A DOUBLE TRAGEDY. 



Down from a twig on a Northern Spy tree 



A canker-worm s\sting in secnrity ; 



He'd eaten all season since first he was hatched, 



As a ravenous glutton he couldn't be matched. 



He slipped inch by inch to the grass-covered 



ground, 

 Where he thought safe concealment might surely 



be found 

 In which he could pupate till autumn set in ; 

 But a hen came that way and she gathered him in. 

 Gathered — gathered — gathered — she gathered 



him in. 



She gathered him in, and his final rest 

 Was there, in there, in her well-filled chest ; 

 And she strolled around in search for more. 

 For it tasted better than aught before. 

 But I thought of her end, her final act. 

 When the farmer 'd slice with a carver's tact. 

 And remark, as each piece made him look less 



thin, 

 '' I gather her in, I gather her in. 

 Gather — gather— gather — I gather her in." 



— Am. Agriculturist. 



Fig. i86S. Reine Hortknsk Tree. 



