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James Whitcomb Riley - At Noey`s House
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At Noey`s house--when they arrived with him--
How snug seemed everything, and neat and trim:
The little picket-fence, and little gate--
It`s little pulley, and its little weight,--
All glib as clock-work, as it clicked behind
Them, on the little red brick pathway, lined
With little paint-keg-vases and teapots
Of wee moss-blossoms and forgetmenots:
And in the windows, either side the door,
Were ranged as many little boxes more
Of like old-fashioned larkspurs, pinks and moss
And fern and phlox; while up and down across
Them rioted the morning-glory-vines
On taut-set cotton-strings, whose snowy lines
Whipt in and out and under the bright green
Like basting-threads; and, here and there between,
A showy, shiny hollyhock would flare
Its pink among the white and purple there.--
And still behind the vines, the children saw
A strange, bleached, wistful face that seemed to draw
A vague, indefinite sympathy. A face
It was of some newcomer to the place.--
In explanation, Noey, briefly, said
That it was "Jason," as he turned and led
The little fellows `round the house to show
Them his menagerie of pets. And so
For quite a time the face of the strange guest
Was partially forgotten, as they pressed
About the squirrel-cage and rousted both
The lazy inmates out, though wholly loath
To whirl the wheel for them.--And then with awe
They walked `round Noey`s big pet owl, and saw
Him film his great, clear, liquid eyes and stare
And turn and turn and turn his head `round there
The same way they kept circling--as though he
Could turn it one way thus eternally.

Behind the kitchen, then, with special pride
Noey stirred up a terrapin inside
The rain-barrel where he lived, with three or four
Little mud-turtles of a size not more
In neat circumference than the tiny toy
Dumb-watches worn by every little boy.

Then, back of the old shop, beneath the tree
Of "rusty-coats," as Noey called them, he
Next took the boys, to show his favorite new
Pet `coon--pulled rather coyly into view
Up through a square hole in the bottom of
An old inverted tub he bent above,
Yanking a little chain, with "Hey! you, sir!
Here`s _comp`ny_ come to see you, Bolivur!"
Explanatory, he went on to say,
"I named him `_Bolivur_` jes thisaway,--
He looks so _round_ and _ovalish_ and _fat_,
`Peared like no other name `ud fit but that."

Here Noey`s father called and sent him on
Some errand. "Wait," he said--"I won`t be gone
A half a` hour.--Take Bud, and go on in
Where Jason is, tel I git back agin."

Whoever _Jason_ was, they found him there
Still at the front-room window.--By his chair
Leaned a new pair of crutches; and from one
Knee down, a leg was bandaged.--"Jason done
That-air with one o` these-`ere tools _we_ call
A `_shin-hoe_`--but a _foot-adz_ mostly all
_Hardware_-store-keepers calls `em."--(_Noey_ made
This explanation later.)

                    Jason paid
But little notice to the boys as they
Came in the room:--An idle volume lay
Upon his lap--the only book in sight--
And Johnty read the title,--"Light, More Light,
There`s Danger in the Dark,"--though _first_ and best--
In fact, the _whole_ of Jason`s interest
Seemed centered on a little _dog_--one pet
Of Noey`s all uncelebrated yet--
Though _Jason_, certainly, avowed his worth,
And niched him over all the pets on earth--
As the observant Johnty would relate
The _Jason_-episode, and imitate
The all-enthusiastic speech and air
Of Noey`s kinsman and his tribute there:--
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