MELODIES

I

THERE was an old farmer of Readall,

Who made holes in his face with a needle,

Then went far deeper in

Than to pierce through the skin,

And yet strange to say he was made beadle.

II

There was an eccentric old draper,

Who wore a hat made of brown paper,

It went up to a point,

Yet it looked out of joint,

The cause of which he said was "vapour".

III

There was once a young man of Oporta,

Who daily got shorter and shorter,

The reason he said

Was the hod on his head,

Which was filled with the heaviest mortar.

His sister, named Lucy O’Finner,

Grew constantly thinner and thinner;

The reason was plain,

She slept out in the rain,

And was never allowed any dinner.