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GIDEON RADAY.
29
"WATER, WIND, REPUTATION,"
I was a boy and heard this pretty story:
That Wind and Water play'd with Reputation
At hide-and-seek together.
The Water rushed adown the mountain passes,
But was discovered after long pursuing
In the deep valleys.
The Wind flew upwards:
But it was followed to the mountain summits,
And soon entrapp'd there.
Then Reputation was to be imprison'd,
And Reputation whispered
In a sonorous voice to her companions:
"Know, if you lose me—know, if once I hide me,
I'm lost for ever."
And so it was—she hid her; all inquiry
Was wasted in the seeking;
Nothing can renovate that perish'd treasure,
If thou have lost it— thou hast lost all with it.
