Then the farmer comes at last,
When the merry spring is past,
And cuts my woolly coat away
To warm you in the winter's day;
Little master, this is why
In the grassy fields I lie.

Ann Taylor.

'T

TRY AGAIN.

Is a lesson you should heed,
Try again;

If at first you don't succeed,
Try again;

Then your courage should appear,
For if you will persevere,

You will conquer, never fear,
Try again.

Once or twice, though you should fail,

Try again;

If you would at last prevail,

Try again;

If we strive, 'tis no disgrace

Though we do not win the race;
What should we do in that case?
Try again.

If you find your task is hard,

Try again;

Time will bring you your reward,
Try again;

Big and Little Things

All that other folk can do,
Why, with patience, may not you?
Only keep this rule in view,

Try again.

67

William Edward Hickson.

BIG AND LITTLE THINGS.

CANNOT do the big things
That I should like to do,

To make the earth for ever fair,
The sky for ever blue.

But I can do the small things

That help to make it sweet; Though clouds arise and fill the skies, And tempests beat.

I cannot stay the rain-drops
That tumble from the skies;
But I can wipe the tears away
From baby's pretty eyes.

I cannot make the sun shine,
Or warm the winter bleak;
But I can make the summer come
On sister's rosy cheek.

I cannot stay the storm clouds,
Or drive them from their place;
But I can clear the clouds away
From brother's troubled face.

I cannot make the corn grow,
Or work upon the land;
But I can put new strength and will
In father's busy hand.

I cannot stay the east wind,
Or thaw its icy smart;
But I can keep a corner warm
In mother's loving heart.

I cannot do the big things

That I should like to do,
To make the earth for ever fair,
The sky for ever blue.

But I can do the small things
That help to make it sweet;
Though clouds arise and fill the skies
And tempests beat.

Alfred H. Miles.

T

MY MOTHER DEAR.

HERE was a place in childhood that I remember

well,

And there a voice of sweetest tone bright fairytales did tell;

And gentle words and fond embrace were given with joy to me

When I was in that happy place, upon my mother's

knee.

When fairy tales were ended, "Good night," she softly

said,

And kissed, and laid me down to sleep within my tiny

bed;

Child's Evening Prayer

69

And holy words she taught me there—methinks I yet

can see

Her angel eyes, as close I knelt beside my mother's knee.

In the sickness of my childhood, the perils of my prime, The sorrows of my riper years, the cares of every time; When doubt and danger weighed me down, then, pleading all for me,

It was a fervent prayer to Heaven that bent my mother's knee.

Samuel Lover.

CHILD'S EVENING PRAYER.

RE on my bed my limbs I lay,
E God grant me grace my prayers to say

O God, preserve my mother dear

In health and strength for many a year.
And O preserve my father too,

And may I pay him reverence due;
And may I my best thoughts employ
To be my parents' hope and joy!
And O preserve my brothers both
From evil doings and from sloth,
And may we always love each other,
Our friends, our father, and our mother!
And still, O Lord, to me impart
An innocent and grateful heart,
That after my last sleep I may
Awake to Thy eternal day. Amen.

S. T. Coleridge.

A

THE LAND OF USED-TO-BE.*

ND where's the Land of Used-to-be, does little baby wonder?

Oh, we will clap a magic saddle over "Poppums' " knee

And ride away around the world, and in and out and under

The whole of all the golden sunny Summertime and

see.

Leisurely and lazy-like we'll jostle on our journey, And let the pony bathe his hooves and cool them in

the dew,

As he sidles down the shady way and lags along the ferny

And green grassy edges of the lane we travel through.

And then we'll canter on to catch the bubble of the thistle

As it bumps among the butterflies and glimmers down the sun,

To leave us laughing, all content to hear the robin whistle

Or guess what Katydid is saying little Katy's done.

And pausing here a minute, where we hear the squirrel chuckle

As he darts from out the underbrush and scampers up the tree,

*Used by permission of the publishers, The Bobbs-Merrill Co., owners of copyright.