My little girl is nested
Within her tiny bed,
With amber ringlets crested
Around her dainty head;
She lies so calm and stilly,
She breathes so soft and low,
She calls to mind a lily
Half-hidden in the snow.
A weary little mortal
Has gone to slumberland;
The Pixies at the portal
Have caught her...
Goldenhair climbed up on grandpapa’s knee;
Dear little Goldenhair! tired was she,
All the day busy as busy could be.
Up in the morning as soon as ’t was light,
Out with the birds and butterflies bright,
Skipping about till the coming of night.
Grandpapa toyed with the curls on her head.
“What has my baby been doing,” he said,...
From “Sea Dreams”
WHAT does little birdie say
In her nest at peep of day?
Let me fly, says little birdie,
Mother, let me fly away.
Birdie, rest a little longer,
Till the little wings are stronger.
So she rests a little longer,
Then she flies away.
What does little baby say,
In her bed at peep of day?
Baby...
(a Cat’s Tale, with Additions)
THREE little kittens lost their mittens;
And they began to cry,
O mother dear,
We very much fear
That we have lost our mittens.
Lost your mittens!
You naughty kittens!
Then you shall have no pie.
Mee-ow, mee-ow, mee-ow.
No, you shall...
How doth the little busy bee
Improve each shining hour,
And gather honey all the day
From every opening flower.
How skilfully she builds her cell;
How neat she spreads her wax,
And labors hard to store it well
With the sweet food she makes.
In works of labor or of skill,
I would be busy too;
For Satan...
For Night and Morning
THOU that once, on mother’s knee,
Wast a little one like me,
When I wake or go to bed
Lay thy hands about my head:
Let me feel thee very near,
Jesus Christ, our Saviour dear.
Be beside me in the light,
Close by me through all the night;
Make me gentle, kind, and true,
Do what mother bids me...
Piped the Blackbird, on the beechwood spray,
“Pretty maid, slow wandering this way,
What ’s your name?” quoth he,—
“What ’s your name? O, stop and straight unfold,
Pretty maid with showery curls of gold.”—
“Little Bell,” said she.
Little Bell sat down beneath the rocks,
Tossed aside her gleaming golden locks,—
“Bonny...
I Passed by a garden, a little Dutch garden,
Where useful and pretty things grew,—
Heart’s-ease and tomatoes, and pinks and potatoes,
And lilies and onions and rue.
I saw in that garden, that little Dutch garden,
A chubby Dutch man with a spade,
And a rosy Dutch frau with a shoe like a scow,
And a flaxen-haired little Dutch maid...
Little Orphant Annie ’s come to our house to stay,
An’ wash the cups and saucers up, an’ brush the crumbs away,
An’ shoo the chickens off the porch, an’ dust the hearth, an’ sweep,
An’ make the fire, an’ bake the bread, an’ earn her board-an’-keep;
An’ all us other childern, when the supper things is done,
We set around the kitchen fire an’ has the...
There was a little girl,
And she had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead.
When she was good
She was very, very good,
And when she was bad she was horrid.
One day she went upstairs,
When her parents, unawares,
In the kitchen were occupied with meals,
And she stood upon her head
In her little...
