88 LITTLE BELL. Little Bell looked up and down the glade: Down came Squirrel, eager for his fare, And the while those frolic playmates twain In the little childish heart below, grow, By her snow-white cot, at close of day, Very calm and clear Rose the praying voice to where, unseen "What good child is this," the angel said, Low and soft, O very low and soft, KINDNESS TO ANIMALS. "Whom God's creatures love," the angel fair Murmured," God doth bless with angel's care; Child, thy bed shall be Folded safe from harm-love, deep and kind, Shall watch around, and leave good gifts behind, Little Bell, for thee." T. WESTWOOD. KINDNESS TO ANIMALS. TURN, turn the hasty foot aside, The common Lord of all that move, A portion of his boundless love The sun, the moon, the stars he made, And spreads o'er earth the grassy blade Let them enjoy their little day, The life thou canst not give. GISBORN. 89 90 THE OAK-TREE. THE OAK-TREE. SING for the Oak-tree, The monarch of the wood; Sing for the Oak-tree, That groweth green and good; That groweth now, and yet shall grow The Oak-tree was an acorn once, The little sprouting Oak-tree! Two leaves it had at first, Till sun and showers had nourished it, The little sapling Oak-tree! Its root was like a thread, Till the kindly earth had nourished it, On this side and on that side It grappled with the ground; THE OAK-TREE. The winds came, and the rain fell; All, all were friends to the Oak-tree, The boy that saw the acorn fall, Four centuries grows the Oak-tree, The Oak-tree of the forest Both east and west shall fly; And the blessings of a thousand lands For she shall not be a man of war, Nor a pirate shall she be ; But a noble, Christian merchant ship, 91 MARY HOWITT. 92 SUNSHINE. SUNSHINE. I LOVE the sunshine everywhere,- I love it when it streameth in And casts a checkered casement shade I love it where the children lie I love it on the breezy sea, To glance on sail and oar, While the great waves, like molten glass, I love it on the mountain-tops, |