StoryTitle("caps", "The Duel") ?>
Duel," by Eugene Field (1850-95), is almost the most popular humorous
poem that has come under my notice. In making such a collection as this it
is not easy to find poems at once delicate, witty, and graphic. I have taught
"The Duel" hundreds of times, and children invariably love it.
PoemStart() ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The gingham dog and the calico cat", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Side by side on the table sat;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "'Twas half-past twelve, and (what do you think!)", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Nor one nor t'other had slept a wink!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The old Dutch clock and the Chinese plate", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Appeared to know as sure as fate", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "There was going to be a terrible spat.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "(I wasn't there; I simply state", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "What was told to me by the Chinese plate!)", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The gingham dog went \"bow-wow-wow!\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And the calico cat replied \"mee-ow!\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The air was littered, an hour or so,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "With bits of gingham and calico,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "While the old Dutch clock in the chimney-place", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Up with its hands before its face,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "For it always dreaded a family row!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "(Now mind: I'm only telling you", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "What the old Dutch clock declares is true!)", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The Chinese plate looked very blue,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And wailed, \"Oh, dear! what shall we do!\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But the gingham dog and the calico cat", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Wallowed this way and tumbled that,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Employing every tooth and claw", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "In the awfullest way you ever saw—", "") ?>
PagePoem(19, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And, oh! how the gingham and calico flew!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "(Don't fancy I exaggerate!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "I got my views from the Chinese plate!)", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Next morning where the two had sat", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "They found no trace of the dog or cat;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And some folks think unto this day", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "That burglars stole the pair away!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "But the truth about the cat and the pup", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Is this: They ate each other up!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Now what do you really think of that!", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "(The old Dutch clock it told me so,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And that is how I came to know.)", "") ?>
PoemAttribution("100", SmallCapsText("Eugene Field.")) ?>
PoemEnd() ?>