Nobody was sorry that Stingy was swallowed. Mrs. Cricky said it served
him right, but then, poor Mrs. Cricky's good wishes were often lost in
anxiety, lest harm should come to one of her own little Cricketses, for
Stingy, fifteen days before, had been known to smother and eat a little
cricket not more than a minute old. Mrs. Cricky herself would probably
have been the last person to hurt Stingy, only she could not help
feeling relieved; she said it wasn't in cricket-nature to feel
otherwise.
Father Cricky was usually too busy singing songs for the Marsh Grass
Vesper Quartette to make remarks. But this time he agreed with Mrs.
Cricky and said they would all better have their evening song and go to
sleep. And this was the song they sang:
_Lullabye
Not too fast_
Come, see where the night winds sleep
And the dews fall on the ground,
While the trees a-rustling keep,
And the stars turn round and round.
There little frogs leap and croak,
And little eels slip and slide,
And the crabs lie still and soak,
While the marsh is singing wide.
The sand hills sleep 'neath the moon
And blink away at the sea,
While they sing a little sand tune
Which is plain as plain can be.
Lullabye,
Sleep away,
Say, my little one,
Bye-bye to the day.
THE MARSH GRASS VESPER QUARTETTE
It was toward evening, and the Marsh Grass Vesper Quartette was seated
at the edge of Shiner Pond.
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