'
'Nevertheless, I claim that the lamb is not half so much an emblem of
innocence as he is of utter and profound stupidity. There is that
charming old lyric about Mary's little lamb; I can explain that.
After he came to school (which was an error of judgment at the very
beginning), he made the rumpus, you know -
"And then the teacher turned him out,
But still he lingered nee-ar,
And waited patiently about
Till Mary did appee-ar."
Of course he did. He didn't know enough to go home alone.
"And then he ran to her and laid
His head upon her arr-um,
As if to say, 'I'm not afraid;
You'll keep me from all harr-um.'"
As if a lamb could be capable of that amount of reasoning! And then
"'What makes the lamb love Mary so?
The eager children cry;
'Why, Mary loves the lamb, you know,'
The teacher did reply."
And might have added that as Mary fed the lamb three times a day and
twice on Sundays, he probably not only knew on which side his daily
bread was buttered, but also who buttered it.'
'Dreadful boy!' laughed Bell. 'Polly, pray lower the umbrella; we
are going to meet some respectable people, and we actually are too
dirty to be seen. I have really been eating dust.'
'They must be equally dusty,' said Polly, sagely. 'Why, it is the
Burtons, from Tacitas ranch!'
The Burton ranch wagon was drawn up, as its driver recognised Dr.
Winship, and he proceeded to cheer the spirits of the party by
telling them that he had passed Pancho two hours before, and that he
was busily clearing rubbish from the camping-ground.
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