PART II.

MISCELLANEOUS.

MELODIES

FOR

CHILDHOOD.

THE FIRST WALK.

A WONDROUS venture it must be,
My trembling little one, for thee

To trust thy feeble feet
Upon this hard old earth of ours;
And thou hast summoned all thy powers

The mighty task to meet.

There's caution in that look of thine,
And in the hand that clings to mine,

With clasp so keen and small;
Yet thou wilt learn to jump and run
Through the green meadows in the sun,

And never fear a fall.

These are thy faint first steps in life,
And though they seem with danger rife,

The peril is not there;
But in thine after-goings, child !
For oh, this world is wide and wild,

And much more false than fair