Page:Complete Works of Lewis Carroll.djvu/822

"Do you see that old trout with a turn-up-nose snout?
 (Just to speak on a pleasanter theme,)
Observe, my dear brother, our love for each other—
 He's the one I like best in the stream.

"To-morrow I mean to invite him to dine
 (We shall all of us think it a treat);
If the day should be fine, I'll just drop him a line,
 And we'll settle what time we're to meet.

"He hasn't been into society yet,
 And his manners are not of the best,
So I think it quite fair that it should be my care,
 To see that he's properly dressed."

Many words brought the wind of "cruel" and "kind,"
 And that "man suffers more than the brute":
Each several word with patience he heard,
And answered with wisdom to boot.

"What? prettier swimming in the stream,
 Than lying all snugly and flat?
Do but look at that dish filled with glittering fish,
 Has Nature a picture like that?

"What? a higher delight to be drawn from the sight
 Of fish full of life and of glee?
What a noodle you are! 'tis delightfuller far
 To kill them than let them go free!

"I know there are people who prate by the hour
 Of the beauty of earth, sky, and ocean;
Of the birds as they fly, of the fish darting by,
 Rejoicing in Life and in Motion.