THE BIRDS' CAMP-MEETING.
DID you ever hear of the bird's camp-meeting?
It was held the loveliest day of June;
Brother Blackbird wisely led the preaching,
And Bob-o'-Lincoln led off each tune.
The Magpie, out on a circuit going,
Declared himself a repentant sinner,
And then flew off and purloined a spoon
That was lying close by a poor man's dinner.
The Parrot spoke with a claw uplifted,
And told them a story as old as sin,
And exceeding dull; so the brethren whispered,
And voted it an unmeaning din.
Kingfisher came from the reedy meadow,
Piping a measure that nobody knew,
Till Robert-o'-Lincoln was quite discouraged
Before the singer was halfway through.
A Cuckoo told, with a sound of crying,
How slyly a Starling's nest she stole,
And that ever since she had been bemoaning
The weary weight on her burdened soul.
Then Elder Raven his head shook sadly;
He "hoped the bird might in earnest be;
But he didn't know; there had been confession
So oft before this— Well, we would see."
