Then he lifted his voice; but none to hear

The sound of his sorrow were nigh;

So he covered his head with his half-fledged wing, And he sat on a stone to die.

Oh! never more in that beautiful wood
Was the sound of his gladness heard;
And for many a day did his brothers weep
For the loss of the truant bird.

And for many a day no song of joy
Came up from his mother's breast:
She mourned for him with drooping wings;
But he came not again to his nest.

And thus, little children, from this you may learn How even one child may be

The cause of sorrow, which nought may remove, From a little family.

You each have a home in a chosen tree,
Which your parents have lighted with love:
Oh! cause not the shadows of grief to descend,
The beautiful light to remove.

I looked on the peasant's lowly cot,
Something of sadness had wrapt the spot,
But à gleam of thee on its lattice fell,

And it laughed into beauty at that bright spell.

Sunbeam of Summer! Oh, what is like thee,
Hope of the wilderness, joy of the sea!

One thing is like thee to mortals given,
The faith touching all things with hues of heaven!

FELICIA HEMANS.

*33*

WE ARE SEVEN.

I.

I MET a little cottage girl:

She was eight years old, she said;
Her hair was thick with many a curl
That clustered round her head.

She had a rustic, woodland air,
And she was wildly clad:
Her eyes were fair, and very fair;
Her beauty made me glad.

"Sisters and brothers, little Maid,

How many may you

be?"

"How many? Seven in all," she said,

And wondering looked at me.

"And where are they? I pray you tell."
She answered, "Seven are we;
And two of us at Conway dwell,
And two are gone to sea;

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"Two of us in the churchyard lie,
My sister and my brother;
And in the churchyard cottage I
Dwell near them with my mother."

"You say that two at Conway dwell,
And two are gone to sea,

Yet ye are seven!-I pray you tell,
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,
Your limbs they are alive;
If two are in the churchyard laid,

Then ye are only five."

II.

"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.

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My stockings there I often knit,
My kerchief1 there I hem;
And there upon the ground I sit,-
I sit and sing to them.

"And often after sunset, Sir,
When it is light and fair,
I take my little porringer,2
And eat my supper there.

"The first that died was Sister Jane;
In bed she moaning lay
Till God released her of her pain,

And then she went away.

"So in the churchyard she was laid; And when the grass was dry, Together round her grave we played,

My brother John and I.

"And when the ground was white with snow,
And I could run and slide,
My brother John was forced to go,
And he lies by her side."

"How many are you, then," said I,

"If they two are in heaven?"

The little Maiden did reply,

"O master! we are seven."

1 kerchief, a piece of cloth used in dress, especially one for the head.

2 porringer, a small dish for porridge.

"But they are dead; those two are dead:
Their spirits are in heaven!"

'Twas throwing words away; for still
The little Maid would have her will,
And said, "Nay, we are seven!"

* 34 *

W. WORDSWORTH.

GOOD-NIGHT AND GOOD-MORNING.

A FAIR little girl sat under a tree

Sewing as long as her eyes could see;

Then smoothed her work, and folded it right, And said, "Dear work, good-night, good-night!"

Such a number of rooks' came over her head,
Crying, "Caw, caw!" on their way to bed;
She said, as she watched their curious flight,
"Little black things, good-night, good-night!"

The horses neighed, and the oxen lowed;
The sheep's "Bleat, bleat!" came over the road,
All seeming to say, with a quiet delight,
"Good little girl, good-night, good-night!"

She did not say to the sun, "Good-night!' Though she saw him there, like a ball of light; For she knew he had God's own time to keep All over the world, and never could sleep.

1 rook, a bird like a crow.