When the cat is away, the mice will play.
St rike when the ir on i s hot.
Wher e ther e ’ s a will , ther e ’ s a w ay.
Y o u cannot e at your cake an d have i t to o .
Y o u mus t take the fat with t he lean.
LUCY .
She dwelt among the u nt rodden ways
Beside the springs Of Dove ;
A maid whom ther e wer e none to praise ,
And very f e w to love .
A viol et by a mossy stone
Hal f- hidden fr om the eye
Fair as a star , when only one
I s shin ing i n the sky.
She lived un known, an d few c oul d know
When Lu cy ceased to be
But she i s i n he r gr ave, a n d Oh
The difference to me .
LUCY GRAY , OR SOLITUDE.
Oft I ha d he ar d of Lucy Gr ay
An d, when I cr ossed the wi ld,
I cha nced to se e , at bre ak o f day,
The s olitary chi l d .
NO mate, no comrade Lu cy knew ;
She dwelt on a wide moor ,
The sweetest thing that ever gre w
Beside a human door !
Y o u yet may spy the fawn at play,
The har e upon the gr ee n ;
But the sweet face of Lucy Gray
Will nevermor e be se en .
To- n ight will be a stormy night,
Y o u to the town must go
And take a la nter n, Chi l d, to light
Your mother thr ough the snow.
‘5‘ That, Father ! wi ll I gla dl y do
’ T i s scar cely afternoon,
The mi n ste m l o ck has j ust str uck t wo ,
And yonder is the moon
At this the f ather raise d hi s hook,
And snapped a fagot- band ;
He plied his wor k ; an d Lucy to o k
The la nter n in he r hand .
Not blither i s the mountai n ro e ;
With ma ny a wan ton stro ke
He r feet di s per se the powder y s now,
That ri s e s up like smoke .
The sto rm came on befor e its time ,
She wa ndered up an d down
And many a hill did Lu cy climb,
But never r eached the town .
The wr etched par ents all that night
Went shouti n g far an d wide
But ther e w as neither s ou nd n o r sight
TO ser ve the m f o r a guide .
At daybr eak on the hi ll they sto o d
Tha t overl ooked the moor
And thence they sa w t he br idge o f wo od,
A f url ong fr om their door .
They wept, an d, tu rning homeward, cried,
In heaven we all shall meet
When in the snow the mother spied
The print o f Lucy ’ s feet.
Then downwar ds fr om the ste ep hill ’ s edge
They tracked the footmarks small ;
And thr ou gh the br oken hawthor n- hedge ,
And by the l ong stone- wall .
And then an Open field they cr ossed,
The ma r ks wer e s ti ll the same