ess might wear, Sir--
A bunch for a penny!"
Many a bunch
Must the flower-woman sell,
To buy food for herself,
And her children as well.

Cleopatra's Needle

Upon the broad Embankment
You'll find a curious sight,--
The children play around it
From morning until night;
And crowds of grown-up people
Come here to see it too,
'Tis Cleopatra's Needle
Folks gather thus to view.

In Mother's pretty work-box
There's no such needle shown;
This needle, brought from Egypt,
Is nothing but a stone.
How silently it watches
Old Thames go gliding by!
"You're very old," the River says,
"But not so old as I."

Think you it longs for Egypt,
This wondrous solemn stone,
That stands and gazes at us
Each day so sad and lone?
Ah yes! when London's sleeping,
If monuments can dream,
It longs for Egypt's palm-trees,
And Nile's slow murmuring stream.

[Illustration: Cleopatra's Needle]

The Chestnut Woman

"All hot! all hot! come buy!
Ten a penny is the price,
And if you my chestnuts try,
You'll declare they're very nice.
See how brightly burns my fire!
Hear the chestnuts hiss and crack!
Better nuts you can't desire
Than these beauties, big and black.

"All hot!--if you are cold,
Have a pennyworth of heat,
Something nice and warm to hold,
Something nice and warm to eat.
Munch your chestnuts up, and then,
If your toes want warming too,
Say, 'I'll have another ten,
Just to warm me through and through."

So the cheerful chestnut dame
To each chilly passer calls,
As she roasts above the flame
Fine round nuts like floury balls.
Hungry children soon draw near,
If a penny they have got,
And with warmth and food to cheer,
_They_ become "all hot! all hot!"

The 5th of November

The fifth of November they bid you remember,
These bright little boys with the funny old Guy.
In his chair up and down he'll be borne through the town,
Then burned in a bonfire he'll be by-and-by.

All those who remember the fifth of November
Some money will give to the boys with the Guy.
If all gave a penny, I wonder how many
Wheels, crackers, and squibs they'd be able to buy?

Guy Fawkes Day

In the Children's Hospital

Little sick Tommy,