ef to hem--
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!
How many stitches it will take
Before it's done, I fear.

Yet set a stitch and then a stitch,
And stitch and stitch away,
Till stitch by stitch the hem is done--
And after work is play!

Christina G. Rossetti.

_Learning to Play_

Upon a tall piano stool
I have to sit and play
A stupid finger exercise
For half an hour a day.

They call it "playing," but to me
It's not a bit of fun.
I _play_ when I am out of doors,
Where I can jump and run.

But Mother says the little birds
Who sing so nicely now,
Had first to learn, and practice too,
All sitting on a bough.

And maybe if I practice hard,
Like them, I too, some day,
Shall make the pretty music sound;
Then I shall call it "play."

Abbie Farwell Brown.

_In Trust_[9]

It's coming, boys,
It's almost here;
It's coming, girls,
The grand New Year!

A year to be glad in,
Not to be bad in;
A year to live in,
To gain and give in;
A year for trying,
And not for sighing;
A year for striving
And hearty thriving;
A bright new year.
Oh! hold it dear;
For God who sendeth
He only lendeth.

Mary Mapes Dodge.

[Footnote 9: _From "Rhymes and Jingles," copyright, 1874, 1904, by
Chas. Scribner's Sons._]

VI

THE PALACE BED-TIME

_Watching Angels_

Angels at the foot,
And Angels at the head,
And like a curly little lamb
My pretty babe in bed.

Christina G. Rossetti.

_The Story of Baby's Blanket_

Once a little Baby,
On a sunny day,
Out among the daisies
Took his happy way.
Little lambs were frisking
In the fields so green,
While the fleecy mothers
All at rest were seen.

For a while the Baby
Played and played and played;
Then he sat and rested
In the pleasant shade.
Soon a Sheep came near him,
Growing very bold,
And this wondrous story
To the Baby told:

"Baby's little blanket,
Socks and worsted ball,
Winter cap and mittens,
And his flannels all,
And his pretty afghan
Warm and soft and fine,
Once as wool were growing
On this back of mine!

"And the soft bed blankets,