nothing of this!" + + Mr. Hog said that he had sent over his daughter + To England, to have all the sciences taught her; + And learned she was, all the world must allow, + For the Savants pronounced her a wonderful sow. + She was heard to grunt forth an unwilling apology, + For daring to boast of her skill in Nosology, + And presuming to hint what a dab she'd been found, + At extracting the root, whether square root, or round. + + Some beavers complain'd of that biped call'd man, + Who does to their race all the harm that he can, + Some of whom, not long since, came to kidnap and pillage + The whole of their neighbouring water-bound village, + And they guess'd the snake-Indians caught many a score, + To stew down the tails for their great Sagamore. + + The hedgehog, who always lies snug in his nest, + Till his fourfooted neighbours betake them to rest, + Now changed his old custom for once in a way, + Unroll'd his warm nose, and came forth in the day. + He sought for the cow, and implored the good dame + Would find out some means to restore his fair fame, + For there still was prevailing a cruel belief + That oft in the night he came forth as a thief; + So he lived in continual danger and strife, + Though he never had tasted her milk in his life. + On the faith of a hedgehog he dared to affirm, + That he seldom found courage to injure a worm. + Mrs. Cow was astonish'd; she never had heard + A report more untrue, a belief so absurd. + She urged that his mouth was too little by half + To steal the sweet milk that she meant for Miss Calf; + And concluded by saying, "'Tis surely enough + To mention (excuse me) your coat is so rough, + If even supposing that you should not fear me, + I never could suffer your skin to come near me." + + An old porcupine, too, just begg'd leave to observe, + That reports had been spread which he did not deserve; + To say he was "fretful," was using him ill, + He would prove the reverse to his very last quill; + Though he now bristled up at the simple idea, + This was often, with him, but a symptom of fear. + As he spoke, a poor toad, who had sate quite aloof + In a hovel of earth, with a stone for a roof, + Now slowly, on tiptoe, crept out of his hole, + And into the midst of the company stole; + The quadrupeds gazed as the reptile drew nigh, + Half afraid of his looks, though they could not tell why. + Mouse's hair stood on end, and, still stranger to say, + Miss Chameleon changed colour, and fainted away. + Poor bufo confess'd, as he sate in the dark, + He had listen'd to porcupine's brilliant remark, + And had thought it was due to himself and posterity, + T' expose a new case of the poets' temerity. + The poets, who kindly, but falsely, had said, + That he carried a beautiful gem in his head; + A jewel he thought would be quite out of place, + With his rustic brown coat, and his sallow green face, + And he knew not how people could think it was true, + Unless they had seen him when spangled with dew. + His Surinam friend could they possibly mean, + Who carried her little ones set in her skin. + Those alone were the jewels his friend ever wore, + Like Cornelia's, the good Roman matron of yore. + Having stated the case with regard to attire, + He said, with some warmth, that he did not spit fire: + And he ask'd why the wise ones omitted to hint + Where he carried his tinder, his steel, and his flint: + That his time was more usefully spent, he might say, + In chasing the vagrants and spectres away. + Every member of reptile society knew + That of insects and grubs he destroy'd not a few: + His wife had just miss'd a huge pioneer spider, + Who fled to his home, and then rudely defied her, + And e'en bang'd his door in her face to deride her. + + The marmot was "tchatting" away without end, + With a burrowing owl, his old neighbour and friend, + Who, being a bird in whom marmot confided, + Had hired his cottage, in which he resided. + The landlord just hinted, that when he lived there, + He had kept the old hovel in charming repair; + The walls neatly mended, the parlour swept clean, + And never a cobweb nor grain to be seen; + But that now this once pleasant and rural retreat, + By his tenant, the owl, was no longer kept neat; + That the little round chamber, and long slanting hall, + For the want of attention, were likely to fall; + Such a mess and confusion he could but deplore, + And he thought, at the least, she might plaster the floor, + Just turn out of doors all the shells of her eggs, + And those heaps of dried beetles' and butterflies' legs. + The poor owl, who spoke well in the prairie-dog tongue, + Now found an excuse, in the care of her young; + Alleged the hard times; that is, beetles were few, + So to find them in food she had plenty to do. + + The raccoon stood apart in a beautiful glade, + Much disturb'd by the noise that the company made, + And there with a friend he stay'd fretting and pining, + To hear such a bellowing, howling, and whining. + "Oh! those red-monkeys' shrieks," his old friend would begin, + "Niagara surely don't make such a din; + Let us get in this tree, 'tis the squirrel's old barn, + And (as Captain Seal says) I'll there spin a yarn. + I awoke very early to come to this feast, + Ere the sun warm'd the top of that hill in the east, + And forth from my lodging proceeded to creep, + For the wild turkey's 'gobble' had broken my sleep. + Then I climb'd some tall maize plants, and ate up the ears, + And enjoy'd the repast, notwithstanding my fears; + For great is my awe of the red Indian's gun, + And I thought I had caught a slight glimpse of one. + I saw, too, a rattlesnake creeping hard by, + And heard his tail clatter, and mark'd his red eye. + He coil'd himself up, for he spied me right soon, + And was wishing, no doubt, for a bit of raccoon; + Then, thinking the risk of a rifle in truth, + Was better by far than his poisonous tooth, + I hasten'd away from the much dreaded place, + That I might not be coil'd in his slimy embrace. + I rambled along to our nook in the beach, + And swallow'd the oysters that lay within reach. + Then traversed in haste the Savanna so wide, + Till I found the tall pine where you usually hide. + Then I scamper'd away o'er the Indigo fields, + Soon pass'd the old maple, (what sugar it yields!) + I travell'd along to the cabbage-palm quay, + Turn'd short by the far-spreading tall tulip tree. + Through forest and plain, and through dark dismal swamp, + And lighted alone by the firefly's lamp, + Which, fluttering around me, now here and now there, + Rings of gold to my fancy seem'd form'd in the air, + Till now at the brink of the lake I arrive, + Reconnoitre the spot, and prepare for a dive, + Then plunged in the water, and over I swam, + Quickly climb'd the green bank, and so now here I am! + + "But I will not detain you with tales of the north, + Of the riches and beauties that nature brings forth; + I should fail in describing what flowers abound, + Rhododendrons and kalmias empurpling the ground; + How the laurels' gay berries, of deep coral red, + Hang far out from their cones on a bright silver thread; + How white lilies, azalias, enliven the green, + But will speak of the south, which will vary the scene. + + "The Puma, the Llama, and tapir elate, + Tell their tales of the Mexican gardens and state; + That in midst of a lake those bright swimming isles float, + Which are paddled about like a raft or a boat; + Then they boast of the flowers, the pepper, and maize, + And give one accounts of the natives' strange ways: + If a man be annoy'd by his neighbour, they say, + He will take his plantation and row it away. + The trees are luxuriant, the mora, whose size + Fills the wanderer's mind with delight and surprise; + The ebony, green-heart, and letter-wood tree, + The locust and parasite fig you may see; + On the Concourite's branch Ara parrots assemble, + Whose blue and red feathers the rainbow resemble. + There the trumpeter's sounds and the goatsucker's moans + Are mistaken sometimes for the dying man's groans: + And faintly is heard near the Essequibo + The sad 'whip-poor-will,' and the 'willy-come-go.'" + + Here a seal shuffled up, and, just waving his fin, + Requested permission a word to put in. + "Though the beauties of plain and of forest you know, + Yet who can describe all the wonders below? + On a soft bed of sponge in the deep sea I lie, + And watch the huge shark and the grampus glide by; + Or amidst groves of coral I play at bo-peep, + Or I float where the porpoise and flying-fish leap. + I have seen the thin nautilus trimming her sail, + And the Geyser-like waterspout made by the whale; + To this lord of the ocean there clung a whole bevy + Of parasite barnacles waiting his 'levee.' + I have seen the small soldier-crab coated in red, + With the shell of a whelk for a home overhead; + And the limpet, who, cased in a house of his own, + Shuts out all the air, and sticks fast to a stone; + And the fights of the quarrelsome swordfish and shark, + Which have lasted from morning until it was dark. + + "Bright clusters of zoophite flowers I've seen, + Sea anemonies, purple, red, orange, and green, + That with petal-like fingers waylay the small fry + Who gaze on their hues, but gaze only to die; + Like the flower that buries a fly in its cup, + They draw in their feelers, and swallow them up. + One day, after lingering long in that place, + The cuttlefish spurted some ink in my face, + As it enter'd my eyes, for a time I was blind, + From a fish with three hearts this was very unkind. + + "In the course of my travels I often have seen + Th' effects of the dreadful electric machine; + Of the gymnotus eel, with one stroke of his tail + He would make the stout African elephant quail, + Or the heart of the horny rhinoceros quake, + Oh! may he ne'er visit this land or this lake. + The small swimming spider, with silky lined cell, + I have seen her manoeuvre her own diving-bell. + They are endless the wonders of shallow and deep, + But I spare you the list, you are falling asleep." + + The rest of the party amused themselves well, + Seeking insects and fruits in each dingle and dell: + Some stroll'd in the shade, others bask'd in the sun, + Whilst some with the cubs had a good game of fun. + The much injured hedgehog was hunting for plants, + The ant-bears, both greater and lesser, caught ants; + With their long slimy tongues hanging out from the mouth, + Though they thought they preferr'd the great grubs of the south. + Some traced out the store of the wild honey-bee, + Hoarded up in the trunk of an old hollow tree, + Then but sparingly tasted, although it was good, + Being told by their dams it was dangerous food. + The sloths, two and three toed, were hardly awake; + The fox caught his tail, and the Caiman a snake, + Which was wriggling along to a lark's low-built nest, + To tear the soft young from the mother's warm breast. + The sheep and the cow, in apparent dejection, + Were quietly chewing the cud of reflection. + The cavies and ermines were running a race, + Armadillo was off to a grasshopper chace. + The cat was surprised to see animals roam, + And she purr'd when she thought of her kitten at home. + + Report said, a puppy got into a scrape, + By making remarks on the walrus's shape, + On her great staring eyes, and her ugly thick lips, + Her small head, her short neck, and the breadth of her hips; + But he said, "upon honour he meant no offence," + And she, by forgiving him, shew'd her good sense. + The fox (cunning rogue!) too, complain'd of opossum, + For smuggling her young to the feast in her bosom; + For, as he was peeping and prying about, + "He had seen the young scapegraces get in and out." + + The land mouse, the water, and long-tail'd mouse, too, + Tiny field mouse, that turn'd up nose vixen the shrew, + The harvest mouse, fresh from a settler's rick, + Were condemn'd by the great ones as not of their clique; + These reclined round a mole hill, and each dipp'd his paw + In a cocoa-nut bowl fill'd with rice, "en pillau." + And the harvest mouse took most exceeding great pains + To squeak them a stanza in honour of grains. + + +MOUSE'S SONG. + + "An ear of corn, a grain of rice, + Banquet rich for simple mice; + A leaf his bed, a hole his house, + Who could hurt a harmless mouse? + + "Grasshopper, so green and gay, + See him as he bounds away! + Without bridle, spur, or stirrup, + Oh! what music in that chirrup! + + "Mosquito humming merrily, + Glads us all most cheerily; + Admire his transparent wing, + But as you look, avoid his sting. + + CHORUS. + + "Squeak! squeak! beware the owl's beak, + Our hearts, like our voices, are so very weak." + + +THE SUPPER. + + "Hark! hark! to the sound now my comrades rejoice, + 'Tis the bell-bird who calls us, I know well his voice; + Campanero, who graciously offer'd his song + When the feast was prepared, 'tis his ding-a-dong-dong;" + So exclaim'd a poor turnspit, their cook, who'd been toiling + All day very busily roasting or broiling. + At this moment that spoiler of pic-nics, a shower, + Obliged them to rush to the vine-cover'd bower, + Where in it--oh! joy to the hungry! they found + The repast long expected laid out on the ground. + They had raised to the office of "maitre d'hotel" + The glutton, (and who could perform it so well?) + Who with excellent taste, and an eye to a share, + Had collected the following luxuries there:-- + The cat-fish, the sturgeon, and hickory shad, + Bass and gar in such plenty it made their hearts glad; + The sun and the moon-fish, the star-fish and dab, + The sting-ray and sheepshead, drum, grooper and crab; + Turkey-buzzards, swans, eagles, form'd excellent hashes, + When flavour'd with tallow-nuts, pompions, and squashes; + Baked frogs, "en surprise," from a forest on fire, + Flamingoes, removed by a huge Lammergeyer; + Gulls, ravens, herons, boobies, bald-coots, water-hens, + And yards of strung ortolans, linnets, and wrens; + Loons, noddies, and nuthatches cook'd in a stew, + Whale blubber "en gras," and guanas "au bleu;" + Jerk'd beef from the south, and large watersnake broth, + And a great dish of pemmican brought from the north; + Green branches of trees from the beaver's damp hut, + Bowls of milk from the cow-tree and hickory-nut; + Then venison "en cache," maize, wild rice, and, to boot, + Guavas, cranberries, mangoes, grapes, shaddock, breadfruit! + + Here they sate and discuss'd the magnificent fare + Which the glutton had superintended with care. + The monkeys in helping were very officious, + The bears suck'd their paws, and pronounced it delicious. + Of the noise-dreading Mr. Raccoon it was said, + That he sopp'd all his food, which was voted ill-bred; + And that, puff'd with conceit, he declared he look'd wise, + A distinction he owed to his spectacled eyes. + 'Twas observed too (you know how the gossips will talk,) + Master guinea-pig stuff'd till he hardly could walk, + Though which dainty was best it was hard to determine: + The meat was too fresh for the epicure ermine; + To which glutton answered, "That all he could say + Was, that it, like himself, was 'bien mortifiee.'" + + All the others declared themselves very well pleased, + Though it must be confess'd they were terribly squeezed + By the poor little cubs, whom their dams would insert + Between the grown quadrupeds' seats at dessert. + + The llamas departed while yet it was light, + As they always objected to travel by night, + And were trotting along, never thinking of harm, + When their friends heard the tree-frog foretelling a storm; + There he sate on a bough, with his keen glassy eye + Most sagaciously blinking and watching the sky, + Then he look'd to the east, and thus hoarsely he spoke, + "There's a terrible storm coming up, croak! croak! croak!" + + The soft cooing ground-dove creeps close to her mate + At this sound of alarm, which all living things hate; + The snake-bird is startled, and drops from her bough + To dive in the stream that runs swiftly below. + Whilst perch'd on a tree the wood-pelican's dreams + Are disturb'd by the crane's and the crying-bird's screams. + The tortoise made off at the mention of rain, + And troops of scared quadrupeds scour the plain! + + The rest quickly rise from their seats in affright, + To see if the warner has told them aright, + As they flatter themselves that it may be mere fancy, + Or put little faith in the toad's necromancy; + They find he speaks truly, the storm is approaching, + Dark clouds o'er the beautiful blue are encroaching, + The tempest lays low the tall grass in the field, + To the furious blasts even forest-trees yield; + All is silent at first, then the loud cracking thunder + Bursts at once o'er their heads, and o'erwhelms them with wonder! + His danger by instinct each quadruped knows, + Now confusion has taken the place of repose: + The bears shake their coats, and roll off with a growl, + Wolves, dogs, wolverenes, scamper off in full howl. + With their quills mounting guard, timid porcupines wait, + Whilst the Jaguar and Couguar crouch low and retreat. + The sloth gently draws himself up on a bough, + The raccoon slyly enters the hollow below. + Mice, hedgehogs, and tortoises creep to their holes, + And their fortified refuge is sought by the moles. + Seals and otters plunge silently into the lake, + Mrs. Beaver, too, dives with her young in her wake. + The tapir returns to his home in the fens, + The marmots are off to their underground dens, + And the wishtonwish marmot, the kind prairie dog, + Makes room in his hole for the tortoise and frog. + The hamster runs home, with the pouch in his cheek + Stuff'd with various provisions enough for a week; + Then stores in his dark lonely cell the rich pelf, + For, ill bred and greedy, he cares but for self. + No children, no wife, no companion had he, + With his very best friend he could never agree, + But lived by himself without pleasure or mirth, + In a hermit-like vault, five feet deep in the earth; + But the sentinel marmot's shrill whistle of fear + Echoes loud o'er the plain, and is heard far and near + By his joyous allies, for whose safety he cared, + And whose dangers, mirth, sorrows, and dwelling he shared. + And Mrs. Opossum, good dame, holds her breath, + Safely pockets her young, and as usual, feigns death; + Till the storm has blown over they lie in their sack, + Whilst the seal scrambles home with her cub pic-a-back. + Sir Hans Armadillo, coil'd up in a ball, + From the edge of a precipice lets himself fall; + Being arm'd "cap-a-pie," he rolls safely away, + And lives, without doubt, in his hole to this day. + The rein-deer most kindly was offer'd to share + In her cold wintry drive by the white polar bear; + And she proffers a seat in her sledge, for she knows + 'Tis a long weary way to her region of snows; + Besides, she is eager to join the dear child + She had left on an ice-floe alone to run wild. + Savage wolf, being greedy, fell into a trap, + Mr. Glutton was kill'd e'en whilst taking a nap; + And the badger, poor fellow! for shelter must roam, + For he finds the red fox has got into his home. + On an island of ice floats the walrus away, + With her cub in her fins, who upbraided her stay, + The joys of the feast deeply sank in her heart, + Like the rest of the guests she was loth to depart. + + And now, the repast being greatly diminish'd, + By ravens and vultures is speedily finish'd. + The tempest has ceased, the wilds beasts are at rest, + And each tiny quadruped lies in his nest. + Once more o'er the landscape the long shadows creep, + The repose and the darkness soon lull them to sleep, + For nothing is heard in the once noisy land, + Save the whip-poor-will telling that night is at hand. + + +MORAL. + + In life, as in prairies, there's danger abroad, + While love and kind hearts the best pleasures afford; + Though what we are seeking the pleasantest seems, + Disappointments and storms oft assail our best schemes. + + Howe'er we may plan them, wherever we roam, + Our comforts and joys we at last find at home; + There we live on in quiet with those we love best, + And the voice of affection there lulls us to rest! + + +C. WHITTINGHAM, TOOKS COURT, CHANCERY LANE, LONDON. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Quadrupeds' Pic-Nic, by F. B. C. + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE QUADRUPEDS' PIC-NIC *** + +***** This file should be named 25681.txt or 25681.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/6/8/25681/ + +Produced by David Wilson and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/25681.zip b/25681.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..981c7bd --- /dev/null +++ b/25681.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..17b885d --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #25681 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25681) |
