Nor is't enough, that thou alone mayst slide, So may we press to that vast mansion, ever blest! Ye Fish which in this liquid Region 'bide, Now salt, now fresh where you think best to glide, In Lakes and ponds, you leave your numerous fry; Look how the wantons frisk to tast the air, To see what trade the great ones there do drive, Whose armour is their scales, their spreading fins their shield. While musing thus with contemplation fed, And thousand fancies buzzing in my brain, The sweet-tongu'd Philomel percht ore my head, I judg'd my hearing better than my sight, And wisht me wings with her a while to take my flight. O merry Bird (said I) that fears no snares, To gain more good, or shun what might thee harm, Thy cloaths ne're wear, thy meat is everywhere, Reminds not what is past, not whats to come dost fear. The dawning morn with songs thou dost prevent, Sets hundred notes unto thy feathered crew, So each one tunes his pretty instrument, And thus they pass their youth in summer season, Then follow thee into a better Region Where winter's never felt by that sweet airy legion. In Memory of my Dear Grandchild Anne Bradstreet, who de ceased June 20, 1669, being Three Years and Seven Months Old With troubled heart & trembling hand I write, How oft with disappointment have I met, More fool then I to look on that was lent, Farewel dear child, thou ne'er shall come to me, But yet a while and I shall go to thee; Mean time my throbbing heart's cheared up with this Thou with thy Saviour art in endless bliss. To my Dear and Loving Husband IF ever wife was happy in a man, If ever man were lov'd by wife, then thee; I prize thy love more than whole Mines of gold, The heavens reward thee manifold, I pray. Ame Bradstreef THE NEW ENGLAND PRIMER First printed in Boston between 1687 and 1690 More than one hundred years after the publication of the Primer, it was still held in such esteem that many schools devoted to it a generous share of the Saturday morning's session. We can imagine the little children answering eagerly the questions, "Who was the first man?" "Who was the first woman?" and so on down the page; while the older boys and girls were perhaps saying over to themselves nervously the definition of "justification," or "adoption," or "sanctification," in the Shorter Catechism. From a literary point of view, the DIALOGUE between CHRIST, YOUTH, and the Devil is of special interest, in that it recalls so unmistakably the morality plays of more than a century earlier. From The New England Primer, reprint of the edition of 1777. Good children must, Fear God all day, No false things say, By no sin stray, Love Christ alway, In doing good. I in the burying place may see Graves shorter there than I, Young children too must die. Oh! that by early grace I might NOW I lay me down to take my sleep, BE Our Saviour's Golden Rule you to others kind and true, As you'd have others be to you: And neither do nor say to men, Whate'er you would not take again. A DIALOGUE between CHRIST, YOUTH, and the Devil. YOUTH. THose days which God to me doth send, In pleasure I'm resolved to spend ; Like as the birds in th' lovely spring, Sit chirping on the bough and sing; In sports and plays to spend my time, From clouds my morning shall be free, Devil. The resolution which you take, Th' are few with thee who shall compare. Thy parents always disobey; Don't mind at all what they do say: And thou shalt be a child for me. When others read, be thou at play, And also pout and sullen be. Think not on God, don't sigh nor pray, Nor be thou such a silly fool, To mind thy book or go to school; But play the truant; fear not I Will straitway help you to lie, Which will excuse thee from the same, From being whipp'd and from all blame; Come bow to me, uphold my crown, |