StoryTitle("caps", "Dame Duck's First Lecture on Education") ?>
PoemStart() ?>
PagePoem(72, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Old Mother Duck has hatched a brood ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Of ducklings, small and callow; ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Their little wings are short, their down ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Is mottled gray and yellow.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "There is a quiet little stream, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "That runs into the moat, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Where tall green sedges spread their leaves, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And water lilies float.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Close by the margin of the brook ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "The old duck made her nest,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Of straw, and leaves, and withered grass, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And down from her own breast.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "And then she sat for four long weeks ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "In rainy days and fine,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Until the ducklings all came out—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Four, five, six, seven, eight, nine.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "One peeped out from beneath her wing, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "One scrambled on her back;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"That's very rude,\" said old Dame Duck, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2DQ", "", "\"Get off! quack, quack, quack, quack!\"", "") ?>
PagePoem(73, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\" 'Tis close,\" said Dame Duck, shoving out ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "The eggshells with her bill;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Besides, it never suits young ducks ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "To keep them sitting still.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "So, rising from her nest, she said, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2DQ", "", "\"Now, children, look at me;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "A well-bred duck should waddle so, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "From side to side—d' ye see?\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Yes,\" said the little ones, and then ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "She went on to explain:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"A well-bred duck turns in its toes ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "As I do—try again.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Yes,\" said the ducklings, waddling on:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2DQ", "", "\"That's better,\" said their mother; ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"But well-bred ducks walk in a row, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Straight—one behind another.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Yes,\" said the little ducks again, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "All waddling in a row:", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Now to the pond,\" said old Dame Duck—", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Splash, splash, and in they go.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Let me swim first,\" said old Dame Duck,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2DQ", "", "\"To this side, now to that;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "There, snap at those great brown-winged flies,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "They make young ducklings fat.", "") ?>
PagePoem(74, "L0", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"Now when you reach the poultry yard,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "The hen-wife, Molly Head,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Will feed you, with the other fowls,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "On bran and mashed-up bread.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"The hens will peck and fight, but mind,", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "I hope that all of you", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "Will gobble up the food as fast", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "As well-bred ducks should do.", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0DQ", "", "\"You'd better get into the dish, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Unless it is too small;", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "In that case, I should use my foot, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And overturn it all.\"", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "The ducklings did as they were bid, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "And found the plan so good, ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L0", "", "That, from that day, the other fowls ", "") ?>
PoemLine("L2", "", "Got hardly any food.", "") ?>
PoemAttribution("85", "") ?>
PoemEnd() ?>