THE CYGNET 
Cygnets arc wc ; and wc maintain 
That, of all birds who might be vain, 
But few could so 
Correctly show 
That weakness, as our parents twain. 
We younger ones are merely grey, 
But of a dazzling white are they. 
And when they glide, 
And let us ride 
Upon them, it is glorious play. 
How Strange it seems that such a graceful creature 
as the Swan could have such a plain, odd-looking 
child as the Cygnet ! One could imagine him ask- 
ing why he has to be content with a dull coat of 
sooty grey and a leaden coloured beak, while his 
mother has plumage of dazzling white with a beauti- 
ful orange bill ? Her reply, very likely, would be 
something like this : — 
‘‘ Have patience, my dear child. Only wait, 
and then, when two summers are past, you will have 
done with that sober suit of clothes, and when you 
are fully two years old you will be as white as I am.” 
In the bird kingdom there is no fairer sight to be 
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