The Little Dog Barked At The Buggy

Mr. Downey O’Gloom, with pardonable pride
In his horse and his buggy, went out for a ride.
The road was all level, his horse it was gay,
Great arches of greenness o’ershadowed the way,
There was joy in his heart and a light in his eye,
And he gave a brisk nod to the folks he flew by,
And his lips were just framing themselves to a song,
So merrily, cheerily howled he along,
When—a little dog barked at the buggy; O dear!
A terrier barked at the buggy!
The horse did not mind it, but Downey got mad,
And he—thought—an expression decidedly bad;
And he whipped at the dog, but he missed him, of course;
And he scowled at the sidewalks, and jerked at the horse,
While the terrier, plainly quite dogged in mind,
With barking obstreperous, followed behind,
And Downey O’Gloom, in a mood far from sweet,
Went whirling along the sedate village street,
While the little dog barked at the buggy; O dear!
The terrier barked at the buggy.
And Downey no more had a song in his throat,
For his heart was attuned to the terrier’s note;
And Downey no more had a light in his eye,
For that one little cur overshadowed the sky;
And the road grew uneven with many a jolt,
And the new buggy rattled in linchpin and bolt,
And the trees gave no shade, and the friends he passed by
All flung him a bantering cast of the eye,
For—the little dog barked at the buggy; O dear!
The terrier barked at the buggy.
Fellow drivers that speed on life’s road to death’s doom,
Let us see our own image in Downey O’Gloom!
How often we travel with laughter and song,
Till some cross little worry comes barking along,
And then, like a flash, all the sunshine is dead,
And bare are the boughs of the trees overhead,
And the road is all ruts, and the birds fly away,
And the peace is all gone from the heart of the day.
While the little dog barks at our buggy; O dear!
The terrier barks at our buggy.