ALL HAVE A WORK TO DO. "STOP, little stream, and tell me why Thou 'rt running on so fast, For ever gliding swiftly by, And yet thou 'rt never past. "I love to look into thy face, "Thou must be very happy here, But running by these mossy banks, "The pretty robin sings to thee While 'mid the leaves the squirrel peeps, And frolics all day long." "The little streamlet heeded not The prattling child's request, But, while it still ran swiftly on, The laughing boy address'd: ""Tis true I've squirrels, birds, and flowers, To cheer me on my way; And very pleasant is my lot: But, still, I must not stay. "Like Truth, I have my work to do, I cool the weary traveller's lips, "If I should stop, and idly lie Soon all my freshness would be gone, My verdant banks be dead. "Our heavenly Father gives to all His blessings most profuse, And, not the least, in wisdom gives The kindly law of use. "So, little child, your duty do In cheerfulness all day; And you, like me, shall then be bless'd With flowers upon your way." THE MONTHS. JANUARY brings the snow, Thaws the frozen lake again. March brings breezes loud and shrill, Stirs the dancing daffodil. April brings the primrose sweet; May brings flocks of pretty lambs, Hot July brings cooling showers, August brings the sheaves of corn, WE had a pleasant walk to-day And if Amid a hedge, where the first leaves And they were blue as a summer sky. An elder-branch dipp'd in the brook, Where daisies open'd to the sun, In a broad meadow, green and white, We saw upon the shady banks Anemones and primroses, And the blue violets of spring, And from the earth the plough turn'd up Such as the lily of the vale Sends forth from many a woodland dell. |