THRO’ THE CORNFIELD.

There’s a forest thro’ which we went to-day, Waving and green and high, With feathery tassels tall and gay Nodding against the sky; The place of all others for fairy tales, And plays of the years gone by. And this is the game we children played— I was an Ogre grim, Alice the Princess that fell asleep Down in the forest dim, And the Prince who wakened her with a kiss When he found her—that was Jim. The Prince came riding so proud and bold On a prancing corn-stalk steed, And many a blade was thrust at him, But little did Jimmy heed; And long vines plucked him to hold him back From doing that daring deed. The Ogre leaped from its hiding-place, With a menace fierce and grim, And a big green pumpkin kept the door, And scowled and leered at him; But he bravely charged and routed his foes With his trusty “Cherry-Limb.” The corn-blades dropped on their bended joints, But vainly for mercy pled, The pumpkin yielded, the Ogre turned With a horrible shriek and fled, The Princess was duly kissed, and so Sweet Alice and Jim were wed.