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Now Mistress Gilpin, when she saw
Her husband posting down

Into the country far away,

She pulled out half-a-crown;

And thus unto the youth she said

That drove them to the Bell,

"This shall be yours, when you bring back My husband safe and well."

The youth did ride, and soon did meet

John coming back amain;

Whom in a trice he tried to stop,

By catching at his rein;

But not performing what he meant,

And gladly would have done,

The frighted steed he frighted more,

And made him faster run.

Away went Gilpin, and away

Went postboy at his heels,

The postboy's horse right glad to miss
The lumbering of the wheels.

Six gentlemen upon the road,

Thus seeing Gilpin fly,

With postboy scampering in the rear,

They raised the hue and cry:

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"Stop thief! stop thief!—a highwayman!"

Not one of them was mute;

And all and each that passed that way
Did join in the pursuit.

And now the turnpike gates again
Flew open in short space;
The toll-men thinking, as before,
That Gilpin rode a race.

And so he did, and won it too,
For he got first to town;

Nor stopped till where he had got up
He did again get down.

Now let us sing, Long live the king!
And Gilpin, long live he!

And when he next doth ride abroad
May I be there to see!

QUESTIONS AND HELPS

1. Tell what you can about the author of these verses. For what different kinds of writing did he become noted?

2. Write or tell briefly in prose the story of John Gilpin's ride. 3. Put into simpler words "a trainband captain eke was he"; "John Gilpin's spouse"; "these twice ten tedious years." 4. What was "the Bell at Edmonton"? a chaise and pair”?

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5. Why did the poet use the expression "On horseback after we"? Is it correct? 6. What is a linen draper? a calender? a frugal mind? all agog?

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7. What do we learn about the Gilpin family from the fact that they got into the chaise three doors away from their home? from the fact that Gilpin got down from the horse to wait on some customers? 8. What does the line about Betty coming downstairs tell you about where the Gilpins lived? 9. Put into correct prose the stanza beginning "So, Fair and softly,' John he cried."

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10. What did the people mean by crying, "He carries weight"? 11. Why did the turnpike-men raise the gates? 12. What was the Wash of Edmonton? What were the gambols that Gilpin played? 13. Where was Mrs. Gilpin waiting for her husband? Why didn't the horse stop? 14. A pun is the use of a word or expression in a double meaning. What was Gilpin's pun about his hat and wig? What two meanings might be given to the line "They are upon the road.” 15. Put into other words: "in merry pin"; Each comely in its kind"; "in a hungry case"; "luckless speech, and bootless boast." 16. Does the use of the word "sing" in line 16, page 100, add anything to the fun? What word would you expect? 17. Which way did the postboy ride to meet Gilpin, and what success did he have? 18. Memorize the stanza or stanzas which you like best.

Other poems of Cowper that you can read are "The Cricket," "The Retired Cat," "The Distressed Travelers, "The Nightingale and the Glowworm," "Report of an Adjudged Case" (the Nose, the Eyes, and the Spectacles), "Epitaph on a Hare," On a Spaniel called Beau killing a Young Bird," Beau's Reply," "The Snail," and "Verses supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk."

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For stories of other celebrated rides see page 51, after "Paul Revere's Ride."

THE RACE FOR THE SILVER SKATES

MARY MAPES DODGE

Hans Brinker; or the Silver Skates" is one of the best of modern stories for young people. If its author, Mrs. Dodge, had written nothing else, this would have brought her honor enough, but she is even better known as the editor of the children's magazine, St. Nicholas, from its beginning, in 1873, until the time of her death. in 1905, thirty-two years afterwards.

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Mrs. Dodge's name, when a girl, was Mary Mapes. She was a daughter of Professor Mapes, a scientist and inventor, and was born in New York City in 1838. 10 Her parents were cultured people, and among their friends were some of the brightest writers and talkers of that day.

Mary was a happy, healthy, frolicsome child, fond of fun and very fond of reading. She wrote verses on all 15 the family birthdays and holidays-in fact, there was hardly anything that she would not write verses upon.

As she grew older she helped her father with his scientific books and pamphlets, somewhat as Maria Edgeworth helped her father. She married a New York 20 lawyer, Mr. Dodge, who died a few years later, leaving her to provide for their two boys. How should she do it? That was the question which she asked herself.