As I was going to the lake
I met a little rattlesnake;
I fed him with some jelly-cake,
Which made his little--

But Mrs. White interrupted Jimmy just then by saying that
she must insist on temperance selections at these
programmes, whereat Pearlie Watson's hand waved appealingly,
and Miss Barner gave her permission to speak.

"Please ma'am," Pearl said, addressing Mrs. White, "Jimmy
and me thought anything about a rattlesnake would do for
a temperance piece, and if you had only let Jimmy go on
you would have seen what happened even a snake that et
what he hadn't ought to, and please ma'am, Jimmy and me
thought it might be a good lesson for all of us."

Miss Barner thought that Pearlie's point was well taken,
and took Jimmy with her into the vestry from which he
emerged a few minutes later, flushed and triumphant, and
recited the same selection, with a possible change of
text in one place:

As I was going to the lake
I met a little rattlesnake;
I fed him on some jelly-cake,
Which made his little stomach ache.

The musical committee then sang: