There's Bell with her bonnet of satin sheen, And Maud with her mantle of silver-green, And Kate with her scarlet feather. Under my window, under my window, Leaning stealthily over, Merry and clear, the voice I hear, Of each glad-hearted rover. Ah sly little Kate, she steals my roses; Under my window, under my window, I catch them all together: And Maud with her mantle of silver-green, Under my window, under my window, THOMAS WESTWOOD. CHILDHOOD. IN my poor mind it is most sweet to muse Down which the child would roll; to pluck gay flowers, Make posies in the sun, which the child's hand CHARLES LAMB. THE MOTHER'S SACRIFICE. THE cold winds swept the mountain's height, And pathless was the dreary wild, And mid the cheerless hours of night A mother wandered with her child : And colder still the winds did blow, And darker hours of night came on, And deeper grew the drifting snow: Her limbs were chilled, her strength was gone. The lambs play always, they know no better; And, in the churchyard cottage, I They are only one times one. O Moon! in the night I have seen you sailing And shining so round and low. Dwell near them with my mother." "You say that two at Conway dwell, And two are gone to sea, You were bright — ah, bright—but your light Yet ye are seven ! I pray you tell, is failing; You are nothing now but a bow. You Moon! have you done something wrong in heaven, That God has hidden your face? I hope, if you have, you will soon be forgiven, And shine again in your place. O velvet Bee! you 're a dusty fellow, You've powdered your legs with gold. O Columbine! open your folded wrapper, And show me your nest, with the young ones in it, I will not steal them away; I am old! you may trust me, linnet, linnet ! WE ARE SEVEN. JEAN INGELOW. A SIMPLE child, That lightly draws its breath, And feels its life in every limb, What should it know of death? Sweet maid, how this may be." Then did the little maid reply, "Seven boys and girls are we; Two of us in the churchyard lie Beneath the churchyard tree." "You run about, my little maid ; "Their graves are green, they may be seen," The little maid replied: "Twelve steps or more from my mother's door, And they are side by side. "My stockings there I often knit, My kerchief there I hem ; And sing a song to them. "And often after sunset, sir, "The first that died was Sister Jane; In bed she moaning lay, Till God released her of her pain; And then she went away. PICTURES OF MEMORY. AMONG the beautiful pictures That hang on Memory's wall Is one of a dim old forest, That seemeth best of all; Not for its gnarled oaks olden, Dark with the mistletoe; Not for the violets golden That sprinkle the vale below; Not for the milk-white lilies That lean from the fragrant ledge, Coquetting all day with the sunbeams, And stealing their golden edge; Not for the vines on the upland, Where the bright red berries rest, Nor the pinks, nor the pale sweet cowslip, It seemeth to me the best. I once had a little brother, With eyes that were dark and deep; In the lap of that old dim forest He lieth in peace asleep : Light as the down of the thistle, Free as the winds that blow, We roved there the beautiful summers, The summers of long ago; But his feet on the hills grew weary, And, one of the autumn eves, I made for my little brother A bed of the yellow leaves. Sweetly his pale arms folded My neck in a meek embrace, As the light of immortal beauty Silently covered his face; And when the arrows of sunset Lodged in the tree-tops bright, He fell, in his saint-like beauty, Asleep by the gates of light. Therefore, of all the pictures That hang on Memory's wall, The one of the dim old forest Seemeth the best of all. ALICE CARY. But that which others most admire, is the thought which fills his mind, The food for grave inquiring speech he everywhere doth find. Strange questions doth he ask of me, when we together walk; He scarcely thinks as children think, or talks as children talk. Nor cares he much for childish sports, dotes not on bat or ball, But looks on manhood's ways and works, and aptly mimics all. His little heart is busy still, and oftentimes perplext With thoughts about this world of ours, and thoughts about the next. He kneels at his dear mother's knee; she teacheth him to pray; And strange and sweet and solemn then are the words which he will say. |