IDYL CCCLXVI

THE ACCOMPANIMENTS

1. The Monthly Nurse

2. The Caudle

3. The Sentences

THE KID

1. THE MONTHLY NURSE

The sickly airs had died of damp;

Through huddling leaves the holy chime

Flagged; I, expecting Mrs. Gamp,

Thought—"Will the woman come in time?"

Upstairs I knew the matron bed

Held her whose name confirms all joy

To me; and tremblingly I said,

"Ah! will it be a girl or boy?"

And, soothed, my fluttering doubts began

To sift the pleasantness of things;

Developing the unshapen man,

An eagle baffled of his wings;

Considering, next, how fair the state

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