125
Inch-thick the dust lay on the ground,
For it had long been droughty weather:
So with his staff the Cripple wrought
Among the dust, till he had brought
The halfpennies together.
It chanced that Andrew passed that way
Just at the time; and there he found
The Cripple in the mid-day heat
Standing alone, and at his feet
He saw the penny on the ground.
He stooped and took the penny up:
And when the Cripple nearer drew,
Quoth Andrew, "Under half-a-crown,
What a man finds is all his own;
And so, my friend, good day to you."
And hence I say, that Andrew's boys
Will all be trained to waste and pillage;
And wished the press-gang or the drum
Would, with its rattling music, come—
And sweep him from the village.
