TO A CHILD.

They pray, and then the kind "Good-night,"

The loving kiss, shall end the prayer; And theirs will be a slumber light,

With God's own blessing resting there.

ANON.

TO A CHILD.

CHILD! O new-born denizen

Of life's great city! on thy head
The glory of the morn is shed

Like a celestial benison !

Here at the portal thou dost stand,

And with thy little hand

Thou openest the mysterious gate

Into the future's undiscovered land.

I see its valves expand,

As at the touch of Fate!

Into those realms of love and hate,
Into that darkness blank and drear,
By some prophetic feeling taught,
I launch the bold, adventurous thought,
Freighted with hope and fear;

As upon subterranean streams,

In caverns unexplored and dark,

Men sometimes launch a fragile bark,

Laden with flickering fire,

And watch its swift-receding beams

Until at length they disappear,

And in the distant dark expire.

61

62

THE CHILD ASLEEP.

By what astrology of fear or hope
Dare I to cast thy horoscope!

Like the new moon thy life appears ;

A little strip of silver light,

And widening outward into night
The shadowy disk of future years!
And yet upon its outer rim,

A luminous circle, faint and dim,

And scarcely visible to us here,

Rounds and completes the perfect sphere;

A prophecy and intimation,

A pale and feeble adumbration,

Of the great world of light, that lies

Behind all human destinies.

LONGFELLOW.

THE CHILD ASLEEP.

WEET babe! true portrait of thy father's face,

Sleep on the bosom that thy lips have pressed!

Sleep, little one; and closely, gently place
Thy drowsy eyelid on thy mother's breast.

Upon that tender eye, my little friend,

Soft sleep shall come, that cometh not to me!

I watch to see thee, nourish thee, defend;

'Tis sweet to watch for thee-alone for thee!

His arms fall down; sleep sits upon his brow;

His eye is closed; he sleeps, nor dreams of harm;

TO A LITTLE GIRL.

Wore not his cheek the apple's ruddy glow,

Would you not say he slept on Death's cold arm?

Awake, my boy! I tremble with affright!

Awake, and chase this fatal thought! Unclose
Thine eye but for one moment on the light!
Even at the price of thine, give me repose!

Sweet error! he but slept; I breathe again;
Come, gentle dreams, the hour of sleep beguile!

Oh, when shall he, for whom I sigh in vain,

Beside me watch, to see thy waking smile?

LONGFELLOW.

TO A LITTLE GIRL.

IMELY blossom, infant fair,
Fondling of a happy pair,
Every morn and every night
Their solicitous delight;

Sleeping, waking, still at ease,
Pleasing, without skill to please;
Little gossip, blithe and hale,
Tattling many a broken tale,

Singing many a tuneless song,
Lavish of a heedless tongue ;
Simple maiden, void of art,
Babbling out the very heart,
Yet abandoned to thy will,
Yet imagining no ill,

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64

THE CHRISTENING.

Yet too innocent to blush,
Like the linnet in the bush,
To the mother-linnet's note
Moduling her slender throat;
Chirping forth thy petty joys;
Wanton in the change of toys,
Like the linnet green, in May
Flitting to each bloomy spray;
Wearied then and glad of rest,
Like the linnet in the nest :
This, thy present happy lot,
This, in time will be forgot:
Other pleasures, other cares,
Ever-busy Time prepares;

And thou shalt in thy daughter see

This picture once resembled thee.

A. PHILIPS.

THE CHRISTENING.

ET, though so prudent, there were times of joy,
The day they wed, the christening of the boy,
When to the wealthier farmers there was shown
Welcome unfeigned, and plenty like their own;
For Susan served the great, and had some pride

Among our topmost people to preside :

When grave, conceited nurse, of office proud,

Bore the young Christian, roaring, through the crowd.