s: Song, "Phoebus, arise"       William Drummond


s: Dawn-angels                  A. Mary F. Robinson


s: Night's Mardi Gras           Edward J. Wheeler


s: spring"                     Robert Browning


s: A Starling's Spring Rondel   James Cousins


s: Spring, from "In Memoriam"   Alfred Tennyson


s: Nature sees"                Robert Burns


s: Home Thoughts, from Abroad   Robert Browning


s: Corinna's Going a-Maying     Robert Herrick


s: Summer Longings              Denis Florence MacCarthy


s: To the Willow-tree           Robert Herrick


s: The Holly-tree               Robert Southey


s: "Woodman, Spare that Tree"   George Pope Morris


s: The Beech Tree's Petition    Thomas Campbell


s: The Brook's Song             Alfred Tennyson


s: White Azaleas                Harriet McEwen Kimball


s: Four-leaf Clover             Ella Higginson


s: Lessons from the Gorse       Elizabeth Barrett Browning


s: To the Man-of-War-Bird       Walt Whitman


s: Lament of a Mocking-bird     Frances Anne Kemble


s: merry lark                  Hartley Coleridge


s: The Wood-Dove's Note         Emily Huntington Miller


s: Harold's Pilgrimage"        George Gordon Byron


s: A Passer-by                  Robert Bridges


s: The Port o' Heart's Desire   John S. McGroarty


s: "How's My Boy"               Sydney Dobell


s: The Mariner's Dream          William Dimond


s: The Fisher's Widow           Arthur Symons


s: The Leadman's Song           Charles Dibdin


s: Coridon's Song               John Chalkhill


s: Wields"                     Ernest McGaffey


s: The Angler's Invitation      Thomas Tod Stoddart


s: The Angler's Wish            Izaak Walton


s: A Maine Trail                Gertrude Huntington McGiffert


s: The King's Highway           John S. McGroarty


s: Ballad of Low-lie-down       Madison Cawein


s: whispers"                   Georgiana Goddard King


s: "I'd be a Butterfly"         Thomas Haynes Bayly


s: "I'm not a Single Man"       Thomas Hood


s: The Belle of the Ball-room   Winthrop Mackworth Praed


s: My Mistress's Boots          Frederick Locker-Lampson


s: Nell Gwynne's Looking-Glass  Laman Blanchard


s: A Dialogue from Plato        Austin Dobson


s: The Ladies of St. James's    Austin Dobson


s: The Cure's Progress          Austin Dobson


s: A Ballad of Dead Ladies      Justin Huntly McCarthy


s: If I Were King               Justin Huntly McCarthy


s: The Poet and the Wood-louse  Helen Parry Eden


s: Throckmorton's Bullfinch    William Cowper


s: Geist's Grave                Matthew Arnold


s: Villon's Ballade             Andrew Lang


s: The World's Way              Thomas Bailey Aldrich


s: at Saint Praxed's Church    Robert Browning


s: The Deacon's Masterpiece     Oliver Wendell Holmes


s: The Philosopher's Scales     Jane Taylor


s: The V-a-s-e                  James Jeffrey Roche


s: Then Ag'in                   Sam Walter Foss


s: Women's Longing              John Fletcher


s: Woman's Will                 John Godfrey Saxe


s: Epigram                      Byron's epitaph for Pitt


s: The Willow-tree              William Makepeace Thackeray


s: The Jam-pot                  Rudyard Kipling


s: The Poster-girl              Carolyn Wells


s: Four Seasons fill the measure of the year;


s: There are four seasons in the mind of man:


s: He has his lusty Spring, when fancy clear


s: Spring's honeyed cud of youthful thought he loves


s: His soul has in its Autumn, when his wings


s: On mists in idleness--to let fair things


s: Pass by unheeded as a threshold brook:--


s: He has his Winter too of pale misfeature,


s: Or else he would forego his mortal nature.


s: Something to live for came to the place,


s: Cooing, and laughter, and gurgles, and cries,


s: Chaos of hopes, and of raptures, and sighs,


s: Last year, like all years, the rose and the thorn;


s: But heaven stooped under the roof on the morn


s: What makes the light in them sparkle and spin?


s: What makes your forehead so smooth and high?


s: What makes your cheek like a warm white rose?


s: I saw something better than any one knows.


s: Whence that three-cornered smile of bliss?


s: Feet, where did you come, you darling things?


s: From the same box as the cherubs' wings.


s: God thought about you, and so I am here.


s: To spare thee word of vales and streams,


s: Sore wounds that none might take and live.


s: Transform them then and make them doves,


s: You'll rhyme and woo, and fight and joke,


s: He'll dance, and laugh, and crow; he'll do


s: You shall--think of it!--look on flowers,


s: Blue eyes, against the whiteness pressed


s: While grandmother smooths the golden curl.


s: Or the love that came with the helpless one;


s: Like rose-hued sea-flowers toward the heat


s: Ope if you touch, though close upcurled,--


s: Then, even as warriors grip their brands


s: They close, clenched hard like tightening bands.


s: The sweetest flowers in all the world,--


s: Love, while the sweet thing laughs and lies,


s: Their glance might cast out pain and sin,


s: Two little feet, so small that both may nestle


s: Dimpled, and soft, and pink as peach-tree blossoms,


s: How can they walk among the briery tangles,


s: These rose-white feet, along the doubtful future,


s: Alas! since Woman has the heavier burden,


s: Love, for a while, will make the path before them


s: Will cull away the brambles, letting only


s: But when the mother's watchful eyes are shrouded


s: And these dear feet are left without her guiding,


s: How will they be allured, betrayed, deluded,


s: Into what dreary mazes will they wander,


s: Will they go stumbling blindly in the darkness


s: Or find the upland slopes of Peace and Beauty,


s: Will they go toiling up Ambition's summit,


s: Or in some nameless vale, securely sheltered,


s: Some feet there be which walk Life's track unwounded,


s: Some hearts there be to which this life is only


s: But these are few.  Far more there are who wander


s: Who find their journey full of pains and losses,


s: How shall it be with her, the tender stranger,


s: Before whose unstained feet the world's rude highway


s: Ah! who may read the future?  For our darling


s: And pray that He who feeds the crying ravens


s: Soft little hands that stray and clutch,


s: Close sleep as flowers at night that fold,


s: Wandering outstretched with wilful touch?


s: Hopes, fears, prayers, longings, joys and woes,--


s: Round pieces dropped from out the skies.


s: The wild wind blew him to my swinging door,


s: With flakes of tawny foam from off the shore,


s: And shivering spindrift whirled across the rocks.


s: Flung down the sky, the wheeling swallow-flocks


s: Cried him a greeting, and the lordly woods,


s: Cast down their russet cloaks and golden hoods,


s: And bid their dancing leaflets trip and run


s: Therefore the sea's swift fire is in his veins,


s: Therefore the storm-wind shall his comrade be,


s: That strips the hills and sweeps the cowering plains.


s: October, shot with flashing rays and rains,


s: The stress and splendor of the roaring gales,


s: The creaking boughs shall croon him fairy tales,


s: And the sea's kisses set his blood aglow,


s: While in his ears the eternal bugles blow.


s: On parent knees, a naked new-born child,


s: Weeping thou sat'st while all around thee smiled:


s: So live, that, sinking to thy life's last sleep,


s: Calm thou may'st smile, while all around thee weep.


s: "Who bears upon his baby brow the round and top of sovereignty."


s: Till thou shalt find a queen-handmaiden,


s: Thou dost enter, love-crowned, and there


s: For we that love, ah! we love so blindly,


s: Up from thy sweet mouth,--up to thy brow,


s: As to one heaven-chosen among his peers.


s: My Saul, than thy brethren taller and fairer,


s: --A wreath not of gold, but palm.  One day,


s: Will snatch at thy crown.  But march on, glorious,


s: As thou sittest at the feet of God victorious,


s: Will that smooth brow o'er Hansard frown,


s: So fair, so dear, so warm upon my bosom,


s: Sleep on, my little bird, my lamb, my blossom;


s: What is it God hath given me to cherish,


s: This living, moving wonder which is mine--


s: Mine only?  Leave it with me or I perish,


s: Dear Lord, 'tis wonderful beyond all wonder,


s: One with myself, yet just so far asunder


s: Flesh of my flesh, and yet so subtly linking


s: New selfs with old, all things that I have been


s: With present joys beyond my former thinking


s: There life began, and here it links with heaven,


s: The golden chain of years scarce dipped adown


s: From birth, ere once again a hold is given


s: Seen, held in arms and clasped around so tightly,--


s: My love, my bird, I will not let thee go.


s: Yet soon the little rosy feet must lightly


s: Mine, Lord, all mine Thy gift and loving token.


s: Mine--yes or no, unseen its soul divine?


s: Mine by the chain of love with links unbroken,


s: And dropped in the grave--God's lap--our wee


s: Into the world he looked with sweet surprise;


s: The children laughed so when they saw his eyes.


s: He reached--a pale hand took one rosebud out.


s: "And that was all--quite all!"  No, surely!  But


s: The children cried so when his eyes were shut.


s: She is not dead, but sleepeth.--Luke viii. 52.


s: The mother took it from the nurse's arms,


s: And hushed its fears, and soothed its vain alarms,


s: And God doth take it from the mother's arms,


s: From present griefs, and future unknown harms,


s: She touched a bridge of flowers--those feet,


s: We said, Dear Christ!--our hearts bowed down


s: The grapes hung purpling, range on range;


s: And all our hopes were changed to fears,


s: Wrapped her from head to foot in flowers...


s: There was an old woman who lived in a shoe,


s: She had so many children she didn't know what to do;


s: She gave them some broth without any bread;


s: Then whipped them all soundly and put them to bed.


s: And his bullets were made of lead, lead, lead;


s: And knocked it right off his head, head, head.


s: There was an old woman, and what do you think?


s: She lived upon nothing but victuals and drink:


s: Victuals and drink were the chief of her diet:


s: Yet this little old woman could never be quiet.


s: She went to a baker to buy her some bread,


s: And when she came home, her husband was dead;


s: And when she came back her husband was well.


s: If I had as much money as I could spend,


s: Old clothes to sell, old clothes to sell;


s: And all the trees were bread and cheese,


s: He put in his thumb, and pulled out a plum,


s: There was a crooked man, and he went a crooked mile.


s: He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile:


s: He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse,


s: And they all lived together in a little crooked house.


s: Little Boy Blue, come blow up your horn,


s: The sheep's in the meadow, the cow's in the corn;


s: But where is the boy that looks after the sheep?


s: There was an old woman lived under a hill,


s: And if she's not gone, she lives there still.


s: I've been to London to look at the Queen.


s: I frightened a little mouse under the chair.


s: There were two blackbirds sitting on a hill,


s: The one named Jack, the other named Jill;


s: Baa, baa, black sheep, have you any wool?


s: And one for the little boy that lives in the lane.


s: He called for his pipe, and he called for his bowl,


s: Every fiddler, he had a fiddle, and a very fine fiddle had he;


s: Twee tweedle dee, tweedle dee, went the fiddlers.


s: Oh, there's none so rare, as can compare


s: To see a fine lady ride on a white horse,


s: Rings on her fingers, and bells on her toes,


s: Hector Protector was dressed all in green;


s: The Queen did not like him, no more did the King;


s: So Hector Protector was sent back again.


s: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers;


s: A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked;


s: If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,


s: Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?


s: That the baker may take it and into rolls make it,


s: "Shall I come in and bite off your threads?"


s: "Oh, no, I'll not, I'll help you to spin."


s: "That may be so, but you don't come in!"


s: And Betty's a lady, and wears a gold ring;


s: And Johnny's a drummer, and drums for the King.


s: When the wind blows the cradle will rock;


s: When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall,


s: Down will come baby, bough, cradle, and all.


s: To market, to market, to buy a plum bun,


s: Leave them alone, and they'll come home,


s: But when she awoke, she found it a joke,


s: She found them indeed, but it made her heart bleed,


s: For they'd left their tails behind them!


s: It happened one day, as Bo-peep did stray,


s: There she espied their tails side by side,


s: And tried what she could, as a shepherdess should,


s: That each tail should be properly placed.


s: We will not grudge him seeds and stocks,


s: Said little Robin Redbreast, "Catch me if you can."


s: Little Robin Redbreast jumped upon a wall,


s: Merry are the bells, and merry would they ring,


s: Merry was myself, and merry could I sing;


s: With a merry ding-dong, happy, gay, and free,


s: Waddle goes your gait, and hollow are your hose:


s: Noddle goes your pate, and purple is your nose:


s: Merry is your sing-song, happy, gay, and free;


s: With a merry ding-dong, happy let us be!


s: Merry have we met, and merry have we been;


s: Merry let us part, and merry meet again;


s: With our merry sing-song, happy, gay, and free,


s: The owl and the eel and the warming-pan,


s: He'd gone for a ride on his rolling-pin.


s: So they all came back by the way of the town,


s: And turned the meeting-house upside down.


s: That milked the cow with the crumpled horn


s: That married the man all tattered and torn


s: This is the cock that crowed in the morn


s: That waked the priest all shaven and shorn


s: That kept the cock that crowed in the morn


s: There once was a wood, and a very thick wood,


s: So thick that to walk was as much as you could;


s: But a sunbeam got in, and the trees understood.


s: I went to this wood, at the end of the snows,


s: Only one!  Shall I show you the place where it grows?


s: There once was a house, and a very dark house,


s: As dark, I believe, as the hole of a mouse,


s: Or a tree in my wood, at the thick of the boughs.


s: I went to this house, and I searched it aright,


s: I opened the chambers, and I found a light;


s: Only one!  Shall I show you this little lamp bright?


s: There once was a cave, and this very dark cave


s: One day took a gift from an incoming wave;


s: And I made up my mind to know what the sea gave.


s: I took a lit torch, I walked round the ness


s: When the water was lowest; and in a recess


s: With a pearl in his mouth that was precious to me,


s: His little dark mouth like my cave of the sea!


s: He blooms like a primrose!  He shines like a light!"


s: Put your hand in his mouth!  Do you feel?  He can bite!


s: Here sits the Lord Mayor, here sit his two men,


s: Here sits the cock, and here sits the hen;


s: Here sit the chickens, and here they go in,


s: This little pig cried wee, wee, all the way home.


s: E was an Esquire, with pride on his brow;


s: O was an Oysterman, who went about town;


s: Y was a Youth, that did not love school;


s: The Whole are called nine parts of speech,


s: Guess her name, three times I've telled it.


s: If you'll tell me this riddle, I'll give you a ring.


s: Yet thieves break in and steal the gold.


s: Now they tramp, now they champ, now they stand still.


s: All went together to seek a bird's nest;


s: To frighten the terrible Thomas a Tattamus!


s: Tell me how many T's there are in all THAT!


s: A stick in his hand, a stone in his throat,


s: If you'll tell me this riddle, I'll give you a groat.


s: All the king's horses and all the king's men


s: Cannot put Humpty Dumpty together again.


s: (A man, a stool, a leg of mutton, and a dog.)


s: For want of the shoe, the horse was lost;


s: For want of the horse, the rider was lost;


s: For want of the rider, the battle was lost;


s: For want of the battle, the kingdom was lost;


s: And all from the want of a horseshoe nail.


s: Cut your nails on Monday, cut them for news;


s: Cut them on Tuesday, a pair of new shoes;


s: Cut them on Wednesday, cut them for health;


s: Cut them on Thursday, cut them for wealth;


s: Cut them on Saturday, a journey you'll go;


s: Cut them on Sunday, you'll cut them for evil,


s: For all the next week you'll be ruled by the devil.


s: Sneeze on a Monday, you sneeze for danger;


s: Sneeze on a Tuesday, you'll kiss a stranger;


s: Sneeze on a Wednesday, you sneeze for a letter;


s: Sneeze on a Thursday, for something better;


s: Sneeze on a Friday, you sneeze for sorrow;


s: Sneeze on a Saturday, your sweetheart to-morrow;


s: The devil will have you the whole of the week.


s: Saturday's child works hard for its living,


s: And a child that's born on the Sabbath day


s: "Where are you going, and what do you wish?"


s: "We have come to fish for the herring fish


s: And the wind that sped them all night long


s: "Now cast your nets wherever you wish,--


s: So cried the stars to the fishermen three,


s: Then down from the skies came the wooden shoe,


s: And some folk thought 'twas a dream they'd dreamed


s: But I shall name you the fishermen three:


s: And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies


s: Where the old shoe rocked the fishermen three:--


s: Have you ever heard of the Sugar-Plum Tree?


s: It blooms on the shore of the Lollypop sea


s: The fruit that it bears is so wondrously sweet


s: That good little children have only to eat


s: When you've got to the tree, you would have a hard time


s: The tree is so tall that no person could climb


s: To the boughs where the sugar-plums swing!


s: But up in that tree sits a chocolate cat,


s: And this is the way you contrive to get at


s: You say but the word to that gingerbread dog


s: That the chocolate cat is at once all agog,


s: And the chocolate cat goes cavorting around


s: And the sugar-plums tumble, of course, to the ground--


s: There are marshmallows, gumdrops, and peppermint canes,


s: And you carry away of the treasure that rains,


s: So come, little child, cuddle closer to me


s: And I'll rock you away to that Sugar-Plum Tree


s: When the Sleepy Man comes with the dust on his eyes,


s: He shuts up the earth, and he opens the skies.


s: He smiles through his fingers, and shuts up the sun;


s: The stars that he loves he lets out one by one.


s: He comes from the castles of Drowsy-boy Town;


s: At the touch of his hand the tired eyelids fall down.


s: He comes with a murmur of dream in his wings;


s: And whispers of mermaids and wonderful things.


s: Then the top is a burden, the bugle a bane;


s: When one would be faring down Dream-a-way Lane.


s: When one would be wending in Lullaby Wherry,


s: To Sleepy Man's Castle, by Comforting Ferry.


s: Auld Daddy Darkness creeps frae his hole,


s: Stir the fire till it lowes, let the bairnie sit,


s: See him in the corners hidin' frae the licht,


s: See him at the window gloomin' at the nicht;


s: Turn up the gas licht, close the shutters a',


s: An' Auld Daddy Darkness will flee far awa'.


s: Awa' to hide the birdie within its cosy nest,


s: Awa' to lap the wee flooers on their mither's breast,


s: Awa' to loosen Gaffer Toil frae his daily ca',


s: For Auld Daddy Darkness is kindly to a'.


s: He comes when we're weary to wean's frae oor waes,


s: He comes when the bairnies are getting aff their claes;


s: To cover them sae cosy, an' bring bonnie dreams,


s: So Auld Daddy Darkness is better than he seems.


s: Steek yer een, my wee tot, ye'll see Daddy then;


s: He's in below the bed claes, to cuddle ye he's fain;


s: Noo nestle to his bosie, sleep and dream yer fill,


s: Till Wee Davie Daylicht comes keekin' owre the hill.


s: Wee Willie Winkie rins through the town,


s: Upstairs and doon stairs, in his nicht-gown,


s: Tirlin' at the window, cryin' at the lock,


s: "Are the weans in their bed?--for it's noo ten o'clock."


s: The cat's singin' gay thrums to the sleepin' hen,


s: The doug's speldered on the floor, and disna gie a cheep;


s: But here's a waukrife laddie, that winna fa' asleep.


s: Onything but sleep, ye rogue!--glowrin' like the moon,


s: Rattlin' in an airn jug wi' an airn spoon,


s: Rumblin', tumblin' roun' about, crawin' like a cock,


s: Skirlin' like a kenna-what--wauknin' sleepin' folk!


s: Hey, Willie Winkie! the wean's in a creel!


s: Waumblin' aff a bodie's knee like a vera eel,


s: Ruggin' at the cat's lug, and ravellin' a' her thrums:


s: Hey, Willie Winkie!--See, there he comes!


s: "White sand, white sand," he softly cries,


s: Blue eyes, gray eyes, black eyes, and brown,


s: Leads them through the sweet green shadows,


s: Weep not, my wanton, smile upon my knee;


s: When thou art old there's grief enough for thee.


s: Weep not, my wanton, smile upon my knee,


s: Thou blessed soul, what canst thou fear?


s: Which thee shall cherish, clothe, and feed,


s: Nor such like swaddling-clothes as these.


s: Have purchased wealth, my babe, for thee,


s: Though thou, my babe, perceiv'st it not.


s: And it's O! sweet, sweet! and a lullaby.


s: Where they sought Him, there they found Him,


s: Does wee lammy ken that its daddy's no here?


s: Ye're rocking full sweetly on mammy's warm knee,


s: But daddy's a-rocking upon the salt sea.


s: The wild wind is raving, and mammy's heart's sair;


s: The wild wind is raving, and ye dinna care.


s: Sing baloo, loo, lammy, sing baloo, my dear;


s: Sing baloo, loo, lammy, for mother is here.


s: My wee bairnie's dozing, it's dozing now fine,


s: And O may its wakening be blither than mine!


s: O, hush thee, my babie, thy sire was a knight,


s: Thy mother a lady, both lovely and bright;


s: The woods and the glens, from the towers which we see,


s: They are all belonging, dear babie, to thee.


s: O, fear not the bugle, though loudly it blows,


s: It calls but the warders that guard thy repose;


s: Their bows would be bended, their blades would be red,


s: Ere the step of a foeman draws near to thy bed.


s: O, hush thee, my babie, the time soon will come,


s: When thy sleep shall be broken by trumpet and drum;


s: Then hush thee, my darling, take rest while you may,


s: For strife comes with manhood, and waking with day.


s: While my little one, while my pretty one, sleeps.


s: Father will come to his babe in the nest,


s: Sleep, my little one, sleep, my pretty one, sleep.


s: The crickets long have ceased their mirth;


s: (Tears on the eyelids that waver and weep!)


s: Dew on the eyes that will sparkle at dawn!


s: Yet he laughs and cries, and eats and drinks,


s: And chuckles and crows, and nods and winks,


s: Punctured by pins, and tortured by fears,


s: He need not laugh, for he'll find it so!


s: Out from the shore of the great unknown,


s: Of the unknown sea that reels and rolls,


s: Specked with the barks of little souls,--


s: Barks that were launched on the other side,


s: And slipped from Heaven on an ebbing tide!


s: What does he think of his mother's eyes?


s: What does he think of his mother's hair?


s: What does he think of his mother's breast,


s: What does he think when her quick embrace


s: Deep where the heart-throbs sink and swell


s: 'Skeeters am a hummin' on de honeysuckle vine,--


s: Sandman am a comin' to dis little coon of mine,--


s: Silv'ry moon am shinin' in de heabens up above,


s: Bobolink am pinin' fo' his little lady love:


s: Fly away, Kentucky Babe, fly away to rest,


s: Lay yo' kinky, woolly head on yo' mammy's breast,--


s: Daddy's in de cane-brake wid his little dog and gun,--


s: 'Possum fo' yo' breakfast when yo' sleepin' time is done,--


s: Bogie man'll catch yo' sure unless yo' close yo' eyes,


s: Waitin' jes outside de doo' to take yo' by surprise:


s: Sleep, little ladies!  And they slept well.


s: Pink was the shell within, silver without;


s: "What are they dreaming of?  Who can tell?"


s: Started a green linnet out of the croft;


s: His face still warmed by God's own smile,


s: Aye whisper, though their pows be bauld,


s: 'Tis bedtime; say your hymn, and bid "Good-night;


s: God bless Mamma, Papa, and dear ones all."


s: Your half-shut eyes beneath your eyelids fall,


s: Another minute, you will shut them quite.


s: Yes, I will carry you, put out the light,


s: And tuck you up, although you are so tall!


s: What will you give me, sleepy one, and call


s: Her rosy palms were joined in trustful bliss,


s: Her heart next mine beat gently, soft and warm


s: She nestled to me, and, by Love's command,


s: Paid me my precious wages--"Baby's Kiss."


s: The world is so full of a number of things,


s: I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings.


s: I saw them in their curious nests, close couching, slyly peer


s: To leave unmoved the creatures small whose home was in the wood.


s: And here, even now, above my head, a lusty rogue doth sing;


s: He pecks his swelling breast and neck, and trims his little wing.


s: And if I don't hurt her she'll do me no harm.


s: So I'll not pull her tail, nor drive her away,


s: She shall sit by my side, and I'll give her some food;


s: And she'll love me because I am gentle and good.


s: And thus show her thanks for my kindness to her.


s: I'll not pinch her ears, nor tread on her paw,


s: Lest I should provoke her to use her sharp claw;


s: I never will vex her, nor make her displeased,


s: There's a merry brown thrush sitting up in the tree.


s: "He's singing to me!  He's singing to me!"


s: And what does he say, little girl, little boy?


s: And the brown thrush keeps singing, "A nest do you see,


s: And five eggs, hid by me in the juniper-tree?


s: Don't meddle!  Don't touch! little girl, little boy,


s: So the merry brown thrush sings away in the tree,


s: And he sings all the day, little girl, little boy,


s: 'Tis the voice of a sluggard; I heard him complain,


s: "You have waked me too soon; I must slumber again";


s: As the door on its hinges, so he on his bed


s: Turns his sides, and his shoulders, and his heavy head.


s: "A little more sleep, and a little more slumber";


s: Thus he wastes half his days, and his hours without number;


s: And when he gets up, he sits folding his hands


s: Or walks about saunt'ring, or trifling he stands.


s: I passed by his garden, and saw the wild brier


s: The thorn and the thistle grow broader and higher;


s: The clothes that hang on him are turning to rags;


s: And his money still wastes till he starves or he begs.


s: I made him a visit, still hoping to find


s: That he took better care for improving his mind;


s: He told me his dreams, talked of eating and drinking.


s: But he scarce reads his Bible, and never loves thinking.


s: Said I then to my heart, "Here's a lesson for me;


s: That man's but a picture of what I might be;


s: But thanks to my friends for their care in my breeding,


s: Who taught me betimes to love working and reading."


s: There were two little girls, neither handsome nor plain,


s: One's name was Eliza, the other's was Jane;


s: They were both of one height, as I've heard people say,


s: And both of one age, I believe, to a day.


s: 'Twas fancied by some, who but slightly had seen them,


s: There was not a pin to be chosen between them;


s: But no one for long in this notion persisted,


s: So great a distinction there really existed.


s: Eliza knew well that she could not be pleasing,


s: While fretting and fuming, while sulking or teasing;


s: And therefore in company artfully tried,


s: Not to break her bad habits, but only to hide.


s: So, when she was out, with much labor and pain,


s: She contrived to look almost as pleasant as Jane;


s: But then you might see that, in forcing a smile,


s: Her mouth was uneasy, and ached all the while.


s: And in spite of her care it would sometimes befall


s: That some cross event happened to ruin it all;


s: And because it might chance that her share was the worst,


s: Her temper broke loose, and her dimples dispersed.


s: But Jane, who had nothing she wanted to hide,


s: And therefore these troublesome arts never tried,


s: Had none of the care and fatigue of concealing,


s: But her face always showed what her bosom was feeling.


s: At home or abroad there was peace in her smile,


s: A cheerful good nature that needed no guile.


s: And Eliza worked hard, but could never obtain


s: The affection that freely was given to Jane.


s: "Ah! well," thought she, "I'll try them on,


s: One honest John Tomkins, a hedger and ditcher,


s: Although he was poor, did not want to be richer;


s: For all such vain wishes in him were prevented


s: By a fortunate habit of being contented.


s: Though cold were the weather, or dear were the food,


s: John never was found in a murmuring mood;


s: For this he was constantly heard to declare,--


s: What he could not prevent he would cheerfully bear.


s: "For why should I grumble and murmur?" he said;


s: "If I cannot get meat, I'll be thankful for bread;


s: And, though fretting may make my calamities deeper,


s: It can never cause bread and cheese to be cheaper."


s: If John was afflicted with sickness or pain,


s: He wished himself better, but did not complain,


s: Nor lie down to fret in despondence and sorrow,


s: But said that he hoped to be better to-morrow.


s: If any one wronged him or treated him ill,


s: Why, John was good-natured and sociable still;


s: For he said that revenging the injury done


s: Would be making two rogues when there need be but one.


s: And thus honest John, though his station was humble,


s: Passed through this sad world without even a grumble;


s: And I wish that some folks, who are greater and richer,


s: Would copy John Tomkins, the hedger and ditcher.


s: There was a little girl, who had a little curl


s: And when she was good she was very, very good,


s: She stood on her head, on her little trundle-bed,


s: She screamed and she squalled, she yelled and she bawled,


s: And drummed her little heels against the winder.


s: Her mother heard the noise, and thought it was the boys


s: She rushed upstairs, and caught her unawares,


s: No doubt you have heard the name before--


s: The wind might whistle, the wind might roar,


s: And teeth be aching and throats be sore,


s: His father would beg, his mother implore,


s: We really do wish you would shut the door!"


s: Their hands they wrung, their hair they tore;


s: When he walked forth the folks would roar,


s: They rigged out a Shutter with sail and oar,


s: And threatened to pack off Gustavus Gore


s: But he begged for mercy, and said, "No more!


s: On a Shutter, and then I will shut the door!"


s: "You will?" said his parents; "then keep on shore!


s: But mind you do!  For the plague is sore


s: Of a fellow that never will shut the door,


s: But the best is probably "Grinn & Barrett."


s: "I never can do it," the little kite said,


s: As he looked at the others high over his head;


s: "I know I should fall if I tried to fly."


s: But the little kite said, "I'm afraid I'll fall."


s: I'm off;" and he rose toward the tranquil sky.


s: Then the little kite's paper stirred at the sight,


s: And trembling he shook himself free for flight.


s: First whirling and frightened, then braver grown,


s: Till the big kite looking down could see


s: Then how the little kite thrilled with pride,


s: As he sailed with the big kite side by side!


s: While far below he could see the ground,


s: And the boys like small spots moving round.


s: And only the birds and the clouds were there.


s: "Oh, how happy I am!" the little kite cried,


s: "And all because I was brave, and tried."


s: And though from flower to flower I rove,


s: A silly young cricket, accustomed to sing


s: Through the warm, sunny months of gay summer and spring,


s: Began to complain, when he found that at home


s: His cupboard was empty and winter was come.


s: "Oh, what will become," says the cricket, "of me?"


s: At last by starvation and famine made bold,


s: All dripping with wet and all trembling with cold,


s: To see if, to keep him alive, he would grant


s: If not, he must die of starvation and sorrow.


s: Says the ant to the cricket, "I'm your servant and friend,


s: But we ants never borrow, we ants never lend;


s: But tell me, dear sir, did you lay nothing by


s: When the weather was warm?" Said the cricket, "Not I.


s: Go then," said the ant, "and dance winter away."


s: Thus ending, he hastily lifted the wicket


s: And out of the door turned the poor little cricket.


s: Though this is a fable, the moral is good:


s: If you live without work, you must live without food.


s: O child, when things have learned to wear


s: Should think themselves too small to cool


s: And might have left him as she found him


s: Who straightway woke, with wrath immense,


s: With dreadful rage, he stamped and tore,


s: When the poor mouse, who heard the noise,


s: He cried and screamed with all his might,--


s: They searched the fields and bushes round,


s: At last they found that they were cheated.


s: He cried, "Wolf! wolf!"--the neighbors heard,


s: "Help, help! the Wolf!" he cried in vain.


s: And cuts their thumbs clean off,--and then,


s: The great, long, red-legged scissors-man.


s: And looks quite sad, and shows his hands;--


s: Small service is true service while it lasts:


s: Of humblest friends, bright creature! scorn not one:


s: Protects the lingering dewdrop from the sun.


s: My fairest child, I have no song to give you;


s: No lark could pipe to skies so dull and gray:


s: Yet, if you will, one quiet hint I'll leave you


s: I'll tell you how to sing a clearer carol


s: Than lark who hails the dawn on breezy down;


s: Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever;


s: Do noble things, not dream them, all day long:


s: And so make Life, and Death, and that For Ever


s: Great, wide, beautiful, wonderful World,


s: With the wonderful water round you curled,


s: And the wonderful grass upon your breast,


s: And the wonderful wind is shaking the tree--


s: It walks on the water, and whirls the mills,


s: And talks to itself on the tops of the hills.


s: With the wheat-fields that nod and the rivers that flow,


s: With cities and gardens, and cliffs and isles,


s: And people upon you for thousands of miles?


s: Ah! you are so great, and I am so small,


s: I tremble to think of you, World, at all;


s: "You are more than the Earth, though you are such a dot:


s: You can love and think, and the Earth cannot!"


s: Where every child should dance and sing,


s: The twigs that shake, and boughs that sway;


s: Makes the lungs laugh, the throat cry:--


s: But when the trees bow down their heads,


s: It leaves the waves all white with foam.


s: With precious presents, one, two, three;


s: The winds sing songs where'er they roam;


s: With wondrous things from foreign lands.


s: Said the Wind to the Moon, "I will blow you out;


s: I hate to be watched; I'll blow you out."


s: The Wind blew hard, and out went the Moon.


s: Muttering low, "I've done for that Moon."


s: He turned in his bed; she was there again!


s: The Moon shone white and alive and plain.


s: Said the Wind, "I will blow you out again."


s: The Wind blew hard, and the Moon grew dim.


s: The creature will soon be dimmer than dim."


s: He blew and he blew, and she thinned to a thread.


s: One good puff more where the last was bred,


s: And glimmer, glimmer, glum will go the thread."


s: He blew a great blast, and the thread was gone.


s: Far off and harmless the shy stars shone--


s: The Wind he took to his revels once more;


s: He leaped and halloed with whistle and roar--


s: "What's that?" The glimmering thread once more!


s: For still the broader the Moon-scrap grew,


s: The broader he swelled his big cheeks and blew.


s: Slowly she grew--till she filled the night,


s: Radiant and lovely, the queen of the night.


s: Said the Wind: "What a marvel of power am I!


s: First blew her away right out of the sky--


s: But the Moon she knew nothing about the affair;


s: She had never heard the great Wind blare.


s: The elm tree makes the old churchyard shady,


s: The willow is smart in a suit of yellow,


s: Such a gay green gown God gives the larches--


s: The hazels hold up their arms for arches


s: The chestnut's proud, and the lilac's pretty,


s: But the plane tree's kind to the poor dull city--


s: Little brown brother, oh! little brown brother,


s: Here we lie cosily, close to each other:


s: "Waken!" the lark says, "waken and dress you;


s: Blue sky will shine on you, sunshine caress you--


s: I'll be a poppy--all white, like my mother;


s: What! you're a sun-flower?  How I shall miss you


s: But I shall send all the bees up to kiss you;


s: Drooping and waiting till the sun shone.


s: Shining with whiteness, and crowned beside!


s: When I am thirsty to have the nice rain.


s: Heat cannot burn me, my veins are so full."


s: Thanks to the sunshine, thanks to the rain,


s: A bright yellow Primrose, blowing in the Spring!


s: A great lofty Elm-tree, with green leaves gay!


s: A Robin or a little Wren, everywhere to go;


s: Where go to sleep in the dark wood or dell?


s: "O dear, dear rose, come, tell me true--


s: When even the deep blue heavens look glad,


s: And gladness breathes from the blossoming ground?


s: There are notes of joy from the hang-bird and wren,


s: And the gossip of swallows through all the sky;


s: The ground-squirrel gaily chirps by his den,


s: The clouds are at play in the azure space


s: And their shadows at play on the bright-green vale,


s: And here they stretch to the frolic chase,


s: There's a dance of leaves in that aspen bower,


s: There's a smile on the fruit, and a smile on the flower,


s: And a laugh from the brook that runs to the sea.


s: And look at the broad-faced sun, how he smiles


s: On the dewy earth that smiles in his ray,


s: On the leaping waters and gay young isles;


s: Ay, look, and he'll smile thy gloom away.


s: Do you ask what the birds say?  The Sparrow, the Dove,


s: The Linnet and Thrush say, "I love and I love!"


s: In the winter they're silent--the wind is so strong;


s: What it says, I don't know, but it sings a loud song.


s: But green leaves, and blossoms, and sunny warm weather,


s: And singing, and loving--all come back together.


s: But the Lark is so brimful of gladness and love,


s: The green fields below him, the blue sky above,


s: That he sings, and he sings, and for ever sings he--


s: "You're getting sleepy, Yellow and Brown,


s: Frolicked and danced, and had their way,


s: And ere the leaves could urge their prayer,


s: The great bare Tree looked down and smiled.


s: "Goodnight dear little leaves," he said.


s: For she said, "My cakes that seem too small


s: But all the rest of her clothes were burned


s: Where she lives in the trees till this very day,


s: Don't think the little you give is great,


s: When you see the woodpecker's sooty dress,


s: You mayn't be changed to a bird though you live


s: But you will be changed to a smaller thing--


s: Searched, once on a time, his vast domains,


s: His deep, green forest, and yellow plains,


s: But found, for all his pains and labors,


s: No sweeter songster than had his neighbors.


s: He pondered the day and the whole night through.


s: He called on the gentry of hill-top and dale;


s: And at last on Madame the Nightingale,--


s: That perchance among them my lord might find


s: What wonder, then, when the evening came,


s: O'er the ivied porches, and flared among


s: The grand old trees and the banners proud,


s: Sat thrumming as hoarsely as they were able,


s: In front of the manager's mushroom table!


s: The overture closed with a crash--then, hark!


s: Across the stage comes the sweet-voiced Lark.


s: While the leafy alcove echoes and thrills


s: With her liquid runs and lingering trills.


s: Miss Goldfinch came next, in her satin gown,


s: Some "Oh's" and "Ah's" in a foreign tongue;


s: While to give the affair a classic tone,


s: Miss Katydid rendered a song of her own,


s: In which each line closed as it had begun,


s: With some wonderful deed which she had done.


s: Then the Misses Sparrow, so prim and set,


s: Twittered and chirped through a long duet;


s: And poor little Wren, who tried with a will,


s: But who couldn't tell "Heber" from "Ortonville,"


s: Of crimson clover-heads, culled by the dozen,


s: But you should have heard the red Robin sing


s: His English ballad, "Come, beautiful Spring!"


s: Then, as flighty Miss Humming-bird didn't care


s: To sing for the high and mighty Glendare,


s: The close of the evening's performance fell


s: To the fair young Nightingale, Mademoiselle.


s: That came from the depths of her tiny throat!


s: She carolled, she trilled, and she held her breath,


s: Till she seemed to hang at the point of death:


s: She ran the chromatics through every key,


s: Airing the graces her mother had taught her


s: In a manner quite worthy of Madame's daughter.


s: But his lordship glared down the leafy aisle


s: Till, out in the shade of a blackberry thicket,


s: He all of a sudden spied little Miss Cricket;


s: And, roused from his gloom, like an angry bat,


s: "Miss Cricket, my lord, may it please you so,


s: Quite worthy, of course, but we couldn't bring"--


s: Thundered His Mightiness, "Let her sing!"


s: But catching a glimpse of his lordship's rage,


s: Where she modestly sang, in her simple measures,


s: Of "Home, sweet Home," and its humble pleasures.


s: And the lord of Glendare cried out in his glee,


s: "This little Miss Cricket shall sing for me!"


s: Of course, of comment there was no need;


s: But the world said, "Really!" and "Ah, indeed!"


s: As his lordship does will the neighbors do;


s: So this is the way, as the legends tell,


s: That the Crickets came, in the evening's gloom,


s: To sing at our hearths of "Home, sweet Home."


s: When the voices of children are heard on the green


s: "Then come home, my children, the sun is gone down,


s: Come, come, leave off play, and let us away


s: "No, no, let us play, for it is yet day,


s: Besides in the sky the little birds fly,


s: And the hills are all covered with sheep."


s: "Well, well, go and play till the light fades away,


s: The little ones leaped and shouted and laughed;


s: Nor fields that stretch beyond the lane;


s: Hills and dales, and streams and fields;


s: With nodding plumes and shining shields.


s: Big ships with sails spread to the breeze;


s: And fruit and flowers and all the things


s: Jack Frost takes every breath you breathe,


s: And his tongue shall be filled with praise.


s: He is watchful, while they are in peace,


s: For they know when their Shepherd is nigh.


s: O tell me, little children, have you seen her--


s: O, her eyes are blue as cornflowers, mid the corn,


s: And her cheeks are rosy red as skies of morn!


s: Nikolina! swift she turns if any call her,


s: As she stands among the poppies, hardly taller,


s: Breaking off their scarlet cups for you,


s: With spikes of slender larkspur, burning blue.


s: In her little garden many a flower is growing--


s: Red, gold, and purple in the soft wind blowing,


s: But the child that stands amid the blossoms gay


s: Is sweeter, quainter, brighter e'en than they.


s: Safe in the porch, and the little drops run


s: From the icicles under the eaves so fast,


s: For the bright spring sun shines warm at last,


s: And a little green bowl she holds in her lap,


s: And a wreath of marigolds round the rim:


s: With her little pink nose, and she mews, "What's that?"


s: And a little brown hen walks in at the door:


s: She scatters crumbs for the little brown hen.


s: There comes a rush and a flutter, and then


s: Down fly her little white doves so sweet,


s: With their snowy wings and crimson feet:


s: So dainty and eager they pick up the crumbs.


s: But who is this through the doorway comes?


s: Looks in her face, and his funny tail wags:


s: She sets her bowl on the brick floor brown;


s: While she strokes his shaggy locks like silk:


s: "Won't you come in, good folk?" she cried.


s: But they were too bashful, and stood outside


s: So the last she threw them, and knelt on the mat


s: And her mother came to the open house-door:


s: "Dear little daughter, I bring you some more.


s: The shy, kind creatures 'tis joy to feed,


s: For the gay little cap with its eagle plume.


s: "One cannot be thinking all day of such matters!


s: Trifles are trifles!" says little Prince Tatters.


s: Little Prince Tatters has lost his coat!


s: "Left it right there, by the nanny-goat,


s: Now Mother and Nurse may search till night


s: For the little new coat with its buttons bright;


s: But--"Coat-sleeves or shirt-sleeves, how little it matters!


s: Little Prince Tatters has LOST HIS BALL!


s: Somebody'll have to find it, that's all,


s: Now raise the neighborhood, quickly, do!


s: And send for the crier and constable too!


s: "Trifles are trifles; but serious matters,


s: They must be seen to," says little Prince Tatters.


s: And I am black, but oh, my soul is white!


s: But I am black, as if bereaved of light.


s: And, sitting down before the heat of day,


s: And, pointing to the East, began to say:


s: "Look on the rising sun,--there God does live,


s: And gives His light, and gives His heat away;


s: And flowers and trees and beasts and men receive


s: "And we are put on earth a little space,


s: That we may learn to bear the beams of love;


s: And these black bodies and this sunburnt face


s: Are but a cloud, and like a shady grove.


s: "For, when our souls have learned the heat to bear,


s: The cloud will vanish, we shall hear His voice,


s: Saying: 'Come out from the grove, My love and care,


s: And round My golden tent like lambs rejoice.'"


s: When I from black, and he from white cloud free,


s: And round the tent of God like lambs we joy,


s: I'll shade him from the heat, till he can bear


s: And then I'll stand and stroke his silver hair,


s: And be like him, and he will then love me.


s: I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,


s: And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.


s: He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;


s: And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.


s: The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow--


s: Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;


s: For he sometimes shoots up taller like an India-rubber ball,


s: And he sometimes gets so little that there's none of him at all.


s: He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play,


s: And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.


s: He stays so close beside me, he's a coward you can see;


s: I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!


s: One morning, very early, before the sun was up,


s: I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;


s: But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head,


s: Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.


s: Among the bed-clothes, through the hills;


s: There, in the night, where none can spy,


s: These are the hills, these are the woods,


s: He digs the flowers, green, red, and blue,


s: With a horse to drive, like a peddler-man!


s: And a chimney of tin, that the smoke comes through;


s: Plates, with alphabets round the border!


s: The roads are brown, and the sea is green,


s: But his house is like a bathing-machine;


s: With the peddler-man I should like to roam,


s: And prods the wheels, and says, "Dear, dear!


s: When the orchard branches are fair to see,


s: And the prettiest thing in the world will be


s: But they'll find their wings in a glad amaze.


s: So come to the trees with all your train


s: Through the April shimmer of sun and rain,


s: And sing to our hearts as we watch again


s: There was a jolly miller once lived on the river Dee;


s: He danced and sang from morn till night, no lark so blithe as he;


s: "I care for nobody, no not I, if nobody cares for me.


s: No lawyer, surgeon, or doctor e'er had a groat from me;


s: I care for nobody, no not I if nobody cares for me."


s: When spring begins his merry career, oh, how his heart grows gay;


s: No foresight mars the miller's joy, who's wont to sing and say,


s: "Let others toil from year to year, I live from day to day."


s: Thus, like the miller, bold and free, let us rejoice and sing;


s: The days of youth are made for glee, and time is on the wing;


s: This song shall pass from me to thee, along the jovial ring;


s: Let heart and voice and all agree to say, "Long live the king."


s: Two little shoulders, chubby and strong,


s: Twice does he kneel by my side each day,


s: Two little folded hands, soft and brown,


s: Full oft from my house I've driven them out,


s: And one says "Must!" and t'other says "Can't!"


s: And one says "Shall!" and t'other says "Shan't!"


s: And when they peep through her rosy lips,


s: And one says "Please!" and t'other says "Do!"


s: I studied my tables over and over, and backward and forward, too;


s: Next day Elizabeth Wigglesworth, who always acts so proud,


s: Said, "Six times nine is fifty-two," and I nearly laughed aloud!


s: An' waters the horses, an' feeds 'em hay;


s: An' he opens the shed--an' we all ist laugh


s: When he drives out our little old wobble-ly calf;


s: An' nen--ef our hired girl says he can--


s: He splits the kindlin' an' chops the wood;


s: An' does most things 'at boys can't do.--


s: An' nother'n', too, fer the Raggedy Man.--


s: An' the Raggedy Man, he knows most rhymes


s: Knows 'bout Giunts, an' Griffuns, an' Elves,


s: An' the Squidgicum-Squees 'at swallers therselves!


s: An', wite by the pump in our pasture-lot,


s: He showed me the hole 'at the Wunks is got,


s: 'At lives 'way deep in the ground, an' can


s: Air you go' to keep a fine store like his--


s: An' be a rich merchunt--an' wear fine clothes?--


s: Er what air you go' to be, goodness knows?"


s: An' I says "'M go' to be a Raggedy Man!--


s: Said the Raggedy Man, on a hot afternoon,


s: Some little folks makes on The Man in the Moon!


s: But people that's b'en up to see him, like me,


s: And calls on him frequent and intimately,


s: Might drop a few facts that would interest you


s: Some actual facts that might interest you!


s: "O The Man in the Moon has a crick in his back;


s: And a mole on his nose that is purple and black;


s: And his eyes are so weak that they water and run


s: If he dares to dream even he looks at the sun.--


s: So he jes' dreams of stars, as the doctors advise--


s: To jes' dream of stars, as the doctors advise?


s: "And The Man in the Moon has a boil on his ear,--


s: I know! but these facts are authentic, my dear,--


s: There's a boil on his ear; and a corn on his chin,--


s: He calls it a dimple--but dimples stick in--


s: Yet it might be a dimple turned over, you know!


s: It might be a dimple turned over, you know!


s: "And The Man in the Moon has a rheumatic knee,--


s: And his toes have worked round where his heels ought to be.


s: So whenever he wants to go North he goes South,


s: And comes back with porridge crumbs all round his mouth,


s: "And The Man in the Moon," sighed the Raggedy Man,


s: Up there by hisse'f sence creation began!--


s: That when I call on him and then come away,


s: He grabs me and holds me and begs me to stay,--


s: Till--Well! if it wasn't fer Jimmy-cum-Jim,


s: Jes' jump my job here and be pardners with him!"


s: Little Orphant Annie's come to our house to stay,


s: An' wash the cups an' saucers up, an' brush the crumbs away,


s: We set around the kitchen fire an' has the mostest fun


s: A-list'nin' to the witch-tales 'at Annie tells about,


s: Onc't they was a little boy wouldn't say his prayers--


s: An' when he went to bed at night, away up stairs,


s: His Mammy heered him holler, an' his Daddy heered him bawl,


s: An' when they turn't the kivvers down, he wasn't there at all!


s: But all they ever found was thist his pants an' roundabout:


s: An' one time a little girl 'ud allus laugh an' grin,


s: An' make fun of ever' one, an' all her blood-an'-kin;


s: An' onc't when they was "company," an' ole folks was there,


s: She mocked 'em an' shocked 'em, an' said she didn't care!


s: An' thist as she kicked her heels, an' turn't to run an' hide,


s: They was two great big Black Things a-standin' by her side,


s: An' they snatched her through the ceilin' 'fore she knowed what


s: An' little Orphant Annie says, when the blaze is blue,


s: An' the lamp-wick sputters, an' the wind goes woo-oo!


s: An' you hear the crickets quit, an' the moon is gray,


s: An' the lightnin'-bugs in dew is all squenched away,--


s: You better mind yer parents, an' yer teachers fond and dear,


s: An' churish them 'at loves you, an' dry the orphant's tear,


s: An' he'p the pore an' needy ones 'at clusters all about,


s: An' pours in somepin' 'at's good an' sweet;


s: In th' old cook-stove, so's 'twon't slop


s: They's time fer work, an' time fer play!


s: When our hired girl 'tends like she's mad,


s: His old crook-scythe, and blinks his eyes,


s: An' sniffs all 'round an' says, "I swawn!


s: They's time fer work, an' time for play!


s: I ain't afeard uv snakes, or toads, or bugs, or worms, or mice,


s: An' things 'at girls are skeered uv I think are awful nice!


s: I'm pretty brave, I guess; an' yet I hate to go to bed,


s: An' leaves me lyin' all alone an' seein' things at night!


s: Sometimes they're in the corner, sometimes they're by the door,


s: Sometimes they're all a-standin' in the middle uv the floor;


s: Once, when I licked a feller 'at had just moved on our street,


s: An' father sent me up to bed without a bite to eat,


s: I woke up in the dark an' saw things standin' in a row,


s: A-lookin' at me cross-eyed an' p'intin' at me--so!


s: Oh, my! I wuz so skeered that time I never slep' a mite--


s: It's almost alluz when I'm bad I see things at night!


s: Lucky thing I ain't a girl, or I'd be skeered to death!


s: Bein' I'm a boy, I duck my head an' hold my breath;


s: An' I am, oh, so sorry I'm a naughty boy, an' then


s: I promise to be better an' I say my prayers again!


s: Gran'ma tells me that's the only way to make it right


s: When a feller has been wicked an' sees things at night!


s: An' so, when other naughty boys would coax me into sin,


s: I try to skwush the Tempter's voice 'at urges me within;


s: An' when they's pie for supper, or cakes 'at's big an' nice,


s: I want to--but I do not pass my plate f'r them things twice!


s: No, ruther let Starvation wipe me slowly out o' sight


s: Than I should keep a-livin' on an' seein' things at night!


s: 'Twas half past twelve, and (what do you think!)


s: The old Dutch clock and the Chinese plate


s: What was told to me by the Chinese plate!)


s: While the old Dutch clock in the chimney-place


s: What the old Dutch clock declares is true!)


s: And wailed, "Oh, dear! what shall we do!"


s: And, oh! how the gingham and calico flew!


s: 'Twas on a Holy Thursday, their innocent faces clean,


s: Came children walking two and two, in red, and blue, and green;


s: Gray-headed beadles walked before, with wands as white as snow,


s: Till into the high dome of Paul's they like Thames waters flow.


s: Oh what a multitude they seemed, these flowers of London town!


s: Seated in companies they sit, with radiance all their own.


s: The hum of multitudes was there, but multitudes of lambs,


s: Thousands of little boys and girls raising their innocent hands.


s: Now like a mighty wind they raise to heaven the voice of song,


s: Or like harmonious thunderings the seats of heaven among:


s: Beneath them sit the aged men, wise guardians of the poor.


s: Then cherish pity, lest you drive an angel from your door.


s: Over the roof, in the pitch-black night,


s: Father was lost in the pitch-black night,


s: Wolves in the forest, and bears in the bush,


s: Bending the props of the pine-tree roof,


s: Something rustled, two green eyes shone,


s: Side by side, through the long, long night,


s: "Will you walk into my parlor?" said the Spider to the Fly.


s: "'Tis the prettiest little parlor that ever you did spy;


s: The way into my parlor is up a winding stair,


s: And I have many curious things to show when you are there."


s: "Oh no, no," said the little Fly, "to ask me is in vain;


s: For who goes up your winding stair can ne'er come down again."


s: "I'm sure you must be weary, dear, with soaring up so high;


s: Will you rest upon my little bed?" said the Spider to the Fly.


s: "Oh no, no," said the little Fly, "for I've often heard it said,


s: They never, never wake again, who sleep upon your bed!"


s: Said the cunning Spider to the Fly, "Dear friend, what can I do


s: To prove the warm affection I've always felt for you?


s: I have, within my pantry, good store of all that's nice;


s: I'm sure you're very welcome--will you please to take a slice?"


s: "Oh no, no," said the little Fly, "kind sir, that cannot be,


s: I've heard what's in your pantry, and I do not wish to see!"


s: "Sweet creature," said the Spider, "you're witty and you're wise;


s: I have a little looking-glass upon my parlor shelf;


s: If you'll step in one moment, dear, you shall behold yourself."


s: The Spider turned him round about, and went into his den,


s: For well he knew the silly Fly would soon be back again;


s: So he wove a subtle web in a little corner sly,


s: And set his table ready to dine upon the Fly.


s: Then he came out to his door again, and merrily did sing,--


s: "Come hither, hither, pretty Fly, with the pearl and silver wing;


s: Alas, alas! how very soon this silly little Fly,


s: Hearing his wily, flattering words, came slowly flitting by:


s: With buzzing wings she hung aloft, then near and nearer drew,--


s: Thinking only of her brilliant eyes, and green and purple hue;


s: Thinking only of her crested head--poor foolish thing!  At last,


s: Up jumped the cunning Spider, and fiercely held her fast.


s: He dragged her up his winding stair, into his dismal den


s: Within his little parlor--but she ne'er came out again!


s: And now, dear little children, who may this story read,


s: To idle, silly, flattering words, I pray you ne'er give heed;


s: Unto an evil counsellor close heart, and ear, and eye,


s: And take a lesson from this tale of the Spider and the Fly.


s: That brother should not war with brother,


s: Till life's poor transient night is spent,


s: "Good morrow, my lord!" in the sky alone,


s: Sang the lark, as the sun ascended his throne.


s: Of all your servants, to welcome you home.


s: I have flown right up, a whole hour, I swear,


s: To catch the first shine of your golden hair."


s: "Must I thank you, then," said the king, "Sir Lark,


s: Half was love of me, and half love to be first.


s: There's many a bird makes no such haste,


s: But waits till I come: that's as much to my taste."


s: And King Sun hid his head in a turban of cloud,


s: And Sir Lark stopped singing, quite vexed and cowed;


s: But he flew up higher, and thought, "Anon


s: The wrath of the king will be over and gone;


s: And his crown, shining out of its cloudy fold,


s: Will change my brown feathers to a glory of gold."


s: So he flew--with the strength of a lark he flew;


s: Came through the depths of the misty air;


s: Till, weary with flying, with sighing sore,


s: And his feathers felt withered and worn and old;


s: He faltered, and sank, and dropped like a stone.


s: And there on her nest, where he left her, alone


s: "Welcome, Sir Lark! You look tired," said he;


s: While you have been singing so high and away,


s: I've been shining to your little wife all day."


s: He had set his crown all about the nest,


s: And out of the midst shone her little brown breast;


s: That for wonder and awe Sir Lark grew cold.


s: He popped his head under her wing, and lay


s: As still as a stone, till King Sun was away.


s: Then in came the Cuckoo and made a great rout;


s: He caught hold of Jenny and pulled her about.


s: Cock Robin was angry, and so was the Sparrow,


s: Who fetched in a hurry his bow and his arrow.


s: His aim then he took, but he took it not right;


s: His skill was not good, or he shot in a fright;


s: For the Cuckoo he missed, but Cock Robin killed!--


s: And all the birds mourned that his blood was so spilled.


s: Their uncle should possess their wealth;


s: And brings them straight into his house,


s: That they should take these children young,


s: "Stay here," quoth he, "I'll bring you bread,


s: Yea, fearful fiends did haunt his house,


s: His barns were fired, his goods consumed,


s: That in winter the corn was growing yet:


s: 'Twas a piteous sight to see, all around,


s: For he had a plentiful last-year's store,


s: And they should have food for the winter there.


s: The poor folk flocked from far and near;


s: The great barn was full as it could hold


s: Of women and children, and young and old.


s: Then, when he saw it could hold no more,


s: And, while for mercy on Christ they call,


s: He set fire to the barn, and burnt them all.


s: "I' faith, 'tis an excellent bonfire!" quoth he;


s: "And the country is greatly obliged to me


s: And he slept that night like an innocent man;


s: Where his picture hung against the wall,


s: For the rats had eaten it out of the frame.


s: As he looked, there came a man from his farm,--


s: "My Lord, I opened your granaries this morn,


s: "Ten thousand rats are coming this way,--


s: "I'll go to my tower in the Rhine," replied he;


s: The walls are high, and the shores are steep,


s: And the tide is strong, and the water deep."


s: And reached his tower, and barred with care


s: All the windows, and doors, and loop-holes there.


s: On his pillow, from whence the screaming came.


s: He listened and looked,--it was only the cat;


s: But the Bishop he grew more fearful for that,


s: At the army of rats that were drawing near.


s: For they have swum over the river so deep,


s: And they have climbed the shores so steep,


s: To the holes and the windows in the wall.


s: And faster and faster his beads did he tell,


s: The saw of their teeth without he could hear.


s: And in at the windows, and in at the door,


s: And through the walls by thousands they pour;


s: And down from the ceiling and up through the floor,


s: From the right and the left, from behind and before,


s: From within and without, from above and below,--


s: They have whetted their teeth against the stones,


s: For they were sent to do judgment on him!


s: They fought the dogs and killed the cats,


s: And licked the soup from the cooks' own ladles,


s: "'Tis clear," cried they, "our Mayor's a noddy;


s: Rouse up, sirs! Give your brains a racking,


s: Or, sure as fate, we'll send you packing!"


s: It's easy to bid one rack one's brain,--


s: "Bless us," cried the Mayor, "what's that?"


s: Save when at noon his paunch grew mutinous


s: For a plate of turtle green and glutinous)


s: "Come in!" the Mayor cried, looking bigger:


s: Starting up at the Trump of Doom's tone,


s: Had walked this way from his painted tombstone!"


s: And, "Please your honors," said he, I'm able,


s: To match with his coat of the self-same check,


s: And his fingers, they noticed, were ever straying


s: Last June, from his huge swarms of gnats;


s: "One? fifty thousand!" was the exclamation


s: Of the astonished Mayor and Corporation.


s: And green and blue his sharp eyes twinkled,


s: Like a candle-flame where salt is sprinkled;


s: And ere three shrill notes the pipe uttered,


s: And the grumbling grew to a mighty rumbling;


s: And out of the houses the rats came tumbling.


s: Great rats, small rats, lean rats, brawny rats,


s: Brown rats, black rats, gray rats, tawny rats,


s: From street to street he piped advancing,


s: And step for step they followed dancing,


s: Which was: "At the first shrill notes of the pipe,


s: And a leaving ajar of conserve-cupboards,


s: And a drawing the corks of train-oil-flasks,


s: And a breaking the hoops of butter-casks;


s: (Sweeter far than by harp or by psaltery


s: Is breathed) called out, 'Oh rats, rejoice!


s: The world is grown to one vast drysaltery!


s: So munch on, crunch on, take your nuncheon,


s: Just as methought it said, 'Come, bore me!'--


s: You should have heard the Hamelin people


s: Ringing the bells till they rocked the steeple;


s: "Go," cried the Mayor, "and get long poles!


s: Poke out the nests and block up the holes!


s: Of the rats!"--when suddenly, up the face


s: Of the Piper perked in the market-place,


s: With a "First, if you please, my thousand guilders!"


s: A thousand guilders! the Mayor looked blue;


s: With Claret, Moselle, Via-de-Grave, Hock;


s: Their cellar's biggest butt with Rhenish.


s: "Beside," quoth the Mayor, with a knowing wink,


s: "Our business was done at the river's brink;


s: And what's dead can't come to life, I think.


s: So, friend, we're not the folks to shrink


s: From the duty of giving you something to drink,


s: And a matter of money to put in your poke;


s: Of them, as you very well know, was in joke.


s: Beside, our losses have made us thrifty;


s: Of the Head Cook's pottage, all he's rich in,


s: For having left, in the Caliph's kitchen,


s: With you, don't think I'll bate a stiver!


s: May find me pipe after another fashion."


s: "How?" cried the Mayor, "d'ye think I brook


s: You threaten us, fellow?  Do your worst,


s: Laid his long pipe of smooth straight cane;


s: There was a rustling that seemed like a bustling


s: Of merry crowds justling at pitching and hustling;


s: Small feet were pattering, wooden shoes clattering,


s: Little hands clapping, and little tongues chattering;


s: And, like fowls in a farm-yard when barley is scattering,


s: And sparkling eyes and teeth like pearls,


s: Tripping and skipping, ran merrily after


s: The wonderful music with shouting and laughter.


s: As if they were changed into blocks of wood,


s: As the Piper turned from the High Street


s: Right in the way of their sons and daughters!


s: And to Koppelberg Hill his steps addressed,


s: When, lo, as they reached the mountain-side,


s: And the Piper advanced and the children followed;


s: The door in the mountain-side shut fast.


s: And could not dance the whole of the way;


s: "It's dull in our town since my playmates left!


s: For he led us, he said, to a joyous land,


s: Where waters gushed, and fruit-trees grew,


s: The sparrows were brighter than peacocks here,


s: And horses were born with eagles' wings;


s: The Mayor sent East, West, North and South,


s: But when they saw 'twas a lost endeavor,


s: And piper and dancers were gone forever,


s: If, after the day of the month and year,


s: The place of the children's last retreat,


s: They called it, the Pied Piper's Street--


s: Was sure for the future to lose his labor.


s: On which their neighbors lay such stress,


s: To their fathers and mothers having risen


s: Of scores out with all men--especially pipers!


s: And, whether they pipe us free from rats or from mice,


s: If we've promised them aught, let us keep our promise!


s: Where meek souls will receive Him still,


s: His breast with thoughts of boundless sway;


s: One that shall thrill the world for ever!


s: Man's doom was linked, no more to sever,


s: The peaceful Prince of Earth and Heaven,


s: While shepherds watched their flocks by night,


s: Still through the cloven skies they come


s: Run, shepherds, run where Bethlehem blest appears.


s: We bring the best of news; be not dismayed:


s: A Saviour there is born more old than years,


s: Amidst heaven's rolling heights this earth who stayed.


s: A weakling did him bear, who all upbears;


s: There is he poorly swaddled, in manger laid,


s: To whom too narrow swaddlings are our spheres:


s: Run, shepherds, run, and solemnize his birth.


s: This is that night--no, day, grown great with bliss,


s: In heaven be glory, peace unto the earth!


s: Thus singing, through the air the angels swarm,


s: As though His floods should quench His flames,


s: Brightest and best of the Sons of the morning!


s: Dawn on our darkness and lend us thine aid!


s: Guide where our Infant Redeemer is laid!


s: Cold on His cradle the dewdrops are shining,


s: Low lies His head with the beasts of the stall;


s: Say, shall we yield Him, in costly devotion,


s: Gems of the mountain and pearls of the ocean,


s: Myrrh from the forest, or gold from the mine?


s: Vainly with gifts would His favor secure:


s: Dearer to God are the prayers of the poor.


s: Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:


s: Grew a stronger thing to abide and stand


s: And they lay their heads in a foreign land


s: But our homes are under miraculous skies


s: We have hands that fashion and heads that know,


s: This world is wild as an old wives' tale,


s: The earth is enough and the air is enough


s: But our rest is as far as the fire-drake swings


s: And our peace is put in impossible things


s: Where clashed and thundered unthinkable wings


s: To the end of the way of the wandering star,


s: To the things that cannot be and that are,


s: There is heard a hymn when the panes are dim,


s: When the nights are strong with a darkness long,


s: That the midst of earth is a raging mirth,


s: We follow the feet where all souls meet,


s: The gods lie dead where the leaves lie red,


s: The gods lie cold where the leaves are gold,


s: Joseph, mild and noble, bent above the straw:


s: A pale girl, a frail girl, suffering he saw;


s: "O my Love, my Mary, my bride, I pity thee!"


s: "Nay, Dear," said Mary, "all is well with me!"


s: Suddenly the golden night all with music rang.


s: Angels leading shepherds, shepherds leading sheep:


s: The silence of worship broke the mother's sleep.


s: All the meek and lowly of all the world were there;


s: Smiling, she showed them that her Child was fair,


s: Suddenly a flaming star through the heavens sped.


s: Three old men and weary knelt them side by side,


s: The world's wealth forswearing, majesty and pride;


s: Worldly might and wisdom before the Babe bent low:


s: Weeping, maid Mary said, "I love Him so!"


s: Suddenly on Calvary all the olives wept.


s: Three Wise Men out of the East were they,


s: And they travelled by night and they slept by day,


s: For their guide was a beautiful, wonderful star.


s: The star was so beautiful, large and clear,


s: And by this they knew that the coming was near


s: Three caskets they bore on their saddle-bows,


s: Their robes were of crimson silk, with rows


s: Of bells and pomegranates and furbelows,


s: Their turbans like blossoming almond-trees.


s: And so the Three Kings rode into the West,


s: Through the dusk of night, over hill and dell,


s: And sometimes they nodded with beard on breast,


s: And sometimes talked, as they paused to rest,


s: With the people they met at some wayside well.


s: "Of the child that is born," said Baltasar,


s: "Good people, I pray you, tell us the news,


s: And have ridden fast, and have ridden far,


s: And the people answered, "You ask in vain;


s: We know of no king but Herod the Great!"


s: As they spurred their horses across the plain


s: Like riders in haste, and who cannot wait.


s: Herod the Great, who had heard this thing,


s: Sent for the Wise Men and questioned them;


s: So they rode away, and the star stood still,


s: Yes, it stopped,--it stood still of its own free will,


s: The city of David, where Christ was born.


s: And the Three Kings rode through the gate and the guard,


s: Through the silent street, till their horses turned


s: And neighed as they entered the great inn-yard;


s: But the windows were closed, and the doors were barred,


s: In the air made sweet by the breath of kine,


s: For the joy of life and the terror of death


s: And the mother wondered and bowed her head,


s: Of an endless reign and of David's throne.


s: Then the Kings rode out of the city gate,


s: But they went not back to Herod the Great,


s: For they knew his malice and feared his hate,


s: And returned to their homes by another way.


s: There have come three kings to greet Thee,


s: They have brought rare silks to bind Thee,


s: From their thrones they sprang to find Thee,


s: Yea, though all the world should woo Thee,


s: Bright shines the sun across the drifts,


s: They brought Him incense, myrrh, and gold,


s: Our hearts they hold all Christmas dear,


s: And earth seems sweet and heaven seems near,


s: Father calls me William, sister calls me Will,


s: Mother calls me Willie, but the fellers call me Bill!


s: Mighty glad I ain't a girl--ruther be a boy,


s: Without them sashes, curls, an' things that's worn by Fauntleroy!


s: Hate to take the castor-ile they give for belly-ache!


s: Got a yeller dog named Sport, sick him on the cat;


s: First thing she knows she doesn't know where she is at!


s: Got a clipper sled, an' when us kids goes out to slide,


s: 'Long comes the grocery cart an' we all hook a ride!


s: But sometimes when the grocery man is worrited an' cross,


s: He reaches at us with his whip, an' larrups up his hoss,


s: An' then I laff an' holler, "Oh, ye never teched me!"


s: But jest 'fore Christmas I'm as good as I kin be!


s: Gran'ma says she hopes that when I git to be a man,


s: I'll be a missionarer like her oldest brother, Dan,


s: As was et up by the cannibuls that lives in Ceylon's Isle,


s: Where every prospeck pleases, an' only man is vile!


s: But gran'ma she has never been to see a Wild West show,


s: Nor read the Life of Daniel Boone, or else I guess she'd know


s: That Buff'lo Bill and cow-boys is good enough for me!


s: Excep' jest 'fore Christmas, when I'm good as I kin be!


s: And then old Sport he hangs around, so solemn-like an' still,


s: His eyes they keep a-sayin': "What's the matter, little Bill?"


s: The old cat sneaks down off her perch an' wonders what's become


s: Of them two enemies of hern that used to make things hum!


s: But I am so perlite an' 'tend so earnestly to biz,


s: That mother says to father: "How improved our Willie is!"


s: But father, havin' been a boy hisself, suspicions me


s: When jest 'fore Christmas, I'm as good as I kin be!


s: For Christmas, with its lots an' lots of candies, cakes an' toys,


s: So wash yer face an' bresh yer hair, an' mind yer p's an' q's,


s: An' don't bust out yer pantaloons, an' don't wear out yer shoes;


s: Say "Yessum" to the ladies, an' "Yessur" to the men,


s: An' when they's company, don't pass yer plate for pie again;


s: But, thinking of the things yer'd like to see upon that tree,


s: Jest 'fore Christmas be as good as yer kin be!


s: 'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house


s: Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;


s: The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,


s: In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;


s: The children were nestled all snug in their beds,


s: While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;


s: And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,


s: Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap,


s: When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,


s: I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.


s: Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.


s: The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow


s: Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,


s: When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,


s: But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,


s: With a little old driver, so lively and quick,


s: More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,


s: And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;


s: "Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!


s: To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!


s: Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"


s: As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,


s: When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,


s: So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,


s: With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.


s: And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof


s: The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.


s: As I drew in my head, and was turning around,


s: Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.


s: He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,


s: And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;


s: A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,


s: And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.


s: His eyes--how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!


s: His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!


s: His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,


s: And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;


s: The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,


s: And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;


s: He had a broad face and a little round belly,


s: That shook, when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly.


s: He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,


s: And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;


s: A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,


s: Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;


s: He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,


s: And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,


s: And laying his finger aside of his nose,


s: And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;


s: He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,


s: And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.


s: But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,


s: "Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."


s: This is the month, and this the happy morn


s: Wherein the Son of Heaven's Eternal King,


s: Our great redemption from above did bring;


s: That he our deadly forfeit should release,


s: And with his Father work us a perpetual peace.


s: That glorious Form, that Light unsufferable,


s: Wherewith he wont at Heaven's high council-ta


s: And chose with us a darksome house of mortal clay.


s: Say, Heavenly Muse, shall not thy sacred vein


s: Hast thou no verse, no hymn, or solemn strain


s: Now while the heaven, by the sun's team untrod,


s: Hath took no print of the approaching light,


s: And all the spangled host keep watch in squadrons bright?


s: See how from far, upon the eastern road,


s: The star-led wizards haste with odors sweet!


s: Have thou the honor first thy Lord to greet,


s: From out his secret altar touched with hallowed fire.


s: All meanly wrapped in the rude manger lies;


s: To wanton with the sun, her lusty paramour.


s: To hide her guilty front with innocent snow;


s: The saintly veil of maiden white to throw;


s: Should look so near upon her foul deformities.


s: She, crowned with olive green, came softly sliding


s: With turtle wing and amorous clouds dividing;


s: She strikes a universal peace through sea and land.


s: The idle spear and shield were high uphung;


s: The trumpet spake not to the armed throng;


s: As if they surely knew their sovereign Lord was by.


s: His reign of peace upon the earth began:


s: While birds of calm sit brooding on the charmed wave.


s: Bending one way their precious influence;


s: Or Lucifer that often warned them thence;


s: Until their Lord himself bespake, and bid them go.


s: The sun himself withheld his wonted speed,


s: The new-enlightened world no more should need;


s: Than his bright throne, or burning axletree, could bear.


s: Was kindly come to live with them below;


s: Perhaps their loves, or else their sheep,


s: Was all that did their silly thoughts so busy keep.


s: As all their souls in blissful rapture took:


s: With thousand echoes still prolongs each heavenly close.


s: Of Cynthia's seat the airy region thrilling,


s: And that her reign had here its last fulfilling;


s: Could hold all heaven and earth in happier union.


s: That with long beams the shamefaced night arrayed;


s: Are seen in glittering ranks with wings displayed,


s: With unexpressive notes, to Heaven's new-born Heir.


s: But when of old the sons of morning sung,


s: And the well-balanced world on hinges hung;


s: And bid the weltering waves their oozy channel keep.


s: If ye have power to touch our senses so;


s: And let the bass of Heaven's deep organ blow;


s: Make up full consort to the angelic symphony.


s: Time will run back, and fetch the age of gold;


s: And leprous sin will melt from earthly mould;


s: And leave her dolorous mansions to the peering day.


s: Orbed in a rainbow; and, like glories wearing,


s: With radiant feet the tissued clouds down steering;


s: Will open wide the gates of her high palace hall.


s: The wakeful trump of doom must thunder through the deep;


s: While the red fire and smouldering clouds outbrake:


s: Shall from the surface to the centre shake,


s: The dreadful Judge in middle air shall spread His throne.


s: Swinges the scaly horror of his folded tail.


s: Runs through the arched roof in words deceiving.


s: With hollow shriek the steep of Delphos leaving:


s: Inspires the pale-eyed priest from the prophetic cell.


s: A voice of weeping heard, and loud lament;


s: The parting Genius is with sighing sent;


s: The Nymphs in twilight shade of tangled thickets mourn.


s: The Lars and Lemures moan with midnight plaint;


s: Affrights the Flamens at their service quaint;


s: While each peculiar Power foregoes his wonted seat.


s: With that twice-battered god of Palestine;


s: Now sits not girt with tapers' holy shine;


s: In vain the Tyrian maids their wounded Thammuz mourn.


s: Isis, and Orus, and the dog Anubis, haste.


s: Trampling the unshowered grass with lowings loud:


s: Naught but profoundest Hell can be his shroud;


s: The sable stoled sorcerers bear his worshiped ark.


s: The rays of Bethlehem blind his dusky eyen;


s: Can in His swaddling bands control the damned crew.


s: Each fettered ghost slips to his several grave:


s: Fly after the night-steeds, leaving their moon-loved maze.


s: Time is, our tedious song should here have ending:


s: Her sleeping Lord with hand-maid lamp attending:


s: Bright-harnessed Angels sit in order serviceable.


s: In summer, when the grass is thick, if mother has the time,


s: She shows me with her pencil how a poet makes a rhyme,


s: And often she is sweet enough to choose a leafy nook,


s: Where I cuddle up so closely when she reads the Fairybook.


s: In winter, when the corn's asleep, and birds are not in song,


s: And crocuses and violets have been away too long,


s: Dear mother puts her thimble by in answer to my look,


s: And I cuddle up so closely when she reads the Fairybook.


s: And mother tells the servants that of course they must contrive


s: To manage all the household things from four till half-past five,


s: When we cuddle close together with the happy Fairybook.


s: And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.


s: Lulla, lulla, lullaby; lulla, lulla, lullaby!


s: Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.


s: In their sleep, with shrieks and laughters:


s: Trembled the wee Elf, frightened, and yet


s: Tugged till the toadstool toppled in two.


s: Soon woke the Dormouse--"Good gracious me!


s: "Where is my toadstool?" loud he lamented.


s: --And that's how umbrellas first were invented.


s: When frost has spoiled their mossy beds,


s: Translated by Leigh Hunt from the Latin of Thomas Randolph


s: Young buds sleep in the root's white core.


s: From left to right she weaves her rings,


s: And then it dreams all through the night


s: "I've been to the top of the Caldon-Low,


s: 'And this,' they said, 'shall speedily turn


s: The jolly old miller, how he will laugh,


s: "'And there,' said they, 'the merry winds go


s: She'll be merry enough when the mildew's gone,


s: "And some they brought the brown linseed


s: On gossamer nights when the moon is low,


s: And their horns are loud and their bugles blow,


s: They sweep through the night like a whistling wind,


s: "Ah! why did I roam where the elfins ride,


s: They bore me far from my loved one's side,


s: But my heart is cold in the cold night-tide,


s: And though they sweep their hearths no less


s: And all your children sprung from thence,


s: Their caps of red, their cloaks of green,


s: The satyrs gasped and looked and smiled,


s: And wagged their heads from side to side,


s: When the lessons and tasks are all ended,


s: And the school for the day is dismissed,


s: Oh, the smiles that are halos of heaven,


s: While it wakes to the pulse of the past,


s: Ere the world and its wickedness made me


s: All my heart grows as weak as a woman's,


s: When I think of the paths steep and stony,


s: Where the feet of the dear ones must go,--


s: Of the mountains of sin hanging o'er them,


s: Oh, there's nothing on earth half so holy


s: They are idols of hearts and of households;


s: His sunlight still sleeps in their tresses,


s: Those truants from home and from heaven,--


s: But that life may have just enough shadow


s: I would pray God to guard them from evil,


s: But my prayer would bound back to myself;--


s: I have taught them the goodness of knowledge,


s: They have taught me the goodness of God:


s: I shall leave the old house in the autumn,


s: I shall miss the "good nights" and the kisses,


s: Their song in the school and the street;


s: I shall miss the low hum of their voices,


s: And death says: "The school is dismissed!"


s: God first made man, then found a better way


s: For woman, but his third way was the best.


s: And most divine are children.  Nothing here


s: Can be to us more gracious or more dear.


s: And though, when God saw all his works were good,


s: That none could enter Heaven save such as they.


s: The earth, which feels the flowering of a thorn,


s: Was glad, O little child, when you were born;


s: The earth, which thrills when skylarks scale the blue,


s: Soared up itself to God's own Heaven in you;


s: And Heaven, which loves to lean down and to glass


s: Its beauty in each dewdrop on the grass,--


s: Heaven laughed to find your face so pure and fair,


s: And left, O little child, its reflex there.


s: While the strong swift hours are weaving


s: Seven years since, of seven times seven.


s: Creep awa', my bairnie, creep afore ye gang,


s: Cock ye baith your lugs to your auld Grannie's sang:


s: Gin ye gang as far ye will think the road lang,


s: Creep awa', my bairnie, creep afore ye gang.


s: Creep awa', my bairnie, ye're ower young to learn


s: To tot up and down yet, my bonnie wee bairn;


s: Better creepin' cannie, than fa'in' wi' a bang,


s: Duntin' a' your wee brow,--creep afore ye gang.


s: Ye'll creep, an' ye'll hotch, an' ye'll nod to your mither,


s: Watchin' ilka step o' your wee dousy brither;


s: Rest ye on the floor till your wee limbs grow strang,


s: An' ye'll be a braw chiel yet,--creep afore ye gang.


s: The wee birdie fa's when it tries ower soon to flee,


s: Folks are sure to tumble, when they climb ower hie;


s: They wha canna walk right are sure to come to wrang,


s: The bonnie, bonnie bairn who sits poking in the ase,


s: Glowering in the fire wi' his wee round face,


s: Laughing at the fuffin' lowe--what sees he there?


s: Ha! the young dreamer's bigging castles in the air.


s: His wee chubby face and his touzie curly pow


s: Are laughing and nodding to the dancing lowe;


s: He'll brown his rosy cheeks, and singe his sunny hair,


s: Glowering at the imps wi' their castles in the air.


s: He sees muckle castles towering to the moon;


s: He sees little sodgers pu'ing them a' doun;


s: Warlds whommlin' up and doun, bleezing wi' a flare,--


s: See how he loups as they glimmer in the air!


s: For a' sae sage he looks, what can the laddie ken?


s: He's thinking upon naething, like mony mighty men:


s: A wee thing mak's us think, a sma' thing mak's us stare,--


s: There are mair folk than him bigging castles in the air.


s: Sic a night in winter may weel mak' him cauld:


s: His chin upon his buffy hand will soon mak' him auld;


s: His brow is brent sae braid--O pray that daddy Care


s: Wad let the wean alane wi' his castles in the air!


s: He'll glower at the fire, and he'll keek at the light;


s: But mony sparkling stars are swallowed up by Night:


s: Aulder e'en than his are glamored by a glare,--


s: Hearts are broken, heads are turned, wi' castles in the air.


s: Three little girls with fluttering curls


s: There's Bell with her bonnet of satin sheen,


s: And Maud with her mantle of silver-green,


s: Ah! sly little Kate, she steals my roses;


s: And Maud and Bell twine wreaths and posies,


s: While Maud she flouts, and Bell she pouts,


s: But dear little Kate takes naught amiss,


s: And leaps in my arms with a loving kiss,


s: Piped the blackbird on the beechwood spray


s: "What's your name?  Oh stop and straight unfold,


s: Pretty maid with showery curls of gold,"--


s: Little Bell sat down beneath the rocks--


s: Tossed aside her gleaming golden locks--


s: And the blackbird piped; you never heard


s: Now so round and rich, now soft and slow.


s: All the sweetness seemed to grow and grow,


s: Down the dell she tripped and through the glade,


s: Peeped the squirrel from the hazel shade,


s: Swung, and leaped, and frolicked, void of fear,--


s: While bold blackbird piped that all might hear--


s: Golden wood-lights glancing in his eyes--


s: Great ripe nuts, kissed brown by July sun,


s: Hark, how blackbird pipes to see the fun!


s: Little Bell looked up and down the glade--


s: "Squirrel, squirrel, if you're not afraid,


s: Little Bell gave each his honest share--


s: And the while these frolic playmates twain


s: Piped and frisked from bough to bough again,


s: Knelt sweet Bell, with folded palms to pray--


s: Rose the praying voice to where, unseen,


s: "What good child is this," the angel said,


s: Crooned the blackbird in the orchard croft,


s: "Whom God's creatures love," the angel fair


s: Murmured, "God doth bless with angels' care;


s: Folded safe from harm--Love deep and kind


s: Shall watch around and leave good gifts behind,


s: When Letty had scarce passed her third glad year,


s: And her young artless words began to flow,


s: One day we gave the child a colored sphere


s: Of the wide Earth, that she might mark and know,


s: By tint and outline, all its sea and land.


s: She patted all the world; old Empires peeped


s: Was welcome at all frontiers.  How she leaped,


s: And laughed and prattled in her world-wide bliss!


s: But when we turned her sweet unlearned eye


s: On our own Isle, she raised a joyous cry,--


s: "O yes! I see it, Letty's home is there!"


s: And while she hid all England with a kiss,


s: Bright over Europe fell her golden hair.


s: Tales told are good, tales seen are best!"


s: That when she could have touched the bird


s: She stopped and wavered, then drew near,


s: Beauty of earth--the streams, the flowers--


s: And dawns, and bees, and flash of wings!"


s: You taught me ways of gracefulness and fashions of address,


s: The mode of plucking pansies and the art of sowing cress,


s: And how to handle puppies, with propitiatory pats


s: For mother dogs, and little acts of courtesy to cats.


s: O connoisseur of pebbles, colored leaves and trickling rills,


s: Whom seasons fit as do the sheaths that wrap the daffodils,


s: Whose eyes' divine expectancy foretells some starry goal,


s: You taught me here docility--and how to save my soul.


s: (But stop,--first let me kiss away that tear!)


s: (My love, he's poking peas into his ear!)


s: Untouched by sorrow, and unsoiled by sin,--


s: (My dear, the child is swallowing a pin!)


s: Light as the singing bird that wings the air,--


s: (The door! the door! he'll tumble down the stair!)


s: (Why, Jane, he'll set his pinafore afire!)


s: In Love's dear chain so strong and bright a link,


s: Thou idol of thy parents,--(Drat the boy!


s: Fit playfellow for Fays, by moonlight pale,


s: (That dog will bite him, if he pulls its tail!)


s: Thou human humming-bee, extracting honey


s: From every blossom in the world that blows,


s: Singing in youth's Elysium ever sunny.--


s: (Another tumble!  That's his precious nose!)


s: (He'll break the mirror with that skipping-rope!)


s: With pure heart newly stamped from nature's mint,


s: (He'll have that jug off with another shove!)


s: (He'll climb upon the table, that's his plan!)


s: Touched with the beauteous tints of dawning life,--


s: No storms, no clouds, in thy blue sky foreseeing,


s: Toss the light ball, bestride the stick,--


s: (I knew so many cakes would make him sick!)


s: With fancies, buoyant as the thistle-down,


s: Prompting the face grotesque, and antic brisk,


s: (He's got the scissors, snipping at your gown!)


s: (Go to your mother, child, and wipe your nose!)


s: Balmy and breathing music like the South,--


s: (He really brings my heart into my mouth!)


s: Fresh as the morn, and brilliant as its star,--


s: Bold as the hawk, yet gentle as the dove;--


s: What grave, sweet looks!  What earnest eyes!


s: This thought, this work!  Oh tricksy elf,


s: Persists in hoping,--schemes and strives


s: And sketched on horn the spear he hurled,


s: But the crushed flower will leave a stain.


s: What shall preserve thee, beautiful child?


s: With Him we trust thee, beautiful child!


s: The wilder flowers, and gives them names;


s: What color best becomes them, and what smell.


s: Ere they have tried their force to wound,


s: Ere with their glancing wheels they drive


s: Where I may see the glories from some shade.


s: Whom Nature courts with fruits and flowers,


s: Nip, in the blossom, all our hopes and thee.


s: O thou! whose fancies from afar are brought:


s: Who of thy words dost make a mock apparel,


s: The breeze-like motion and the self-born carol;


s: To brood on air than on an earthly stream;


s: Where earth and heaven do make one imagery:


s: For what may be thy lot in future years.


s: I thought of times when Pain might be thy guest,


s: But when she sate within the touch of thee.


s: Or, lengthening out thy season of delight,


s: A young lamb's heart among the full-grown flocks.


s: Thou art a dew-drop, which the morn brings forth,


s: Or to be trailed along the soiling earth;


s: But, at the touch of wrong, without a strife,


s: Lords, knights, and squires, the numerous band


s: To show their passions by their letters.


s: Lest those bright eyes, that cannot read,


s: Should dart their kindling fires, and look


s: Dear Five-years-old befriends my passion,


s: For, while she makes her silkworms' beds


s: For, though the strictest prudes should know it,


s: 'Tis so ordained (would Fate but mend it!),


s: Play Can you see me? through their wings?


s: And didst Thou join Thy hands, this way?


s: And did they tire sometimes, being young,


s: Kiss Thee, and fold the clothes in right?


s: Kissed, and sweet, and Thy prayers said?


s: And He will smile, that children's tongue


s: Finding Francesca full of tears, I said,


s: "Tell me thy trouble."  "Oh, my dog is dead!


s: Murdered by poison!--no one knows for what!--


s: "Child,"--I began to say, but checked my thought,--


s: Those loving eyes!  That fond, confiding face!


s: From word of mine could any comfort come?


s: Friend, dog or horse, for grief must then be mute,--


s: Of tears for one poor, speechless creature dead.


s: When parents die there's many a word to say--


s: Kind words, consoling_--one can always pray;


s: Their mother, "Certainly, with them 'tis well!"


s: But for a dog, 'twas all the life he had,


s: Since death is end of dogs, or good or bad.


s: This was his world; he was contented here;


s: Imagined nothing better, naught more dear,


s: Than his young mistress; sought no brighter sphere;


s: Having no sin, asked not to be forgiven;


s: Ne'er guessed at God nor ever dreamed of heaven.


s: Goes from our life, without one hope above!


s: When a dog dies there's nothing to be said


s: But--kiss me, darling!--dear old Smiler's dead.


s: Thy mouth, the priceless boon of breath;


s: Where all things else bore taint of sin.


s: And held her, surely clasped, from harm.


s: The shadow is creeping up steeple and tree;


s: The doves have flown to the sheltering eaves,


s: And the nests are dark with the drooping leaves;


s: Playing!  And what hast thou done beside


s: Whom hast thou pitied, and whom forgiven?


s: What hast thou learned by field and hill,


s: That will find thee tired,--but not with play!


s: And thou wilt learn, as thou learnest now,


s: If thine open hand hath relieved distress,


s: And thy pity hath sprung to wretchedness--


s: From the creeping worm to the brooding dove--


s: Hath plead with thy human heart unheard--


s: It will bring relief to thine aching brow,


s: And, with joy and peace at the thought of rest,


s: Thou wilt sink to sleep on thy mother's breast.


s: At the corner of Wood Street, when daylight appears,


s: Hangs a Thrush that sings loud, it has sung for three years:


s: Poor Susan has passed by the spot, and has heard


s: In the silence of morning the song of the Bird.


s: 'Tis a note of enchantment; what ails her?  She sees


s: A mountain ascending, a vision of trees;


s: Bright volumes of vapor through Lothbury glide,


s: And a river flows on through the vale of Cheapside.


s: Green pastures she views in the midst of the dale,


s: Down which she so often has tripped with her pail;


s: And a single small cottage, a nest like a dove's,


s: The one only dwelling on earth that she loves.


s: She looks, and her heart is in heaven: but they fade,


s: The mist and the river, the hill and the shade:


s: The stream will not flow, and the hill will not rise,


s: And the colors have all passed away from her eyes!


s: When a' other bairnies are hushed to their hame


s: By aunty, or cousin, or frecky grand-dame,


s: Wha stands last and lanely, an' naebody carin'?


s: 'Tis the puir doited loonie,--the mitherless bairn!


s: The mitherless bairn gangs to his lane bed;


s: Nane covers his cauld back, or haps his bare head;


s: His wee hackit heelies are hard as the airn,


s: An' litheless the lair o' the mitherless bairn.


s: Aneath his cauld brow siccan dreams hover there,


s: O' hands that wont kindly to kame his dark hair;


s: But mornin' brings clutches, a' reckless an' stern,


s: That lo'e na the locks o' the mitherless bairn!


s: Yon sister that sang o'er his saftly rocked bed