"I don't care much about your wings:
Apples and cakes are better things.
You love the clouds, I choose the house;
Wings would look queer upon a mouse;
My nice long tail is better far:

So keep your wings just where they are.'

She minced1 some apples, gave a smack,
Then ran into a little crack.

The bird spread out his wings, and flew,
And vanished in the sky's deep blue;
Far up his joyful song he poured,
And sang of freedom as he soared.

* 52 *

DAYBREAK.

SEE the day begins to break,

And the light shoots like a streak
Of subtle 2 fire; the wind blows cold.
While the morning doth unfold;
Now the birds begin to rouse,
And the squirrel from the boughs
Leaps, to get him nuts and fruit;
The early lark, that erst was mute,
Carols in the rising day

Many a note and many a lay.

J. FLETCHER.

1 minced, nibbled.

2 subtle, rare, delicate.

8 erst, before, till now.

* 53 *

CHOICE STANZAS.

HE prayeth best who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.

S. T. Coleridge.

IF Wisdom's ways you'd wisely seek,
Five things observe with care,—
Of whom you speak, to whom you speak,
And how, and when, and where.

THE bird that soars on highest wing Builds on the ground her lowly nest; And she that doth most sweetly sing Sings in the shade when all things rest. In lark and nightingale we see What honor hath humility.

J. Montgomery. ·

TINY threads make up the web,
Little acts make up life's span:
Would you ever happy be,

Spin them rightly while you can.
When the thread is broken quite,
Too late then to spin aright.

BE not false, unkind, or cruel;
Banish evil words and strife e;
Keep thy heart a temple holy;
Love the lovely, aid the lowly:
Thus shall each day be a jewel
Strung upon thy thread of life.

HOWE'ER it be, it seems to me
'Tis only noble to be good;

Kind hearts are more than coronets,
And simple faith than Norman blood.

THE best revenge is love:

Alfred Tennyson.

disarm

Anger with smiles; heal wounds with balm;

Give water to thy thirsting foe:
The sandal-tree, as if to prove
How sweet to conquer hate by love,
Perfumes the axe that lays it low.

S. C. Wilkes.

IF e'er in doing aught, you dread
Disgrace, if others know it,
Then, dearest child, the only way
Is for you not to do it.

THERE'S a tone in the deep

Like the murmuring breath of a lion asleep.

Eliza Cook.

* 54 *

AN HONEST NAME.

THOUGH many be more rich than we
In all this great world's wealth by far,
We may possess a name no less
In worth than gold or rubies are.

However hard our lot, we'll guard
This treasure; for how great the loss,
To lose our name and honest fame,
And only gain a little dross!1

Though on this earth all pomp of birth
And worldly riches may decay,

Yet every man, if honest, can

Have wealth that none may take away.

* 55 *

SPRING-TIME.

THE Spring is come; the Spring is come!

The brooks are merrily pouring ;

And the lambs are here, and the swallows appear, And the lark aloft is soaring.

Old Winter is gone; old Winter is gone!

And, pray, what prevented his stay?

Why, March was his bane; 2 and the April rain Has driven him quite away.

1 dross, worthless matter, here gold.

2 bane, harm.

Look at the birds, the dear little birds!

They're singing on every bough,

And strain their throats with the blithest notes
To rejoice in the sweet Spring now.

Come to the fields, away to the fields!

We've lingered at home too long:
The sheep-bells ring as the bright birds sing,
And the streamlet murmurs a song.

Never forget, child, never forget,

Who it was made the world so fair,

Who with flowers and trees, and mountains and

seas,

Made it beautiful everywhere.

FROM THE GERMAN.

* 56 *

LAPLAND.

"WITH blue, cold nose, and wrinkled brow, Traveller, whence comest thou?"

"From Lapland's woods and hills of frost

By the rapid reindeer crossed;

Where tapering grows the gloomy fir

And the stunted juniper;

Where the wild hare and the crow
Whiten in surrounding snow;

Where the shivering huntsmen tear

His fur coat from the grim, white bear;