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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Ballad Of The Taylor Pup</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Now lithe and listen, gentles all,<br>Now lithe ye all and hark<br>Unto a ballad I shall sing<br>About Buena Park.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Of all the wonders happening there<br>The strangest hap befell<br>Upon a famous Aprile morn,<br>As I you now shall tell.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">It is about the Taylor pup<br>And of his mistress eke<br>And of the prankish time they had<br>That I am fain to speak.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><br>FITTE THE FIRST</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">The pup was of as noble mien<br>As e'er you gazed upon;<br>They called his mother Lady<br>And his father was a Don.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">And both his mother and his sire<br>Were of the race Bernard--<br>The family famed in histories<br>And hymned of every bard.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">His form was of exuberant mold,<br>Long, slim, and loose of joints;<br>There never yet was pointer-dog<br>So full as he of points.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">His hair was like to yellow fleece,<br>His eyes were black and kind,<br>And like a nodding, gilded plume<br>His tail stuck up behind.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">His bark was very, very fierce,<br>And fierce his appetite,<br>Yet was it only things to eat<br>That he was prone to bite.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">But in that one particular<br>He was so passing true<br>That never did he quit a meal<br>Until he had got through.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Potatoes, biscuits, mush or hash,<br>Joint, chop, or chicken limb--<br>So long as it was edible,<br>'T was all the same to him!</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">And frequently when Hunger's pangs<br>Assailed that callow pup,<br>He masticated boots and gloves<br>Or chewed a door-mat up.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">So was he much beholden of<br>The folk that him did keep;<br>They loved him when he was awake<br>And better still asleep.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><br>FITTE THE SECOND</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Now once his master, lingering o'er<br>His breakfast coffee-cup,<br>Observed unto his doting spouse:<br>'You ought to wash the pup!'</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">'That shall I do this very day',<br>His doting spouse replied;<br>'You will not know the pretty thing<br>When he is washed and dried.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">'But tell me, dear, before you go<br>Unto your daily work,<br>Shall I use Ivory soap on him,<br>Or Colgate, Pears' or Kirk?'</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">'Odzooks, it matters not a whit--<br>They all are good to use!<br>Take Pearline, if it pleases you--<br>Sapolio, if you choose!</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">'Take any soap, but take the pup<br>And also water take,<br>And mix the three discreetly up<br>Till they a lather make.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">'Then mixing these constituent parts,<br>Let Nature take her way,'<br>With which advice that sapient sir<br>Had nothing more to say.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Then fared he to his daily toil<br>All in the Board of Trade,<br>While Mistress Taylor for that bath<br>Due preparation made.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><br>FITTE THE THIRD</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">She whistled gayly to the pup<br>And called him by his name,<br>And presently the guileless thing<br>All unsuspecting came.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">But when she shut the bath-room door,<br>And caught him as catch-can,<br>And hove him in that odious tub,<br>His sorrows then began.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">How did that callow, yallow thing<br>Regret that Aprile morn--<br>Alas! how bitterly he rued<br>The day that he was born!</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Twice and again, but all in vain<br>He lifted up his wail;<br>His voice was all the pup could lift,<br>For thereby hangs this tale.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">'Twas by that tail she held him down,<br>And presently she spread<br>The creamy lather on his back,<br>His stomach, and his head.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">His ears hung down in sorry wise,<br>His eyes were, oh! so sad--<br>He looked as though he just had lost<br>The only friend he had.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">And higher yet the water rose,<br>The lather still increased,<br>And sadder still the countenance<br>Of that poor martyred beast!</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Yet all the time his mistress spoke<br>Such artful words of cheer<br>As 'Oh, how nice!' and 'Oh, how clean!'<br>And 'There's a patient dear!'</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">At last the trial had an end,<br>At last the pup was free;<br>She threw aside the bath-room door--<br>'Now get you gone!' quoth she.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><br>FITTE THE FOURTH</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Then from that tub and from that room<br>He gat with vast ado;<br>At every hop he gave a shake,<br>And--how the water flew!</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">He paddled down the winding stairs<br>And to the parlor hied,<br>Dispensing pools of foamy suds<br>And slop on every side.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Upon the carpet then he rolled<br>And brushed against the wall,<br>And, horror! whisked his lathery sides<br>On overcoat and shawl.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Attracted by the dreadful din,<br>His mistress came below--<br>Who, who can speak her wonderment--<br>Who, who can paint her woe!</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Great smears of soap were here and there--<br>Her startled vision met<br>With blobs of lather everywhere,<br>And everything was wet!</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Then Mrs. Taylor gave a shriek<br>Like one about to die:<br>'Get out--get out, and don't you dare<br>Come in till you are dry!'</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">With that she opened wide the door<br>And waved the critter through;<br>Out in the circumambient air<br>With grateful yelps he flew.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><br>FITTE THE FIFTH</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">He whisked into the dusty street<br>And to the Waller lot,<br>Where bonnie Annie Evans played<br>With charming Sissy Knott.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">And with those pretty little dears<br>He mixed himself all up--<br>Oh, fie upon such boisterous play--<br>Fie, fie, you naughty pup!</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Woe, woe on Annie's India mull,<br>And Sissy's blue percale!<br>One got that pup's belathered flanks,<br>And one his soapy tail!</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Forth to the rescue of those maids<br>Rushed gallant Willie Clow;<br>His panties they were white and clean--<br>Where are those panties now?</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Where is the nicely laundered shirt<br>That Kendall Evans wore,<br>And Robbie James' tricot coat<br>All buttoned up before?</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">The leaven, which, as we are told,<br>Leavens a monstrous lump,<br>Hath far less reaching qualities<br>Than a wet pup on the jump.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">This way and that he swung and swayed,<br>He gambolled far and near,<br>And everywhere he thrust himself<br>He left a soapy smear.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><br>FITTE THE SIXTH</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">That noon a dozen little dears<br>Were spanked and put to bed<br>With naught to stay their appetites<br>But cheerless crusts of bread.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">That noon a dozen hired girls<br>Washed out each gown and shirt<br>Which that exuberant Taylor pup<br>Had frescoed o'er with dirt.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">That whole day long the Aprile sun<br>Smiled sweetly from above<br>On clotheslines flaunting to the breeze<br>The emblems mothers love.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">That whole day long the Taylor pup<br>This way and that did hie<br>Upon his mad, erratic course,<br>Intent on getting dry.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">That night when Mr. Taylor came<br>His vesper meal to eat,<br>He uttered things my pious pen<br>Would liefer not repeat.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Yet still that noble Taylor pup<br>Survives to romp and bark<br>And stumble over folks and things<br>In fair Buena Park.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=390988" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Good sooth, I wot he should be called<br>Buena's favorite son<br>Who's sired of such a noble sire<br>And dammed by every one!</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><a href="http://poems.citatepedia.com/">poem</a> by <strong><a rel="author" href="http://authors.citatepedia.com/by.php?a=Eugene+Field">Eugene Field</a></strong></div>