Verse and Prose for Beginners in Reading | Page 9

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,
Lights the traveller in the dark,

Though I know not what you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
MARY'S LAMB.
Mary had a little lamb,
Its fleece was white as snow;
And
everywhere that Mary went,
The lamb was sure to go.
He followed her to school one day,--
That was against the rule;
It
made the children laugh and play,
To see a lamb at school.
So the teacher turned him out,
But still he lingered near,
And
waited patiently about,
Till Mary did appear.
Then he ran to her, and laid
His head upon her arm,
As if he said,
"I'm not afraid,--
You'll keep me from all harm."
"What makes the lamb love Mary so?"
The eager children cry.
"Oh,
Mary loves the lamb, you know,"
The teacher did reply.
PROVERBS AND POPULAR SAYINGS.
A watched pot never boils.
After dinner sit awhile; after supper walk
a mile.
All his fingers are thumbs.
All is fish that comes to the net.

All is not gold that glitters.
All's well that ends well.
All work
and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
All your geese are swans.

Always taking out of the meal tub, and never putting in, soon comes to
the bottom.
An inch on a man's nose is much.
An old bird is not
caught with chaff.
An old dog will learn no new tricks.
As bare as
the back of my hand.

Solomon Grundy,
Born on a Monday,
Christened on Tuesday,

Married on Wednesday,
Took ill on Thursday,
Worse on Friday,

Died on Saturday,
Buried on Sunday:
This is the end
Of Solomon
Grundy.

The King of France went up the hill,
With twenty thousand men;

The King of France came down the hill,
And ne'er went up again.

The man in the wilderness asked me,
How many strawberries grew in
the sea.
I answered him, as I thought good,
As many red herrings as
grew in the wood.

There was a crooked man, and he went a crooked mile,
He found a
crooked sixpence against a crooked stile:
He bought a crooked cat,
which caught a crooked mouse,
And they all lived together in a little
crooked house.

Tom, Tom, the piper's son,
Stole a pig and away he run!
The pig
was eat, and Tom was beat,
And Tom went roaring down the street.

There was a little boy went into a barn,
And lay down on some hay;

An owl came out and flew about,
And the little boy ran away.

There was a man of our town,
And he was wondrous wise;
He
jumped into a bramble bush,
And scratched out both his eyes:
And
when he saw his eyes were out,
With all his might and main
He
jumped into another bush,
And scratched 'em in again.

0. This pig went to market;
0. This pig stayed at home;
0. This pig had a bit of meat;
0. And this pig had none;
0. This pig said, "Wee, wee, wee! I can't find my way home."

Tom, Tom, of Islington,
Married a wife on Sunday;
Brought her
home on Monday;
Hired a house on Tuesday;
Fed her well on
Wednesday;
Sick was she on Thursday;
Dead was she on Friday;

Sad was Tom on Saturday,
To bury his wife on Sunday.
WEE WILLIE WINKIE.
Wee Willie Winkie
Runs through the town,
Upstairs and downstairs,

In his night-gown;
Tapping at the window,
Crying at the lock,

"Are the babes in their bed?
For it's now ten o'clock."
SINGING.
Of speckled eggs the birdie sings
And nests among the trees;
The
sailor sings of ropes and things
In ships upon the seas.
The children sing in far Japan,
The children sing in Spain;
The
organ with the organ man
Is singing in the rain.
THE COW.
The friendly cow all red and white,
I love with all my heart;
She
gives me cream with all her might,
To eat with apple-tart.
She wanders lowing here and there,
And yet she cannot stray,
All in
the pleasant open air,
The pleasant light of day;
And blown by all the winds that pass
And wet with all the showers.


She walks among the meadow grass
And eats the meadow flowers.
GOOD-NIGHT AND GOOD-MORNING.
A fair little girl sat under a tree,
Sewing as long as her eyes could see;

Then smoothed her work and folded it right
And said, "Dear work,
good-night, good-night!"
Such a number of rooks came over her head,
Crying "Caw! Caw!" on
their way to bed,
She said, as she watched their curious flight,

"Little black things, good-night, good-night!"
The horses neighed, and the oxen lowed,
The sheep's "Bleat! Bleat!"
came over the road;
All seeming to say, with a quiet delight,
"Good
little girl, good-night, good-night!"
She did not say to the sun, "Good-night!"
Though she saw him there
like a ball of light;
For she knew he had God's time to keep
All over
the world and