A COUNTRY BOY'S SOLILOQUY.
Reading edition
BY CLARA LOUISE ANGEL.
When the blackbird twitters blithely on the school-room window-sill, And I hear the cattle lowing from the pasture on the hill, When the hollyhocks are peeping through the widely open door, And the sunshine flickers through the leaves across the school-room floor, My truant mind don't seem inclined to work this endless sum: I'm a-wishin' I were fishin', and vacation days had come. I long to roam about the fields, to ride on loads of hay. To pluck the yellow buttercups that grow beside the way, To hunt for eggs, go berrying, and vault the meadow fence; But oh! the joy to fill your heart with pleasure most intense: To bait your hook beside the brook, where little trout appear! How I'm wishin' I were fishin', and vacation days were here! When the holidays have come at last, like happy golden dreams, I'll speed away, all blithe and gay, and seek the meadow streams. Oh, then my mind will be at peace; my hours will be sublime— Though now I'm groaning over books, but thinkin' all the time Of little trout that dart about beneath the waters clear, And a-wishin' I were fishin', and vacation days were here!