254

And taking his pencil the Senator wrote under the strange words the true meaning:

The Interpreter saw it all. He looked profoundly foolish. The whole thing was clear. The Senator's innocence was plain. He turned to explain to the Commandant. The Consul's face exhibited a variety of expressions, over which a broad grimace finally predominated, like sunshine over an April sky. In a few words the whole was made plain to the Commandant. He looked annoyed, glared angrily at the Interpreter, tossed the papers on the floor, and rose to his feet.

"

"Give these gentlemen our apologies," said he to the Interpreter. In times of trouble, when States have to be held subject to martial law, proceedings are abrupt. Their own good sense will, I trust, enable them to appre ciate the difficulty of our position."

X C.

DARIUS GREEN AND HIS FLYING MACHINK

J. T. TROWBRIDGE.

If ever there lived a Yankee lad,
Wise or otherwise, good or bad,

Who, seeing the birds fly, did n't jump

With flapping arms from stake or stump,

Or spreading the tail

Of his coat for a sail,

Take a soaring leap from post or rail,

And wonder why

He couldn't fly,

And flap and flutter and wish and try,—

If ever you knew a country dunce
Who did n't try that as often as once,

All I can say is, that's a sign

He never would do for a hero of mine.

An aspiring genius was D. Green :
The son of a farmer.-age fourteen;

His body was long and lank and lean,-
Just right for flying, as will be seen;
He had two eyes as bright as a bean,
And a freckled nose that grew between,
A little awry, for I must mention

That he had riveted his attention
Upon his wonderful invention,

Twisting his tongue as he twisted the strings,
And working his face as he worked the wings,
And with every turn of gimlet and screw
Turning and screwing his mouth round too,
Till his nose seemed bent

To catch the scent,

Around some corner, of new-baked pies,
And his wrinkled cheeks and squinting eyes
Grew puckered into a queer grimace,
That made him look very droll in the face,
And also very wise.

And wise he must have been to do more

Then ever a genius did before,

Excepting Dædalus of yore,

And his son Icarus, who wore

Upon their backs

Those wings of wax

He had read of in the old almanacs.
Darius was clearly of the opinion,

That the air is also man's dominion,
And that, with paddle, or fin, or pinion,

We soon or late

Shall navigate

The azure as now we sail the sea.

The thing looks simple enough to me;
And if you doubt it,

Hear how Darius reasoned about it.

"The birds can fly,

An' why can't I?

Must we give in,"

Says he with a grin,

"That the bluebird an' phoebe

Are smarter'n we be?

Jest fold our hands an' see the swaller

An' blackbird an' catbird beat us holler?

255

Does the little chatterin', sassy wren,

No bigger'n my thumb, know more than men?
Jest show me that?

Ur prove 't the bat

Hez got more brains than 's in my hat,
An' I'll back down, an' not till then?"

He argued further: "Nor I can't see
What's th' use o' wings to a bumble-bee,
Fur to git a livin' with, more'n to me ;-
An't my business

Important's his'n is?

That Icarus

Made a perty muss,

Him an' his daddy Dædalus.

They might 'a' knowed wings made o' wax
Wouldn't stand sun-heat an' hard whacks.
I'll make mine o' luther,

Ur suthin' ur other."

And he said to himself, as he tinkered and planned.

"But I an't goin' to show my hand

To mummies that never can understand

The fust idee that's big an' grand."

So he kept his secret from all the rest,

Safely buttoned within his vest;

And in the loft above the shed

Himself he locks, with thimble and thread,

And wax and hammer and buckles and screws,
And all such things as geniuses use ;—
Two bats for patterns, curious fellows!
A charcoal-pot and a pair of bellows,
Some wire, and several old umbrellas,
A carriage-cover for tail and wings,

A piece of a harness, and straps and strings,
And a big strong box,

In which he locks

These and a hundred other things.

His grinning brothers, Reuben and Burke
And Nathan and Jotham and Solomon, lurk
Around the corner to see him work,—
Sitting cross-legged, like a Turk,

Drawing the waxed-end through with a jerk,

And boring the holes with a comical quirk
Of his wise old head, and a knowing smirk.

But vainly they mounted each other's backs,

And poked through knot-holes and pried through cracks ;
With wood from the pile and straw from the stacks
He plugged the knot-holes and calked the cracks;
And a dipper of water, which one would think
He had brought up into the loft to drink
When he chanced to be dry,
Stood always nigh,

For Darius was sly!

And whenever at work he happened to spy

At chink or crevice a blinking eye,

He let the dipper of water fly.

So, day after day

He stitched and tinkered and hammered away,
Till at last t was done,-

The greatest invention under the sun!

"An' now," says Darius, "hooray fur some fun !"

'T was the Fourth of July,
And the weather was dry,

And not a cloud was on all the sky,

Save a few light fleeces, which here and there,

Half mist, half air,

Like foam on the ocean went floating by,-
Just as lovely a morning as ever was seen
For a nice little trip in a flying-machine.

Thought cunning Darius: "Now I sha'n't go
Along 'ith the fellers to see the show.

I'll say I've got sich a terrible cough!

An' then when the folks 'ave all gone off,
I'll have full swing

Fur to try the thing,

An' practice a little on the wing."

"An't goin' to see the celebration?"
Says brother Nate. "No: botheration!
I've got sich a cold—a toothache—I—
My gracious!—feel's though I should fly!”

Said Jotham, "'Sho!
Guess ye better go."

But Darius said, "No!

Should n't wonder 'f you might see me, though,

'Long 'bout noon, ef I get red

O' this jumpin', thumpin' pain 'n my head."
For all the while to himself ne said :—

I'll tell ye what !

"I'll fly a few times around the lot,

To see how 't seems, then, soon's I've got
The hang o' the thing, ez likely's not,
I'll astonish the nation,

An' all creation,

By flyin' over the celebration!

Over their heads I'll sail like an eagle;

I'll balance myself on my wings like a sea-gull;

I'll dance on the chimbleys; I'll stand on the steeple ; I'll flop up to winders an' scare the people!

I'll light on the liberty-pole, an' crow;

An' I'll say to the gawpin' fools below, 'What world's this 'ere

That I've come near?'

Fur I'll make 'em b'lieve I'm a chap f'm the moon; An' I'll try a race 'ith their ol' balloon!"

He crept from his bed;

And, seeing the others were gone, he said,
I'm gittin' over the cold 'n my head."
And away he sped,

To open the wonderful box in the shed.

His brothers had walked but a little way,
When Jotham to Nathan chanced to say,
"What is the feller up to, hey?"
"Don'o',-the's suthin' ur other to pay,
Ur he would n't 'a' stayed to hum to-day."
Says Burke," His toothache's all'n his eye!
He never'd miss a Fo'th-o'-July,

Ef he hed n't got some machine to try.”

Then Sol, the little one, spoke :

"Le's hurry back an' hide 'n the barn,

An' pay him fur tellin' us that yarn!"

'Agreed!" Through the orchard they crept back,

Along by the fences, behind the stack,