Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 01.pdf/332

The morn came slowly in, with rosy light,
And fair Aurora chased away the night.
All Nature smiled, awakening to life,
And all unmindful of the coming strife.
Now Chanticleer did sound his clarion horn,
And roused Dame Partlett for the coming morn;
And all the feathered brood straight took their way,
Upon the land of Keliher to stray.
Heedless of danger, they did roam about;
But Keliher was there with truncheon stout,
Smote the fond flock, with fury in his eye;—
With cluck and flutter each good fowl did die.
No funeral obsequies he gave them then,
But sternly grasped each foully murdered hen,
And savagely around his head he whirled,
And into Clark's front door-yard swiftly hurled.

Clark soon unto the breakfast-table came,
To brace with food and coffee his stout frame;
And glancing through the window he espied
Each cherished hen that had untimely died.
Straight to the village lawyer he did go;
Into his ear he poured his tale of woe.
The latter, after hearing his report,
Before a Justice brought a suit in tort.
The learned Justice, deeply read in law,
Swift from the facts did his conclusions draw;
And mulcted Keliher five dollars good,
The market value of the murdered brood.
Now, Keliher with this was not content,
But through the various stages patient went,
Until before the Court Supreme he stands,
Seeking redress at their all-powerful hands.
But all in vain! They, with decision firm,
The findings of the Justice did confirm.

So Keliher was straightway forced to pay
The judgment, and the costs of law's delay.
Since then, with wiser and with slower pace,
He pays respect unto the feathered race.