 | Areytos or songs and ballads of the South |  |
294
RATTING. BY A YOUNG MOUSE, SIR.
When the old rats run from the falling house,
Show me the crevice shall shelter the mouse.
I am a mouse of the humblest pretensions,
Modest in appetite as in dimensions;
And when the house was in safest conditions,
Never sought any but humblest positions;
Kept in the cellar, or ranged in the garret,
Never once sought in the parlor to star it;
And now, when the prospect grows thorny and thicketty,
And the big rats run from the lodgings grown ricketty,
'Tis my just right, to be urged with propriety,
For some snug crevice in decent society.
Show me the crevice shall shelter the mouse.
I am a mouse of the humblest pretensions,
Modest in appetite as in dimensions;
And when the house was in safest conditions,
Never sought any but humblest positions;
Kept in the cellar, or ranged in the garret,
Never once sought in the parlor to star it;
And now, when the prospect grows thorny and thicketty,
And the big rats run from the lodgings grown ricketty,
'Tis my just right, to be urged with propriety,
For some snug crevice in decent society.
I have my instincts, as well as my cousin,
And hate to be tumbled out just when I'm browsing;
I have a relish, like him, for good lodging,
And follow him closely when need is for dodging:
Never would quit a good fabric and feeding,
As long as 'twould shelter a rat of good breeding;
But when timbers are aching, and rafters are quaking,
And all the old house into flinders is shaking,
The maxim that then the old rats seem to mind most,
Be mine, and “the Devil, I say, take the hindmost!”
And hate to be tumbled out just when I'm browsing;
I have a relish, like him, for good lodging,
And follow him closely when need is for dodging:
Never would quit a good fabric and feeding,
As long as 'twould shelter a rat of good breeding;
But when timbers are aching, and rafters are quaking,
And all the old house into flinders is shaking,
The maxim that then the old rats seem to mind most,
Be mine, and “the Devil, I say, take the hindmost!”
No doubt there is many a clever young mouse, sir,
Most anxious to find himself high in our house, sir;
Much too blind with ambition, to note its condition,
And see that 'tis far beyond help of physician;
But the wiser, who've lodged in it long, are more able
To judge if the fabric's sufficiently stable.
Most anxious to find himself high in our house, sir;
Much too blind with ambition, to note its condition,
And see that 'tis far beyond help of physician;
But the wiser, who've lodged in it long, are more able
To judge if the fabric's sufficiently stable.
For my part, I follow the old rat, my cousin,
And will cheerfully yield up my place to a dozen.
Let them find out the truth for themselves when they've pack'd up,
That the lodging was never the thing it was crack'd up;
But in its best seasons was never a house, sir,
Quite so properly built for the mouse as the mouser;
And fatal for rats of that blockhead fraternity,
Too soon from the apron strings freed of maternity.
And will cheerfully yield up my place to a dozen.
295
That the lodging was never the thing it was crack'd up;
But in its best seasons was never a house, sir,
Quite so properly built for the mouse as the mouser;
And fatal for rats of that blockhead fraternity,
Too soon from the apron strings freed of maternity.
But enough for us now! Oh! could I be shown a
Snug crevice which boasts of no absolute owner,
Into which I could slip, safe in cover and clover,
Till the old house is down and the rumpus blown over:
Where safe in my dignities, free from all dangers,
The public and I should henceforward be strangers.
Snug crevice which boasts of no absolute owner,
Into which I could slip, safe in cover and clover,
Till the old house is down and the rumpus blown over:
Where safe in my dignities, free from all dangers,
The public and I should henceforward be strangers.
| Areytos or songs and ballads of the South | |