I cannot tell what stranger shore
These timid feet may journey o'er-

What desert bleak and broad;
But I can truly hope and pray
That thou may’st walk in wisdom's way,

And humbly with thy God.

CHILDREN'S FANCIES.

I wish I was a little bird,

Among the leaves to dwell;
To scale the sky in gladness,

Or seek the lonely dell :
My matin song should celebrate

The glory of the earth,
And my vesper hymn ring gladly

With the trill of careless mirth.

I wish I were a floweret,

To blossom in the grove;
I'd spread my opening leaflets

Among the plants I love ;-
No hand should roughly cull me,

And bid my odors fly;
I silently would ope to life,

And quietly would die.

A BOY'S DUTY.

101

I wish I was a gold-fish,

To seek the sunny wave, To part the gentle ripple,

And 'mid its coolness lave;
I'd glide through day delighted,

Beneath the azure sky,
And when night came on in softness,

Seek the starlight's milder eye.

Hush ! hush ! romantic prattlers!

You know not what you say, When soul, the crown of mortals,

You would lightly throw away: What is the songster's warble,

And the floweret's blush refined, To the noble thought of Deity

Within yonr opening mind ?

A BOY'S DUTY.

All good boys must every day
What their teacher says obey;
Pray and sing, and read and write,
These make heart and spirit light;
And, with the grace of God, each can
Thus become a worthy man.

LUOY'S LAMB.

LUCY had a little lamb,

Its fleece was white as snow, And every where that Lucy 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.

And so the teacher turned him out;

But still he lingered near, And in the grass he fed about,

Till Lucy did appear.

To her he ran, and then he laid

His head upon her arm,
As if to say-_“I'm not afraid

You 'll shield me from all harm."

“What makes the lamb love Lucy so ?”

The little children cried; “O, Lucy loves the lamb, you know !”

The teacher quick replied.

I MUST NOT TEASE MY MOTHER.

103

“If you, like Lucy, are but kind,

And feed the lambs 'with grass,
Their love and friendship, you will find,

"Are constant to the last."

I MUST NOT TEASE MY MOTHER.

I must not tease my mother,

For she is very kind,--
And every thing she says to me

I must directly mind:
For when I was an infant,

And could not speak or walk, She let me in her bosom sleep,

And taught me how to talk.

I must not tease

my

mother; And when she wants to read, Or has the headache, I must step

Most silently indeed.
I will not choose a noisy play,

Or trifling troubles tell,
But sit down quiet by her side,

And try to make her well.

I must not tease my mother;

She loves me all the day,

And she has patience with my faults,

And teaches me to pray.
How much I'll try to please her

She every hour shall see,
For should she go away, or die,

What would become of me?

A FLY IN WINTER.

Go back, little Fly, in your corner so warm,
You'll surely get hurt, and meet with some harm,
You fancied, perhaps, that because the sun shone,
Cold winter was pass’d, and summer had come.

No, no, little Fly, Jack Frost, the Ice Hero,
Is blowing his breath here, just below zero:
Hark! hear his whistle, his puff, and his blow;
Hurry home, little Fly,—you 'll be buried in snow.

There's no place like home, when the rude winter

blast
Chills one, and holds one, so tight and so fast;
So away to your snuggery, your nice little cell,
Do n't venture again till the roses you smell.

S. A., W.