304 NATURAL III STORY READER, 



Through thy lower nature ; * 

 Be my benediction said 

 With my hand upon thy head, 



Gentle fellow-creature ! 



2. Underneath my stroking hand, 

 Startled eyes of hazel bland, 



Kindling, growing larger, 

 Up thou leapest with a spring, 

 Full of prank and curveting, 



Leaping like a charger. 



3. Leap ! thy broad tail waves a light ; 

 Leap ! thy slender feet are bright, 



Canopied in fringes. 

 Leap ! those tasseled ears of thine 

 Flicker strangely, fair and fine, 



Down their golden inches. 



4. Yes, my pretty, sportive friend, 

 Little is 't to such an end 



That I praise thy rareness ! 

 Other dogs may be thy peers, 

 Haply in those drooping ears 



And this glossy fairness. 



5. But of thee it shall be said, 

 This dog watched beside a bed 



Day and night nn weary — 

 Watched within a curtained room, 

 Where no sunbeam broke the gloom 



Bound the sick and dreary. 



6. Other dogs in thymy dew 



Tracked the hares, and followed through 



* This clog was the gift of my dear and admired friend, Jliss Mitford. 



