Rocks and castles towering high; Hills and dales, and streams and fields; And knights in armor riding by, With nodding plumes and shining shields. And here are little boats, and there Big ships with sails spread to the breeze; And yonder, palm trees waving fair On islands set in silver seas. And butterflies with gauzy wings; And herds of cows and flocks of sheep; And fruit and flowers and all the things You see when you are sound asleep. For creeping softly underneath The door when all the lights are out, Jack Frost takes every breath you breathe, And knows the things you think about. He paints them on the window pane And when you wake you see again Gabriel Setoun [1861 OCTOBER'S PARTY OCTOBER gave a party; The leaves by hundreds came→ The Chestnuts came in yellow, The lovely Misses Maple In scarlet looked their best; Nikolina All balanced to their partners, The sight was like a rainbow Then, in the rustic hollow, In jolly "hands around." George Cooper [1840 THE SHEPHERD 153 How sweet is the Shepherd's sweet lot! NIKOLINA O TELL me, little children, have you seen her- O, her eyes are blue as cornflowers, mid the corn, Nikolina! swift she turns if any call her, In her little garden many a flower is growing- Celia Thaxter [1835-1894] LITTLE GUSTAVA LITTLE Gustava sits in the sun, Safe in the porch, and the little drops run She wears a quaint little scarlet cap, And a little green bowl she holds in her lap, "Ha! ha!" laughs little Gustava. Up comes her little gray coaxing cat With her little pink nose, and she mews, "What's that?" Gustava feeds her, she begs for more; And a little brown hen walks in at the door: She scatters crumbs for the little brown hen. So dainty and eager they pick up the crumbs. "You want some breakfast too?" and down Waiting without stood sparrow and crow, Prince Tatters 2155 So the last she threw them, and knelt on the mat And her mother came to the open house-door: Kitty and terrier, biddy and doves, Celia Thaxter (1835-1894] PRINCE TATTERS LITTLE Prince Tatters has lost his cap! Over the hedge he threw it; Now Mother may sigh and Nurse may fume "One cannot be thinking all day of such matters! Little Prince Tatters has lost his coat! Playing, he did not need it; "Left it right there, by the nanny-goat, And nobody never seed it!" Now Mother and Nurse may search till night For the little new coat with its buttons bright; But "Coat-sleeves or shirt-sleeves, how little it matters! Trifles are trifles!" says little Prince Tatters. Little Prince Tatters has LOST HIS BALL! Before he can sleep or eat. Now raise the neighborhood, quickly, do! "Trifles are trifles; but serious matters, They must be seen to," says little Prince Tatters. Laura E. Richards [1850 THE LITTLE BLACK BOY My mother bore me in the southern wild, My mother taught me underneath a tree, And, pointing to the East, began to say: "Look on the rising sun,-there God does live, "And we are put on earth a little space, That we may learn to bear the beams of love; And these black bodies and this sunburnt face Are but a cloud, and like a shady grove. "For, when our souls have learned the heat to bear, The cloud will vanish, we shall hear His voice, Saying: 'Come out from the grove, My love and care, And round My golden tent like lambs rejoice.'” Thus did my mother say, and kissed me; And thus I say to little English boy. When I from black, and he from white cloud free, I'll shade him from the heat, till he can bear William Blake [1757-1827] |