very much astonished the writer!

I gazed from the casement,

And wondered, with ever-increasing amazement,

What the look of alarm on the Moon's frowning

face meant.

Original Size

His nose peering out from a very close cap,

His fingers in mittens, his chin in a wrap,

Like a tourist prepared for a very cold snap!

On, on he sped, through the regions of space,

With very short legs at a very long pace,

His well-filled knapsack lashed to his back,

Extra shoes and canteen strapped under his pack,

His coat-tails flying away on his track—

Entangled far off in the Pleiades,

On the horns of the Bull and Orion's knees.

For there was the Moon, and, strange to say,

There too was the Earth, just over the way,

Like the Doctor's globe, or a huge balloon,

Forty times larger, perhaps, than the Moon,

All covered with circles, and looming in space:

There were groups upon it, and every face

Was turned one way; and very long-jointed

Telescopes at the sky were pointed;—

And there, with a terrible rushing and humming

And hissing of breath, was a Comet a-coming!

So long and so queer, and as it came nearer

It grew every moment longer and queerer!

Until I made out such a comical chap,

In a red-flannel coat with a very long flap,

On, on he came,

With nose like a flame,

So red I was sure the fellow'd been drinking

(His canteen was empty, I knew by the clinking)