"Off the nursery bureau
(That line is too long!)
It made him quite ill,
So endeth my song.

"For Yappy he died
Just two months ago,
And we oughtn't to sing
At a funeral, you know."

The "Poem" met with immense applause; all the children laughed, and
shouted, and clapped, till the loft rang again. But Clover kept her face
perfectly, and sat down as demure as ever, except that the little
dimples came and went at the corners of her mouth; dimples, partly
natural, and partly, I regret to say, the result of a pointed
slate-pencil, with which Clover was in the habit of deepening them every
day while she studied her lessons.

"Now," said Katy, after the noise had subsided, "now come 'Scripture
Verses,' by Miss Elsie and Joanna Carr. Hold up your head, Elsie, and
speak distinctly; and oh, Johnnie, you _mustn't_ giggle in that way
when it comes your turn!"

But Johnnie only giggled the harder at this appeal, keeping her hands
very tight across her mouth, and peeping out over her fingers. Elsie,
however, was solemn as a little judge, and with great dignity began:

"An angel with a fiery sword,
Came to send Adam and Eve abroad