"I've spun a piece of hempen cloth, A little sheet for Mary's bed "And with that I could not help but laugh, "And all on the top of the Caldon-Low And nothing I saw but the mossy stones But, as I came down from the hill-top, How busy the jolly miller was, And how merry the wheel did go ! "And I peeped into the widow's field, The yellow ears of the mildewed corn "And down by the weaver's croft I stole, "Now, this is all that I heard, mother, And all that I did see; So, prithee, make my bed, mother, For I'm tired as I can be!" THE CHILDREN IN THE MOON. HEARKEN, child, unto a story! For the moon is in the sky, And across her shield of silver See two tiny cloudlets fly. Watch them closely, mark them sharply, See, my child, across their shoulders It is said these little children, To a little well far northward To the wayside-well they trotted, Quoth the man, “How vexed and sulky But the little handsome maiden Trips behind him full of joy. "To the well behind the hedgerow "How they please me! how they tempt me! "Children, ay, and children's children, Thus the philosophic moon-man Set the babes, with pole and bucket, Never is the bucket empty, Never are the children old; Ever when the moon is shining We the children may behold. Ever young and ever little, Ever sweet and ever fair! When thou art a man, my darling, Still the children will be there. Ever young and ever little, They will smile when thou art old; When thy locks are thin and silver, Theirs will still be shining gold. They will haunt thee from their heaven, On thy cradle, on thy tomb! - From the Scandinavian. HIAWATHA'S CHILDHOOD. By the shores of Gitchee Gumee, There the wrinkled old Nokomis Safely bound with reindeer sinews; Stilled his fretful wail by saying, "Hush the Naked Bear will hear thee!" Lulled him into slumber, singing, "Ewa-yea! my little owlet! Who is this that lights the wigwam? Many things Nokomis taught him Showed the Death-Dance of the spirits, In the frosty nights of winter ; Showed the broad, white road in heaven, Pathway of the ghosts, the shadows, |