"There was an old woman

Who lived in a shoe;

She had so many children

She did n't know what to do:

To some she gave broth,

And to some she gave bread,

And some she whipped soundly,

And sent them to bed."

Do you find out the likeness?

A portly old Dame,—

The mother of millions,—

Britannia by name:

And—howe'er it may strike you

In reading the song—

Not stinted in space

For bestowing the throng;

Since the Sun can himself

Hardly manage to go,

In a day and a night,

From the heel to the toe.

On the arch of the instep

She builds up her throne,

And, with seas rolling under,

She sits there alone;

With her heel at the foot

Of the Himmalehs planted,

And her toe in the icebergs,

Unchilled and undaunted.

Yet though justly of all

Her fine family proud,

'Tis no light undertaking

To rule such a crowd;

Not to mention the trouble

Of seeing them fed,

And dispensing with justice

The broth and the bread.

Some will seize upon one,—

Some are left with the other,

And so the whole household

Gets into a pother.

But the rigid old Dame

Has a summary way

Of her own, when she finds

There is mischief to pay.

She just takes up the rod,

As she lays down the spoon,

And makes their rebellious backs

Tingle right soon:

Then she bids them, while yet

The sore smarting they feel,

To lie down, and go to sleep,

Under her heel!

Only once was she posed,—

When the little boy Sam,

Who had always before

Been as meek as a lamb,

Refused to take tea,

As his mother had bid,

And returned saucy answers

Because he was chid.

Not content even then,

He cut loose from the throne,

And set about making

A shoe of his own;

Which succeeded so well,

And was filled up so fast,

That the world, in amazement,

Confessed, at the last,—

Looking on at the work

With a gasp and a stare,—

That't was hard to tell which

Would be best of the pair.

Side by side they are standing

Together to-day;

Side by side may they keep

Their strong foothold for aye:

And beneath the broad sea,

Whose blue depths intervene,

May the finishing string

Lie unbroken between!