Poisonous Fruit – 1807

By Mrs. Elizabeth Turner
from The Daisy; or, Cautionary Stories in Verse
1807

Poisonous Fruit

As Tommy and his sister Jane
Were walking down a shady lane,
They saw some berries, bright and red,
That hung around and over head;

And soon the bough they bended down,
To make the scarlet fruit their own;
And part they ate, and part, in play,
They threw about, and flung away.

But long they had not been at home
Before poor Jane and little Tom
Were taken sick and ill, to bed,
And since, I’ve heard, they both are dead.

Alas! had Tom understood
That fruit in lanes is seldom good,
He might have walk’d with little Jane
Again along the shady lane.