THE JOLLY RIDE.
Reading edition
[WITH A STEEL ENGRAVING.]
Oh! for those rides, those jolly, jolly rides,
When my sister and I were young,
When our hearts were bright and our spirits light,
Of sorrow and sin unstung.
When Neddy we bestrode, with our double load,
As good at our need as an Arab steed;
And merrily pricked, though he sulked and kicked,
O’er rivulet, rock and mead.
Alas! for those rides, they are gone, they are past;
Ned and we are grown old and gray;
But thoughts of those times, like Christmas chimes,
In our hearts must ever be gay. H.