Suppose the little Breezes, Upon a summer's day, Should think themselves too small to cool The traveller on his way: Who would not miss the smallest And softest ones that blow, And think they made a great mistake How many deed of kindness A little child can do, Although it has but little strength And little wisdom too! It wants a loving spirit Much more than strength, to prove How many things a child may do For others by its love. Unknown THE LION AND THE MOUSE A LION with the heat oppressed, And travelled over him, and round him, Who straightway woke, with wrath immense, "You rascal, what are you about?" The Boy and the Wolf But she (the mouse) with tearful eye, 'Twas nearly twelve months after this, With dreadful rage, he stamped and tore, Then what the lion's utmost strength Few are so small or weak, I guess, 113 Jeffreys Taylor (1792-1853] THE BOY AND THE WOLF A LITTLE Boy was set to keep A little flock of goats or sheep; He thought the task too solitary, And took a strange perverse vagary: To call the people out of fun, To see them leave their work and run, He cried and screamed with all his might,- Some people, working at a distance, They searched the fields and bushes round, The Boy, delighted with his game, At last they found that they were cheated. He cried, "Wolf! wolf!"-the neighbors heard, "We need not go from our employ,- The little Boy cried out again, "Help, help! the Wolf!" he cried in vain. This shows the bad effect of lying, Your cries could give me no alarm; They would not make me move the faster, I should be sorry when I came, But you yourself would be to blame. John Hookham Frere [1769-1846] THE STORY OF AUGUSTUS, WHO WOULD NOT HAVE ANY SOUP AUGUSTUS was a chubby lad; Fat, ruddy cheeks Augustus had; And never let his soup get cold. The Story of Little Suck-a-thumb 115 But one day, one cold winter's day, He screamed out- "Take the soup away! I won't have any soup to-day." Next day begins his tale of woes; The third day comes; O what a sin! I won't have any soup to-day." Look at him, now the fourth day's come! He scarcely weighs a sugar-plum; He's like a little bit of thread, And on the fifth day, he was-dead! From the German of Heinrich Hoffman [1798-1874] THE STORY OF LITTLE SUCK-A-THUMB ONE day, mamma said: "Conrad dear, I must go out and leave you here. To little boys that suck their thumbs; And ere they dream what he's about, He takes his great sharp scissors out Mamma had scarcely turned her back, The great, long, red-legged scissors-man. Snip! snap! snip! They go so fast, From the German of Heinrich Hoffman [1798–1874] WRITTEN IN A LITTLE LADY'S LITTLE ALBUM HEARTS good and true Have wishes few In narrow circles bounded, And hope that lives On what God gives Is Christian hope well founded. Small things are best; Grief and unrest To rank and wealth are given; But little things On little wings Bear little souls to heaven. Frederick William Faber [1814-1863] MY LADY WIND My Lady Wind, my Lady Wind, And drove the chimney soot in. |