And would rather call it ours
Than the many gayer flowers:
Pretty lilies seem to be
Emblems of humilty.2

Come, my Love, and do not spurn
From a little flower to learn:
Let your temper be as sweet

As the lily at your feet;
Be as gentle, be as mild,

Be a modest, simple child.

'Tis not beauty that we prize;

Like a summer flower it dies ;
But humility will last,

Fair and sweet when beauty's past;

And the Saviour from above

Views a humble child with love.

JANE TAYLOR.

* 74 *

THE DAISY.

I'm a pretty little thing,

Always coming with the spring;
In the meadows green I'm found,
Peeping just above the ground;
And my stalk is covered flat
With a white and yellow hat.

1 emblem, a sign or symbol.

2 humility, humbleness.

Little lady, when you pass
Lightly o'er the tender grass,
Skip about, but do not tread
On my meek and lowly head;
For I always seem to say,
Surely winter's gone away.

* 75 *

THE FLY.

WHAT a sharp little fellow is Mr. Fly!
He goes where he pleases, low or high,

And can walk just as well with his feet to the sky
As I can on the floor.

At the window he comes

With a buzz and a roar,

And o'er the smooth glass

With ease he can pass,

Or through the keyhole of the door.

He eats the sugar, and goes away,

Nor ever once asks how much is to pay;

And sometimes he crosses the teapot's steam,
And comes and plunges his head in the cream.

Then on the edge of the jug he stands,
And cleans his wings with his feet and hands;
This done, through the window he hurries away,
And gives a buzz, as if to say,

"At present I haven't a minute to stay;

But I'll peep in again in the course of the day."

Do you know how low and sweet,
O'er the pebbles at their feet,
Are the words the waves repeat
Night and day?

Have you heard the robins singing,
Little one,

When the rosy dawn is breaking,—
When 'tis done?

Have you heard the wooing1 breeze,
In the blossomed orchard trees,
And the drowsy hum of bees
In the sun?

All the earth is full of music,
Little May,-

Bird and bee, and water singing
On its way.

Let their silver voices fall

On thy heart with happy call:
"Praise the Lord, who loveth all,
Night and day."

EMILY HUNTINGTON MILLER.

* 79 *

MERRY ARE THE BELLS.

MERRY are the bells,

And merry would they ring;

Merry are we all,

And merry will we sing:

1 wooing, gentle, soothing.

With a merry ding-dong,
Happy, gay, and free,
And a merry sing-song,
Happy let us be.

Merry have we met,

And merry have we been;
Merry let us part,

And merry meet again:
With our merry sing-song,
Happy, gay, and free,
And a merry ding-dong,
Happy let us be.

* 80 *

THE LITTLE WORKER'S SONG.

COLD the winter wind is blowing,
And it never ceases snowing,
Snowing, blowing, all day long;
Yet I sing a merry song.

I like to see the bright fire burning;
I like to know my bread I'm earning;
I like to work, and then to play:
I'm happy, happy, all the day.

Soon will come the spring's soft showers,
And after that the summer flowers;
This makes me happy all day long;
This makes me sing a merry song.

* 81 *

A SWINGING SONG.

MERRY it is on a summer's day

All through the meadows to wend1 away;
To watch the brooks glide fast or slow,
And the little fish twinkle down below; .
To hear the birds in the blue sky sing:
Oh! sure enough, 'tis a merry thing;
But 'tis merrier far to swing, to swing.
Merry it is on a winter's night
To listen to tales of elf and sprite,2
Of caves and castles 3 so dim and old,
The dismalest tales that ever were told,
And then to laugh, and then to sing,
You may take my word, is a merry thing;
But 'tis merrier far to swing, to swing.

Down with the hoop upon the green!
Down with the ringing tambourine!"
Little heed we for this or for that;
Off with the bonnet, off with the hat!
Away we go like birds on the wing;
Higher yet, higher yet, now for the King!5
This is the way we swing, we swing.

Scarcely the bough bends, Claude is so light;
Mount

1 wend, go.

up behind him, there, that is right!

2 sprite, a spirit.

3 castle, a strong building where a prince or a nobleman dwells.

4 tambourine, a kind of shallow drum with one skin, and bells fastened to

the rim.

5 King, the highest swing of all.