The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1896-10-30
The Weston shooting Club.

But alas, and slack What look benign
Came DER us as we found our lines
Had been left at home, by oversight,
Leaving three good men in a very sad
plight.
$500 please.
We laughed and regretted it, but this
never bettered it,
We wondered how such thing could be
We looked at our poles, and the more
we considered it,
We decided that the champion fools
were we.
$500 please.
Our guns were safe, so, not wholly
bereft,
"Well Shoot" said we, ''and find plenty
of game"
So back half mile, to the team we had
left,
We plodded on foot DER the grassy
plain.
$500 please.
Again on the road, all troubles forgot,
We jollied and dollied and with mirth
made free,
Seeking game that whether they knew
it or not,
Could never be shot by happier three.
$500 please.
"Hold on just second r'shouted Harry
the bold,
Selling gun, then a run, then a bang
was beard,
And with a smile on his face that vols
umes told
Held aloft a partridge, noble bird.
$500 please.
Were we happy, and glad, and merry
we three :?
The jolliest trio you ever could see,
Riding away up the hills and then down
the plain,
A hunting and hungering and starving
for game
$500 please.
Great Scott !" shouted Harry, "Oh,
Heaven ! What luck,
As live and breathe there swims wild
duck p
And over fences and bushes, like hunt
er astray,
Harry vanished from sight and left us
to pray.
$500 please.
Many miles we drove, some way seek
ing,
To find the pond where the ducks lay
squeaking,
And joy to relate patience rewarded our
abors,
For Harry was found among friends
and neighbors.
$500 please.
The horse was hitched, boat was hired
And we knew wild geese would look very
tired,
When the three hunters bold could once
get sight,
OF the sky birds that rested from flight.
$500 please.
There they are lay low ! two beauties
SO shy,
We feared every moment that quickly
they'd fly,
The two swimming birds, Oh beautiful
sight,
With heads erect and plumage of white !!
$500 please.
Bang Bang! went the gun of the bold
hunter Harry,
Oh, how at such time, can anyone tarry,
To kill white geese and big fat patridges,
l had come miles and forgotten my
cartridges.
$500 please.
There are moments in lite when lips are
dumb,
When fate seems to hold us twixt finger
and thumb !
When pride is crushed and shame cuts
to the bone,
When fish lines and cartridges are left
at home.
$500 please.
But Harry was with us, still Harry the
bold,
And with firm hand seized the game
killed and cold.
With vigorous pulls we sought the shore,
Where we could talk the glorious shoot
ing DER.
$500 please.
Back to the landing we swiftly came,
"Who shot those ducks They are old and
tame"
Said the voice of the landlord, whose
boat we had hired,
And whose question direct, madeus look
very tired.
$500 please.
Talk of silence so dense, that one could
hear it,
Talk of chill, so cold, that ice would
tear it.
Talk of dismay and horror, in a deep,
dense pool,
Talk of three men in boat, and each
one fool.
$500 please.
"were those your ducks ?" asked Harry
the bold,
With voice that was faint and distant
and cold.
While the hunters stood with trembling
And heard the man say "Three dollars
please"
Oh, to think of it ! The shame and the
grief of it