knew it now, and I just believe, I do,
That her poor little heart was broken, and so her head broke too.
Oh, my baby! my little baby! I wish my head had been hit!
For I've hit it over and over, and it hasn't cracked a bit.

But since the darling is dead, she'll want to be buried, of course:
We will take my little wagon, Nurse, and you shall be the horse;
And I'll walk behind and cry, and we'll put her in this, you see--
This dear little box--and we'll bury her there out under the maple-tree.

And papa will make me a tombstone, like the one he made for my bird;
And he'll put what I tell him on it--yes, every single word!
I shall say: "Here lies Hildegarde, a beautiful doll, who is dead;
She died of a broken heart, and a dreadful crack in her head."

MARGARET VANDERGRIFT

* * * * *

LITTLE THINGS

Little drops of water
Little grains of sand,
Make the mighty ocean,
And the pleasant land.

Thus the little moments,
Humble though they be,
Make the mighty ages
Of eternity.

Thus our little errors
Lead the soul away
From the path of virtue,
Off in sin to stray.

Little deeds of kindness,
Little words of love,
Make our earth an Eden,
Like the heaven above.

Ascribed to JULIA A. F. CARNEY

* * * * *

THE GOLDEN RULE

To do to others as I would
That they should do to me,
Will make me gentle, kind, and good,
As children ought to be.

UNKNOWN

* * * * *

DO THE BEST YOU CAN

If I was a cobbler it should be my pride
The best of all cobblers to be;
If I was a tinker, no tinker beside
Should mend an old kettle like me.

UNKNOWN

* * * * *

THE VOICE OF SPRING

I am coming, I am coming!
Hark! the little bee is humming;
See, the lark is soaring high
In the blue and sunny sky;
And the gnats are on the wing,
Wheeling round in airy ring.

See, the yellow catkins cover
All the slender willows over!
And on the banks of mossy green
Star-like primroses are seen;
And, their clustering leaves below,
White and purple violets grow.

Hark! the new-born lambs are bleating
And the cawing rooks are meeting
In the elms,--a noisy crowd;
All the birds are singing loud;
And the first white butterfly
In the sunshine dances by.