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The Complete Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes (v. 13)
The Complete Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes - v. 13 Author:Oliver Wendell Holmes Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: How dulce to vive occult to mortal eyes, Dorm on the herb with none to supervise, Carp the suave berries from the crescent vine, And bibe the flow from longicaud... more »ate kine! To me, alas ! no verdurous visions come, Save yon exiguous pool's conferva-scum, — No concave vast repeats the tender hue That laves my milk-jug with celestial blue! Me wretched! Let me curr to quercine shades! Effund your albid hausts, lactiferous maids ! Oh, might I vole to some umbrageous clump, — Depart, — be off, — excede, — evade, — erump! THE DEACON'S MASTERPIECE OB, THK WONDERFUL " ONE-HOBS SHAY " A LOGICAL STOKY Have yon heard of the wonderful one-hoss shay, That was built in such a logical way It ran a hundred years to a day, And then, of a sudden, it — ah, but stay, I 'll tell you what happened without delay, Scaring the parson into fits, Frightening people out of their witsy"— Have you ever heard of that, I say ? Seventeen hundred and fifty-five. Georgius Secundus was then alive, — Snuffy old drone from the German hive./ That was the year when Lisbon-town Saw the earth open and gulp her down, And Braddock's army was done so brown, Left without a scalp to its crown. It was on the terrible Earthquake-day That the Deacon finished the one-hoss shay. Now in building of chaises, I tell you what, There is always somewhere a weakest spot, — In hub, tire, felloe, in spring or thill, In panel, or crossbar, or floor, or sill, In screw, bolt, thoroughbrace, — lurking still, Find it somewhere you must and will, — Above or below, or within or without, —/ And that's the reason, beyond a doubt, That a chaise breaks down, but does n't wear out. But the Deacon swore (as Deacons do, With an "I dew vum," or an "I tell yeou") He would build one shay...« less