 | [Poems by Dodge in] St. Nicholas book of verse |  |
82
POOR JACK-IN-THE-BOX
Frighten the children, do I? Pop with too sudden a jump?Well, how do you think I felt, all shut in there in a lump?
And didn't I get a shock when the lid came down on my head?
And if you were squeezed up and locked in, would n't you get ugly and red?
If you think I'm so dreadful, my friend, suppose you just try it yourself;
Let someone shut you in a box, and set you away on a shelf—
And then, when the lid is unhooked, if you don't leap out with a whack,
And look like a fright when you spring, I'll give in, or my name is n't Jack.
| [Poems by Dodge in] St. Nicholas book of verse | |