Page:The Seaside and the Fireside.djvu/122

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100
By the Fireside.
She telleth fortunes, and none complain.
  She promises one a village swain,
  Another a happy wedding-day,
  And the bride a lovely boy straightway.
  All comes to pass as she avers;
  She never deceives, she never errs.

  But for this once the village seer
  Wears a countenance severe,
And from beneath her eyebrows thin and white
  Her two eyes flash like cannons bright
  Aimed at the bridegroom in waistcoat blue,
  Who, like a statue, stands in view;
  Changing color, as well he might,
  When the beldame wrinkled and gray
  Takes the young bride by the hand,
  And, with the tip of her reedy wand
  Making the sign of the cross, doth say:—
  “ Thoughtless Angela, beware!