A BOY drove into the city, his wagon loaded down | |
| With food to feed the people of the British-governed town; | |
| And the little black-eyed rebel, so innocent and sly, | |
| Was watching for his coming from the corner of her eye. | |
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| His face looked broad and honest, his hands were brown and tough, | 5 |
| The clothes he wore upon him were homespun, coarse, and rough; | |
| But one there was who watched him, who long time lingered nigh, | |
| And cast at him sweet glances from the corner of her eye. | |
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| He drove up to the market, he waited in the line; | |
| His apples and potatoes were fresh and fair and fine; | 10 |
| But long and long he waited, and no one came to buy, | |
| Save the black-eyed rebel, watching from the corner of her eye. | |
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| “Now who will buy my apples?” he shouted long and loud; | |
| And “Who wants my potatoes?” he repeated to the crowd; | |
| But from all the people round him came no word of a reply, | 15 |
| Save the black-eyed rebel, answering from the corner of her eye. | |
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| For she knew that ’neath the lining of the coat he wore that day | |
| Were long letters from the husbands and the fathers far away, | |
| Who were fighting for the freedom that they meant to gain or die; | |
| And a tear like silver glistened in the corner of her eye. | 20 |
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| But the treasures,—how to get them? crept the question through her mind, | |
| Since keen enemies were watching for what prizes they might find: | |
| And she paused awhile and pondered, with a pretty little sigh; | |
| Then resolve crept through her features, and a shrewdness fired her eye. | |
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| So she resolutely walked up to the wagon old and red; | 25 |
| “May I have a dozen apples for a kiss?” she sweetly said: | |
| And the brown face flushed to scarlet; for the boy was somewhat shy, | |
| And he saw her laughing at him from the corner of her eye. | |
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| “You may have them all for nothing, and more, if you want,” quoth he. | |
| “I will have them, my good fellow, but can pay for them,” said she; | 30 |
| And she clambered on the wagon, minding not who all were by, | |
| With a laugh of reckless romping in the corner of her eye. | |
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| Clinging round his brawny neck, she clasped her angers white and small, | |
| And then whispered, “Quick! the letters! thrust them underneath my shawl! | |
| Carry back again this package, and be sure that you are spry!” | 35 |
| And she sweetly smiled upon him from the corner of her eye. | |
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| Loud the motley crowd were laughing at the strange, ungirlish freak, | |
| And the boy was scared and panting, and so dashed he could not speak; | |
| And “Miss, I have good apples,” a bolder lad did cry; | |
| But she answered, “No, I thank you,” from the corner of her eye. | 40 |
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| With the news of loved ones absent to the dear friends they would greet, | |
| Searching them who hungered for them, swift she glided through the street. | |
| “There is nothing worth the doing that it does not pay to try,” | |
| Thought the little black-eyed rebel, with a twinkle in her eye. | |
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