The Poetry Corner

At Noey's House

By James Whitcomb Riley

At Noey's house - when they arrived with him - How snug seemed everything, and neat and trim: The little picket-fence, and little gate - It's little pulley, and its little weight, - All glib as clock-work, as it clicked behind Them, on the little red brick pathway, lined With little paint-keg-vases and teapots Of wee moss-blossoms and forgetmenots: And in the windows, either side the door, Were ranged as many little boxes more Of like old-fashioned larkspurs, pinks and moss And fern and phlox; while up and down across Them rioted the morning-glory-vines On taut-set cotton-strings, whose snowy lines Whipt in and out and under the bright green Like basting-threads; and, here and there between, A showy, shiny hollyhock would flare Its pink among the white and purple there. - And still behind the vines, the children saw A strange, bleached, wistful face that seemed to draw A vague, indefinite sympathy. A face It was of some newcomer to the place. - In explanation, Noey, briefly, said That it was "Jason," as he turned and led The little fellows 'round the house to show Them his menagerie of pets. And so For quite a time the face of the strange guest Was partially forgotten, as they pressed About the squirrel-cage and rousted both The lazy inmates out, though wholly loath To whirl the wheel for them. - And then with awe They walked 'round Noey's big pet owl, and saw Him film his great, clear, liquid eyes and stare And turn and turn and turn his head 'round there The same way they kept circling - as though he Could turn it one way thus eternally. Behind the kitchen, then, with special pride Noey stirred up a terrapin inside The rain-barrel where he lived, with three or four Little mud-turtles of a size not more In neat circumference than the tiny toy Dumb-watches worn by every little boy. Then, back of the old shop, beneath the tree Of "rusty-coats," as Noey called them, he Next took the boys, to show his favorite new Pet 'coon - pulled rather coyly into view Up through a square hole in the bottom of An old inverted tub he bent above, Yanking a little chain, with "Hey! you, sir! Here's comp'ny come to see you, Bolivur!" Explanatory, he went on to say, "I named him 'Bolivur' jes thisaway, - He looks so round and ovalish and fat, 'Peared like no other name 'ud fit but that." Here Noey's father called and sent him on Some errand. "Wait," he said - "I won't be gone A half a' hour. - Take Bud, and go on in Where Jason is, tel I git back agin." Whoever Jason was, they found him there Still at the front-room window. - By his chair Leaned a new pair of crutches; and from one Knee down, a leg was bandaged. - "Jason done That-air with one o' these-'ere tools we call A 'shin-hoe' - but a foot-adz mostly all Hardware-store-keepers calls 'em." - (Noey made This explanation later.) Jason paid But little notice to the boys as they Came in the room: - An idle volume lay Upon his lap - the only book in sight - And Johnty read the title, - "Light, More Light, There's Danger in the Dark," - though first and best - In fact, the whole of Jason's interest Seemed centered on a little dog - one pet Of Noey's all uncelebrated yet - Though Jason, certainly, avowed his worth, And niched him over all the pets on earth - As the observant Johnty would relate The Jason-episode, and imitate The all-enthusiastic speech and air Of Noey's kinsman and his tribute there: -