KINDNESS TO ANIMALS. "Whom God's creatures love," the angel fair Murmured, "God doth bless with angel's care; Child, thy bed shall be Folded safe from harm-love, deep and kind, Shall watch around, and leave good gifts behind, Little Bell, for thee." T. WESTWOOD. 89 KINDNESS TO ANIMALS. TURN, turn the hasty foot aside, The common Lord of all that move, A portion of his boundless love The sun, the moon, the stars he made, To all his creatures free; And spreads o'er earth the grassy blade Let them enjoy their little day, O do not lightly take away The life thou canst not give. GISBORN. 90 THE OAK-TREE. THE OAK-TREE. SING for the Oak-tree, The monarch of the wood; Sing for the Oak-tree, That groweth green and good; That groweth now, and yet shall grow The Oak-tree was an acorn once, Two leaves it had at first, Till sun and showers had nourished it, The little sapling Oak-tree! Its root was like a thread, Till the kindly earth had nourished it, On this side and on that side It grappled with the ground; THE OAK-TREE. The winds came, and the rain fell; All, all were friends to the Oak-tree, The boy that saw the acorn fall, Four centuries grows the Oak-tree, The Oak-tree of the forest Both east and west shall fly; And the blessings of a thousand lands For she shall not be a man of war, Nor a pirate shall she be ; But a noble, Christian merchant ship, To sail upon the sea. 91 MARY HOWITT. 92 SUNSHINE. SUNSHINE. I LOVE the sunshine everywhere,- I love it when it streameth in And casts a checkered casement shade I love it where the children lie I love it on the breezy sea, To glance on sail and oar, While the great waves, like molten glass, I love it on the mountain-tops, And half a kingdom, bathed in light, Lies stretching out below. SUNSHINE. And when it shines in forest glades, Through mossy boughs and veined leaves, How beautiful on little streams, How beautiful, where dragon-flies How beautiful on harvest slopes, O yes! I love the sunshine: Upon the earth, upon the sea, On piled-up cloud, the gracious sun MARY HOWITT. 93 |