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Five Minute Stories

Chapter 67: THE CLEVER PARSON.
By Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards
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Children & Young Adult ReadingPoetryShort Stories

About This Book

A lively collection of short stories and poems for children, offering simple domestic scenes, playful rhymes, brief narratives, and light moral lessons. Pieces range from tender portraits of family life and child play to fanciful nonsense verses, seasonal and holiday sketches, animal vignettes, and concise character studies, often keyed to children's imagination and daily activities. Language is straightforward and rhythmic, with songs and jingles interspersed among short tales; many pieces aim to charm or amuse while gently reinforcing kindness, curiosity, and good manners. Illustrations accompany several items, enhancing the accessible tone and appeal to young readers.

THE CLEVER PARSON.

My children, come tell me now if you have ever
Heard of the parson who was so clever.
So clever, so clever, so clever was he,
That never a cleverer parson could be.
The parson loved children; he also loved walking,
And off to the woods he was constantly stalking.
To hear the sweet birds, and to see the green trees,
And to do just exactly whate’er he might please.
The children they followed him once to the wood,—
(They loved the good parson, because he was good!)
They followed him on for many a mile
To list to his voice, and to look at his smile.
At length the children cried “Oh,—dear me!
We’re tired! as tired as tired can be!
’Tis supper time, too, while afar we thus roam;
Now please, dear parson, to carry us home!”
The children were six, and the parson was one.
Now, goodness gracious! what was to be done?
He sat himself down in the shade of a tree,
And pondered the matter most thoughtfully.
At length he exclaimed, “My dear little chicks,
I might carry one, but I can’t carry six!
Yet courage! Your parson’s good care will provide
That each of you home on his own horse shall ride!”
He drew out his jackknife so broad and so bright,
And fell to work slashing with main and with might;
Till ready there, one, two, three, four, five and six,
Lay smooth and well polished, some excellent sticks.
“Now mount your good horses, my children!” he cried.
“Now mount your good horses and merrily ride!
A pace, and a trot, and a gallop, away!
And we shall be there ere the close of the day!”
The children forgot they were “dreadfully tired!”
They seized on the hobbies, with ardour inspired.
“Gee, Dobbin! whoa, Dobbin! come up, Dobbin, do!
Oh! Parson, dear Parson, won’t you gallop, too?”
Away went the children, in frolicsome glee:
Away went the parson, as pleased as could be.
And when they arrived at the village, they cried,
“Oh, dear! and oh, dear! what a very short ride!”