20 FRESH WOODS. 



Our venerable, bald, and fat friend, the 

 parson, entered into the fun with zest, and it 

 was voted that, as he was the oldest and by 

 far the heaviest of the company, he should 

 have the first go ! If the rope and timbers 

 would bear his weight they would certainly 

 be quite safe for all the rest ; so the parson 

 was the first to mount the swing. Under 

 his weight the timbers creaked and the rope 

 stretched ; but all held firmly. The young- 

 sters swung the parson, and the parson 

 swung the rope till his toes before and his 

 heels behind kicked the rafters front and 

 back, and it certainly was amusing to see 

 this jolly old boy of twenty stone swinging 

 through the air to the children's song, varied 

 for the occasion : 



" The Parson, the Baker, 



The Candlestick maker, 



Spick, span, randerry Dan, 



One for the Master, and one for the Man, 



One for the King, and one for the Queen, 



And a last toss over the bowling-green." 



Our parson laughed at the ludicrous ex- 

 hibition he was making till he grew red in 

 the face ; but it was only when he began to 

 show gasping signs of apoplexy that he was 

 gradually allowed to die down, and descend 

 from his perilous position. Then his wife, 

 as jolly and almost as fat as himself, was 



