

FLORA’S ALBUM. 33 

Coboea. 
GOSSIPS. 
The tea goes round, — the gossips drink, — anil then 
They ’re all excitement, — how their tongues whirl 
round! — 
My feeble, faltering, dilatory pen 
Grows half affrighted ’mid the Babel sound. 
| Now changed the subject, — and they freely tell 
Their neighbors’ faults, and quite forget their own } 
Pronounce as scamp and vagrant, Mr. Nell, 
And vow as such, he does not stand alone. 
Pure scandal now! and village gossip flows 
In rich profusion from each nimble tongue: 
| Hach all the secrets of her neighbor knows, 
And wonders when her praises will be sung. 
| And then foretells, how that some city youth 
Will waste his midnight oil, to write a sonnet 
About her beauty and her matchless worth, 
With sundry hints about her cottage bonnet; 
And ’bout the wedding day, — confound this quill; | 
*T is all used up in writing these few ryhmes ; 
| No matter, —it has got these gossips still, 
And left its marks amid these twenty lines. 
JoHn 8. ADAMS. 








