CREDULITY
What Consternation fills the Hall!
Young Master Frank is miss’d;
All Day for him they seek and call
Nor through the Night desist.
Repeatedly had Frank been warned
The Gipsies’ Camp to shun,
For Truth and Cleanliness they scorned
And left good Deeds undone.
Alas for Frank! the Gipsy Queen
Had met him by the Stile,
With Tales of Fortune she’d foreseen
She did the Youth beguile.
“I’ll crown you King, and you shall ride
In golden Coach,” said she,
“You’ll ne’er repent if you decide
To follow Gipsy Lee.”
The foolish boy went off to roam
In search of Wealth and Fame,
And all forgot were Friends and Home
To his eternal Shame.
And now with limping Feet he toils
Behind the Caravans,
With Tinker’s Tools his Hand he soils
And sells both Pots and Pans.
His Parents fond their Son with Tears
Distractedly deplore:
They sought him o’er the World for Years,
But saw him nevermore.