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THE TREASURE OF GOLD.
261
MORAL.
So, oft in theologic wars
The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean,
And prate about an Elephant
Not one of them has seen!
THE TREASURE OF GOLD.
A LEGEND OF ITALY.
I.
A BEAUTIFUL story, my darlings,
Though exceedingly quaint and old,
Is a tale I have read in Italian,
Entitled, The Treasure of Gold.
II.
There lived near the town of Bologna
A widow of virtuous fame,
Alone with her only daughter,—
Madonna Lucrezia by name.
III.
A lady whom changing fortune
Had numbered among the poor;
And she kept an inn by the wayside,
For the use of peasant and boor.
IV.
One day at the door of the tavern
Three roving banditti appeared,
And one was a wily Venetian,
To guess by his curious beard.
