WASHINGTON AND HIS HATCHET
Reading edition
It was Ar-bor Day in the Mos-sy Hill School, Johnny Little-john had to speak a piece that had some-thing to do with trees. He thought it would be a good plan to say some-thing about the little cherry tree that Washington spoiled with his hatch-et, when he was a little boy. This is what he said:
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He had a hatch-et—little George— A hatch-et bright and new, And sharp enough to cut a stick— A little stick—in two. He hacked and whacked and whacked and hacked, This sturd-y little man; He hacked a log and hacked a fence, As round about he ran. He hacked his father’s cher-ry tree And made an ug-ly spot; The bark was soft, the hatch-et sharp, And little George forgot. You know the rest. The father frowned And asked the rea-son why; You know the good old story runs He could not tell a lie. The boy that chopped that cher-ry tree Soon grew to be a youth; At work and books he hacked away, And still he told the truth: The youth became a fa-mous man, Above six feet in height, And when he had good work to do He hacked with all his might. He fought the ar-mies that the king Had sent across the sea; He bat-tled up and down the land To set his country free. For seven long years he, hacked and whacked With all his might and main Until the Brit-ish sailed away And did not come again.
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