NURSERY BALLADS.

THE WANDERING COW.

"The cow has escaped from the Ark!" cried Noah—"the cow has escaped from the Ark! And wandered away and hid from the day somewhere in the nursery dark; So, Billie, be careful, and, Jimmie, go slow; 'twould be horridly awful I vow, If you in your gropings should happen to step on a poor little dun-brown cow "Now where shall we look for a little dun cow—just where is she likely to be? Far off in the camp of the soldiers tin or swimming hard by in the sea— A-swimming with joy in the saw-dust waves and tossing the boats on her horns, Or solemnly chewing the lacquered manes of the Japanese unicorns? "Or else do you think she has clambered up the sides of the mantel-piece, And there, to the tick of the nickel clock, is taking a moment of ease? Or, horrible thought, oh, terrible thought! must we fearsomely search for her In the zinc flue-pipe that leads far down through the nursery register? "Do you think that perhaps she has wandered off and has tumbled adown the stairs, Or can she be up on the bureau there a-combing her painted hairs? Is she down in the kitchen or up on the roof, or hid in the attic cold, Or has she run off to the music-box to list to the "Warrior Bold"? "Oh, where, oh, where would a dun cow go? Pray tell me if you can," cried Noah, "The rain's coming on, and I want to close up and bolt fast my Arkian door. 'Twould never do to be caught in the rain out there on the cold wet moor, For her color's not fast, and if it comes off she'll be a done cow for sure." Carlyle Smith.