ONE night the Brownies stood beside
A long canal, whose silent tide
Connected seaboard cities great
With inland sections of the state.
The laden boats, so large and strong,
Were tied to trees by hawsers long;
No boatmen stood by helm or oar,
No mules were tugging on the shore;
All work on land and water too
Had been abandoned by the crew.
Said one: "We see, without a doubt,
What some dispute has brought about.
Perhaps a strike for greater pay,
For even rates, or shorter day,
Has caused the boats to loiter here
With cargoes costing some one dear.
These cabbages so large and round
Should, long ere this, the dish have found,
Upon some kitchen-stove or range
To spread an odor rich and strange;
Those squashes, too, should not be lost
By long exposure to the frost,
When they would prove so great a prize
To old and young, if baked in pies.
And then those pippins, ripe and fair,
From some fine orchard picked with care,
 
Should not to rot and ruin go,
Though work is hard or wages low,
When thousands would be glad to stew
The smallest apples there in view."
 
Another said: "We lack the might
To set the wrongs of labor right,
But by the power within us placed
We'll see that nothing goes to waste.
So every hand must be applied
That boats upon their way may glide."
Then some ran here and there with speed
To find a team to suit their need.
A pair of mules, that grazed about
The grassy banks, were fitted out
 
With straps and ropes without delay
To start the boats upon their way;
And next some straying goats were found,
Where in a yard they nibbled round
Destroying plants of rarest kind
That owners in the town could find.
Soon, taken from their rich repast,
They found themselves in harness fast;
Then into active service pressed
They trod the tow-path with the rest.
 
On deck some Brownies took their stand
To man the helm, or give command,
And oversee the work; while more
Stayed with the teams upon the shore.
 
At times the rope would drag along
And catch on snags or branches long,
 
And cause delays they ill could bear,
For little time they had to spare.
With accidents they often met,
And some were bruised and more were wet;
Some tumbled headlong down the hold;
And some from heaping cargoes rolled.
But what care Brownies for a bruise,
Or garments wet, from hat to shoes,
When enterprises bold and new
 
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