Poems Every Child Should Know: The What-Every-Child-Should-Know-Library | Page 6

me. She knew many poems, but this was her favourite.

I shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For,
so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.
I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For
who has sight so keen and strong
That it can follow the flight of
song?
Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;

And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a
friend.
HENRY W. LONGFELLOW.
THE BABIE.
I found "The Babie" in Stedman's "Anthology." It is placed in this
volume by permission of the poet, Jeremiah Eames Rankin, of
Cleveland (1828-), because it captured the heart of a ten-year-old boy
whose fancy was greatly moved by the two beautiful lines:
"Her face is like an angel's face,
I'm glad she has no wings."
Nae shoon to hide her tiny taes,
Nae stockin' on her feet;
Her supple
ankles white as snaw,
Or early blossoms sweet.
Her simple dress o' sprinkled pink,
Her double, dimplit chin,
Her
puckered lips, and baumy mou',
With na ane tooth within.
Her een sae like her mither's een,
Twa gentle, liquid things;
Her
face is like an angel's face:
We're glad she has nae wings.
JEREMIAH EAMES RANKIN.
LET DOGS DELIGHT TO BARK AND BITE.
"Let Dogs Delight to Bark and Bite," by Isaac Watts (1674-1748), and
"Little Drops of Water," by Ebenezer Cobham Brewer (1810-97), are

poems that the world cannot outgrow. Once in the mind, they fasten.
They were not born to die.
Let dogs delight to bark and bite,
For God hath made them so;
Let
bears and lions growl and fight,
For 'tis their nature too.
But, children, you should never let
Such angry passions rise;
Your
little hands were never made
To tear each other's eyes.
ISAAC WATTS.
LITTLE THINGS.
Little drops of water,
Little grains of sand,
Make the mighty ocean

And the pleasant land.
Thus the little minutes,
Humble though they be,
Make the mighty
ages
Of eternity.
EBENEZER COBHAM BREWER.
HE PRAYETH BEST.
These two stanzas, the very heart of that great poem, "The Ancient
Mariner," by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), sum up the lesson
of this masterpiece--"Insensibility is a crime."
Farewell, farewell! but this I tell
To thee, thou Wedding-Guest!
He
prayeth well who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast.
He prayeth best who loveth best
All things, both great and small:

For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.
SAMUEL T. COLERIDGE.
TWINKLE, TWINKLE, LITTLE STAR.

Twinkle, twinkle, little star!
How I wonder what you are,
Up above
the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.
When the glorious sun is set,
When the grass with dew is wet,
Then
you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle all the night.
In the dark-blue sky you keep,
And often through my curtains peep,

For you never shut your eye,
Till the sun is in the sky.
As your bright and tiny spark
Guides the traveller in the dark,

Though I know not what you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star!
PIPPA.
"Spring's at the Morn," from "Pippa Passes," by Robert Browning
(1812-89), has become a very popular stanza with little folks. "All's
right with the world" is a cheerful motto for the nursery and
schoolroom.
The year's at the spring,
The day's at the morn;
Morning's at seven;

The hillside's dew pearled;
The lark's on the wing;
The snail's on the thorn;
God's in His
heaven--
All's right with the world!
ROBERT BROWNING.
THE DAYS OF THE MONTH.
"The Days of the Month" is a useful bit of doggerel that we need all
through life. It is anonymous.
Thirty days hath September,
April, June, and November;
February
has twenty-eight alone.
All the rest have thirty-one,
Excepting
leap-year--that's the time
When February's days are twenty-nine.
OLD SONG.

TRUE ROYALTY.
"True Royalty" and "Playing Robinson Crusoe" are pleasing stanzas
from "The Just So Stories" of Rudyard Kipling (1865-).
There was never a Queen like Balkis,
From here to the wide world's
end;
But Balkis talked to a butterfly
As you would talk to a friend.
There was never a King like Solomon,
Not since the world began;

But Solomon talked to a butterfly
As a man would talk to a man.
She was Queen of Sabaea--
And he was Asia's Lord--
But they both
of 'em talked to butterflies
When they took their walks abroad.
RUDYARD KIPLING.
(In "The Just So Stories.")
PLAYING ROBINSON CRUSOE.
Pussy can sit by the fire and sing,
Pussy can climb a tree,
Or play
with a silly old cork and string
To 'muse herself, not me.
But I like
Binkie, my dog, because
He knows how to behave;
So, Binkie's the
same as the First Friend was,
And I am the Man in the Cave.
Pussy will play Man-Friday till
It's time to wet her paw
And make
her walk on the window-sill
(For the footprint Crusoe saw);
Then
she fluffles her tail and mews,
And scratches and won't attend.
But
Binkie will play whatever I choose,
And he is my true First Friend.
Pussy will rub my knees with her head,
Pretending she loves me hard;

But