Abroad, page 10 by Various Authors
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>[Illustration]
For Paris quite an early start
They made the following day,
And out of windows every one
Kept looking, all the way.
And many a pretty road like this
The train went whizzing past,
Where gatekeeper, with flag and horn,
Stood by the gates shut fast.
That's Marie you see standing there:
Now, do you wonder why
A _woman_ has to blow the horn
Before the train goes by?--
Her husband is a lazy man,
He's in his cottage near,
He would not stir a step, although
The train will soon be here.
And Marie called him, "Paul, be quick--
Go shut the gate," she cried--
"Don't hurry me, there's time enough,"
The lazy man replied.
So Marie had to go, you see,
And take the horn, and blow.--
And every day it's just the same,
She always has to go.
[Illustration]
EN ROUTE
Clatter! clatter! on they go,
Past stream and gentle valley,
Until the engine wheels turn slow,
And stop at length to dally
For dinner-time full half-an-hour
Within a crowded station,
While hungry little mouths devour
The tempting cold collation
Spread in the dining-room at hand;
And then, when that is finished,
The children sally in a band,
With appetites diminished,
To look at all the folk they meet,--
The porters in blue blouses,
The white-robed priests, the nuns so neat,
The farmers and their spouses,
And all the other folk that make
A crowd in France amusing:--
Till hark! their places all must take,
Without a minute losing.
The engine puffs--away they fly,
And soon leave all behind them;
Now turn the page, and you and I
In Paris safe will find them.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
Paris, gay Paris! so bright and so fair,
Your sun is all smiles, and there's mirth in your air.
The children, though tired with their travelling, found
That the first night in Paris one's sleep is not s