Child Songs of Cheer | Page 6

a fairy feather
When the sun is high!

EASTER EGGS
Seven little nests of hay
We have made, for Easter day
Is
to-morrow, and you know
We must have them ready, so
When the
Rabbit comes she'll see
We expected her, that we
Children tried our
very best
Each to make the nicest nest.
One is in the lilac-bush,
Near the ground--last year a thrush
Built a
nest there--let me see,
Two are by the apple-tree,
In the clover--that
makes three--
One beside the playhouse door,
--Three plus one, that
must be four--
Two are in the tulip-bed--
Was it seven that I said?

Oh, yes! six I've counted, and
One is in our pile of sand.

Come and see! Oh, hurry, hurry!
For the Rabbit, kind and furry,

Has been here again and laid
Eggs in every nest we made!
Purple,
orange, red, and blue,
Pink and green and yellow, too,
Like a bunch
of finest flowers
Ever seen, and all are ours!
And oh, _look!_ What
_do_ you think!
Here our names are in white ink,
All spelled nicely
so we know
Just where every egg should go!
Is it not surprising,
quite,
How well Easter Rabbits write?
THE BIRDS' BATH
In our garden we have made
Such a pretty little pool,
Lined with
pebbles neatly laid,
Filled with water clean and cool.
[Illustration: THE BIRDS' BATH]
When the sun shines warm and high
Robins cluster round its brink,

Never one comes flying by
But will flutter down to drink.
Then they splash and splash and splash,
Spattering little showers
bright
All around, till off they flash

Singing sweetly their delight.

NOVEMBER MORNING
A tingling, misty marvel
Blew hither in the night,
And now the
little peach-trees
Are clasped in frozen light.
Upon the apple-branches
An icy film is caught,
With trailing
threads of gossamer
In pearly patterns wrought.
The autumn sun, in wonder,
Is gayly peering through
This
silver-tissued network
Across the frosty blue.
The weather-vane is fire-tipped,
The honeysuckle shows
A dazzling
icy splendor,
And crystal is the rose.
Around the eaves are fringes
Of icicles that seem
To mock the
summer rainbows
With many-colored gleam.
Along the walk, the pebbles
Are each a precious stone;
The grass is
tasseled hoarfrost,
The clover jewel-sown.
Such sparkle, sparkle, sparkle
Fills all the frosty air,
Oh, can it be
that darkness
Is ever anywhere!
THE RUNAWAY
A frantic clatter of horses' feet!
A runaway's coming down the street!
Flurry, scurry,
Children, hurry!
Drop your playthings! Quick! don't
wait!
Run and get within the gate!
Push the baby in the door,

Scramble in yourselves before
--_Whoa! Whoa!_
There they go!
Pell-mell rushing, snorting,
quaking,
Wagon rumbling, harness breaking,
Frightened so they
cannot know
Everybody's shrieking "_Whoa!_"
O my, don't cry!
Whiz, bang, they've galloped by!
No one hurt, but

horses dashed
Round a post and wagon smashed!
Dear me! Dear me!
When a runaway we see,
Children, too, must
run, oh, fast!
Run and hide as it goes past!
LOST!
"Peep! Peep! Peep!" Poor little chick!
Little cry so weak and small,

Meadow grass so tall and thick,
And the clover tufts so tall!
Little heart in sore distress,
Longing for the mother wing;
Through
the weedy wilderness
Searching for its sheltering!
THE QUEEN'S PAGE
Once I was a little page
To a May-day queen,
And I wore a little
coat
Made of Lincoln green.
Oh, the queen was beautiful!
And she had a bright
Crown of golden
cuckoo-buds
And violets blue and white.
On the step beside her throne
I sat very still,
Ready, as a page
should be,
To obey her will.
And before us little girls,
Each with garlands gay,
Round a
May-pole danced and sang
Almost all the day.
OUR TREE-TOAD
Grandfather says the tree-toad,
That to our yard has come,
Is just a
little wee toad
No bigger than his thumb!
And that his coat's so queer it
Can turn from green to blue!

Whatever color's near it,
Why, that's its color, too!
And then Grandfather snickers
And says, "Would you suppose
He

climbs with little stickers
On all his little toes?
"And don't you wish your toes now
Were fixed like his? For, see,

Right up the elm he goes now
And sticks tight to the tree!"
"But then," he says, "O dear me!
If all the little boys
Could
_screech_ as loud, I fear me
There'd be a dreadful noise!"
IN THE WATER-WORLD
Down among the water-weeds,
Darting through the grass,
Round
about the tasseled reeds,
See the minnows pass!
See the little turtles
there,
Hiding, half asleep,
Tucked in tangled mosses where
Tiny
crayfish creep!
Watch the trailing grasses string
Strands of purple shells
That the
lazy ripples ring,
Sweet as silver bells;
Watch the sunshine sift and
drift
Down the eddy whirls,
Whence the laden whiteweeds lift

Loads of blossom pearls;
While the limpid shadows slip
Softly in between,
And the
pussy-willows dip
Lightly in the green
Of the mocking trees that
grow
Down the water-sky,
Flecked with fleecy clouds that blow

Where the reed-birds fly.
Oh, such marvels manifold
Fill the summer stream,
Such enticing
things untold
Through the ripples gleam,
If you could a moment
turn
Into what you wish,
Would it not be fun to be
Yonder little
fish?
WHO WAS IT?
Of course I've heard the moon's green cheese,
But will somebody tell
me, please,
Who was it took so big a bite
There's scarcely any left
to-night?

VISITING DAY
I'll wear the striped skirt that trails,
And you the flowered one,
And
we will take our parasols
And walk out in the sun.
We'll leave our dolly-carts at home,
For ladies, when they call,

Must not