And while the Mother, at the door,

Stands fixed, her face with joy o'erflows,
Proud of herself, and proud of him,
She sees him in his travelling trim,
How quietly her Johnny goes.

The silence of her Idiot Boy,

What hopes it sends to Betty's heart!
He's at the guide-post-he turns right;
She watches till he 's out of sight,
And Betty will not then depart.

Burr, burr-now Johnny's lips they burr,
As loud as any mill, or near it;
Meek as a lamb the Pony moves,
And Johnny makes the noise he loves,
And Betty listens, glad to hear it.

Away she hies to Susan Gale:
Her Messenger's in merry tune;
The owlets hoot, the owlets curr,
And Johnny's lips they burr, burr, burr,
As on he goes beneath the moon.

His steed and he right well agree;
For of this Pony there's a rumor
That, should he lose his eyes
and ears,
And should he live a thousand years,
He never will be out of humor.

But then he is a horse that thinks!
And when he thinks, his pace is slack;
Now, tho' he knows poor Johnny well,
Yet, for his life, he cannot tell
What he has got upon his back.

So through the moonlight lanes they go,
And far into the moonlight dale,

And by the church, and o'er the down,
To bring a Doctor from the town,
To comfort poor old Susan Gale.

And Betty now, at Susan's side,
Is in the middle of her story,
What speedy help her Boy will bring,
With many a most diverting thing,
Of Johnny's wit, and Johnny's glory.

And Betty, still at Susan's side,
By this time is not quite so flurried;
Demure with porringer and plate
She sits, as if in Susan's fate
Her life and soul were buried.

But Betty, poor good woman! she,
You plainly in her face may read it,
Could lend out of that moment's store

Five years of happiness or more
To any that might need it.

But yet I guess that now and then
With Betty all was not so well;
And to the road she turns her ears,
And thence full many a sound she hears,
Which she to Susan will not tell.

Poor Susan moans, poor Susan groans; As sure as there 's a moon in heaven," Cries Betty, "he 'Il be back again; They'll both be here-'t is almost tenBoth will be here before eleven."

Poor Susan moans, poor Susan groans;
The clock gives warning for eleven;
"T is on the stroke-" He must be near,"
"and will soon be here,

Quoth Betty,
As sure as there's a moon in heaven."

The clock is on the stroke of twelve,
And Johnny is not yet in sight;
-The Moon's in heaven, as Betty sees,

But Betty is not quite at ease;
And Susan has a dreadful night.

And Betty, half an hour ago,
On Johnny vile reflections cast;
"A little idle sauntering Thing!"
With other names, an endless string;
But now that time is gone and past.

And Betty's drooping at the heart,
That happy time all past and gone,
"How can it be he is so late?
The Doctor he has made him wait;
Susan! they'll both be here anon.'

And Susan's growing worse and worse,
And Betty's in a sad quandary;
And then there's nobody to say
If she must go, or she must stay!
She's in a sad quandary.

The clock is on the stroke of one;
But neither Doctor nor his Guide
Appears along the moonlight road;
There's neither horse nor man abroad,
And Betty's still at Susan's side.

And Susan now begins to fear
Of sad mischances not a few,
That Johnny may perhaps be drowned;
Or lost, perhaps, and never found;
Which they must both for ever rue.

She prefaced half a hint of this

With God forbid it should be true!"
At the first word that Susan said,
Cried Betty, rising from the bed,
"Susan, I'd gladly stay with you.

I must be gone, I must away:
Consider, Johnny 's but half wise;
Susan, we must take care of him,
If he is hurt in life or limb❞—
"Oh God forbid!" poor Susan cries.

"What can I do?" says Betty, going,
"What can I do to ease your pain?
Good Susan tell me, and I'll stay;
I fear you 're in a dreadful way,
But I shall soon be back again."

"Nay, Betty, go! good Betty, go!
There's nothing that can ease my pain.”
Then off she hies; but with a prayer
That God poor Susan's life would spare,
Till she comes back again.

So, through the moonlight lane she goes, And far into the moonlight dale;

And how she ran and how she walked, And all that to herself she talked,

Would surely be a tedious tale.

In high and low, above, below,

In great and small, in round and square,
In tree and tower was Johnny seen,

In bush and brake, in black and green;
'T was Johnny, Johnny, everywhere.

And while she crossed the bridge, there came
A thought with which her heart is sore-
Johnny perhaps his horse forsook,

To hunt the moon within the brook
And never will be heard of more.

Now is she high upon the down,
Alone amid a prospect wide;
There's neither Johnny nor his Horse
Among the fern or in the gorse;
There's neither Doctor nor his Guide.

"Oh saints! what is become of him?
Perhaps he 's climbed into an oak,
Where he will stay till he is dead ;
Or, sadly he has been misled,
And joined the wandering gipsy-folk.

Or him that wicked Pony 's carried
To the dark cave, the goblin's hall;
Or in the castle he's pursuing
Among the ghosts his own undoing;
Or playing with the waterfall."

At poor old Susan then she railed,
While to the town she posts away;
"If Susan had not been so ill,
Alas! I should have had him still,
My Johnny, till my dying-day."