Child Songs of Cheer | Page 8

lovely painted pane;
Then the sun rose high and higher
With his wand of golden fire
Till,
alas, my picture vanished and I looked for it in vain!
THE FIRST SNOW
The snow! the snow! Whoop! Hooray! Ho! Ho!
Plunge in the deep
drifts and toss it up so!
Rollick and roll in the feathery fleece

Plucked out of the breasts of the marvelous geese
By the little old
woman who lives in the sky;
Have ever you seen her? No, neither
have I!
GRANDFATHER KNOWS
Grandfather says of all things
The silliest he's heard
Is that some
children call things
They've never seen, "absurd!"
And have their
doubts of true things,
And won't believe, because
They say, "If you
but knew things,
There _is_ no Santa Claus!"
Grandfather says he _knows_ him,
And sees him every year,
And
Santa often shows him
The playthings he brings here;
He says, too,
Santa told him
If any girls and boys
Laugh at and won't uphold him,

They'll not get any toys!
SLEIGH-BELLS
Tinkle, tinkle, tinkle!
Happy winter-time!
Baby's eyes a-twinkle,

Hear the sleigh-bells chime!
Each one rings a merry
Ting-a-ling-a-ling!
For a sleigh-bell fairy

Hides inside to sing.
See them quake and quiver,
Up and downward tossed,
Seems as if
they shiver
In the nipping frost!

Shiver into laughter,
Jolly little elves!
Till we laugh thereafter,

Merry as themselves!
THE RED-BIRD
Swept lightly by the south wind
The elm-leaves softly stirred,
And
in their pale green clusters
There straightway bloomed a bird!
His glossy feathers glistened
With dyes as richly red
As any tulip
flaming
From out the garden bed.
But ah, unlike the tulips,
In joyous strain, ere long,
This red-bird
flower unfolded
A heart of golden song!
WILD BEASTS
I will be a lion
And you shall be a bear,
And each of us will have a
den
Beneath a nursery chair;
And you must growl and growl and
growl,
And I will roar and roar,
And then--why, then--you'll growl
again,
And I will roar some more!
WHEREFORE WINGS?
Heigho, sparrow! Reckless of the rain;
When chill the cheerless wind
grows,
Chirping might and main!
Is it naught, then, when the rose
Blows again?
Beating, sleeting on your draggled coat!
Surely, 'tis enough to drown

Any happy note
Nestling in that downy brown
Little throat.
Ah me, sparrow! Had I but your power,
Think you in the freezing
sleet
I would waste an hour?
--I'd sing my sweetest to a sweet
Orange flower!

BASKING
Frosty winter chased away
By the blessed sun,
Down upon the
garden walks
Basking has begun.
Oh, the happy, happy heat!
How the pulses stir,
How it warms the
hearts beneath
Little coats of fur!
Oh, the happy pussy-cats!
Days to doze and doze,
And what
pleasant dreams they dream
Only pussy knows.
WITH A MAY-BASKET FOR BABY AGNES
Peach-buds to meet thee,
Robins to greet thee,
Hey, little Sweetheart! and May morning, hey!
Sunbeam and sing time,
Bluebird and wing time,
This time is kiss time for sweethearts, I say!
Dearest, God bless thee,
Fold and caress thee,
Unto thy cradle may good fairies fly!
Fortune be fair for thee,
This is my prayer for thee,
Lullaby, little one, hush-a-by-bye!
So for a love now
Token thereof now,
Sweet, see this tiny May-basket I bring;
Posies to play with,
Pinks to be gay with,
Dear little baby of sunshine and spring!
THE LITTLE NEST
A little picture haunts me;
It comes and comes again;
It is a tiny
bird's-nest,
All ragged from the rain.

It clings within a birch-tree
Upon the moorland's edge,
Between the
barren branches,
Above the swaying sedge.
The sky is gray behind it,
And when the north winds blow,
The
birch-tree bends and shivers,
And tosses to and fro.
I wonder, does it haunt them,
The birds that flew away?
And will
they come to seek it,
Some sunny summer day?
I wonder, does some redbreast
Upon an orange-bough,
Still picture
it as plainly
As