Stories and Poems

THE PLUM-CAKESor, The Farmer and His Three SonsBy Hannah More A farmer, who some wealth possessed,With three fine boys was also blessed;The lads were healthy, stout, and young,And neither wanted sense nor tongue.Tom, Will, and Jack, like other boys,Loved tops and marbles, sport and toys.The father scouted that false plan,That money only makes the man;But, to the best of his discerning,Was bent on giving them good learning:He was a man of observation,No scholar, yet had penetration;So, with due care, a school he sought,Where his young sons might well be taught.Quoth he, “I know not which rehearsesMost properly his themes or...

THE LADY AND THE PIE OR, KNOW THYSELF By Hannah More A worthy squire, of sober life,Had a conceited, boasting wife:Of him she daily made complaint;Herself she thought a very saint.She loved to load mankind with blameAnd on their errors build her fame.Her favorite subject of disputeWas Eve and the forbidden fruit.“Had I been Eve,” she often cried,“Man had not fallen, nor woman died;I still had kept the orders given,Nor for an apple lost my heaven;To gratify my curious mindI ne’er had ruined all mankind;Nor, from a vain desire to know,Entailed on all my race such wo.” The squire replied,...

THE TWO GARDENERSBy Hannah More Two gardeners once beneath an oakLay down to rest, when Jack thus spoke—“You must confess, dear Will, that NatureIs but a blundering kind of creature;And I—nay, why that look of terror?Could teach her how to mend her error.”“Your talk,” quoth Will, “is bold and odd;What you call Nature, I call God.”“Well, call him by what name you will.”Quoth Jack, “he manages but ill;Nay, from the very tree we’re under,I’ll prove that Providence can blunder.”Quoth Will, “Through thick and thin you dash;I shudder, Jack, at words so rash;I trust to what the Scriptures tell—He hath done...

DAN AND JANEOR, FAITH AND WORKS, A TALEBy Hannah More Good Dan and Jane were man and wife,And lived a loving kind of life;One point, however, they disputed,And each by turns his mate confuted.’Twas faith and works—this knotty questionThey found not easy of digestion.While Dan for faith alone contended,Jane equally good works defended.“They are not Christians, sure, but Turks,Who build on faith and scoff at works,”Quoth Jane;—while eager Dan replied,“By none but heathens faith’s denied.”“I’ll tell you, wife,” at length quoth Dan,“A story of a right good man—A patriarch sage, of ancient days,A man of faith, whom all must praise.In his...

THE PUPPET-SHOWA TALEBy Hannah More A noble earl—the name I spare,From reverence to the living heir—Loved pleasure; but, to speak the truthNot much refinement graced the youth.The path of pleasure which he trodWas somewhat new, and rather odd;For, that he haunted park or play,His house’s archives do not say;Or that more modish joys he felt,And would in opera transports melt;Or that he spent his morning’s primeIn Bond-street bliss till dinner-time:No treasured anecdotes recordSuch pastimes pleased the youthful lord. One single taste historians mention,A fact, unmingled with invention;It was a taste you’ll think, I fear,Somewhat peculiar for a peer,Though the rude...