Oh, you should only look at her, my playthings when I bring ;

Her little eyes say "Give them me," as plain as anything And when I call out, "Ellen, dear, I want a pretty kiss," She smiles, and stretches out her arms, and so she answers "Yes."

She cannot go alone just yet, but when she runs about,
It will be such a pleasant thing for me to take her out;
In the garden, or the orchard, we can pass the summer

hours;

How soon she'll learn to know the names of all the fruits and flowers!

We have a shady arbour, too, and there, in sunny weather,
On birthdays and on holidays, we all take tea together;
We'll place her in the midst of us, to join us in our plays,
I'm sure my friends will be so pleased to see her funny ways.

I'll teach her all the lessons that my mother taught me once;
I know my little Ellen will never be a dunce;
But if she should be rather slow in learning A B C,

I must have patience with her, as my mother had with me.

I'll say a morning prayer with her, when first she sees the

light,

And sing the evening hymn to her before she sleeps at night;

I'll talk to her of God above, who gives us all we have, And tell her, too, of Jesus Christ, who died our souls to

save.

They laugh, and say I'm but a girl; yet I shall older grow, And still be learning something, while I teach her what I

know;

So they may laugh, my Ellen, dear, for as I look at you, I seem almost a woman, when I think of what I'll do.

ALL HAVE A WORK TO DO. "STOP, little stream, and tell me why Thou'rt running on so fast,

For ever gliding swiftly by,

And yet thou'rt never past.

"I love to look into thy face,
Although I'm but a child,
And watch thy dimpling eddies play,
And hear thy music wild.

"Thou must be very happy here,
With nothing else to do
But running by these mossy banks,
Beneath the green wood too.

"The pretty robin sings to thee

His cheerful matin-song,

While 'mid the leaves the squirrel peeps, And frolics all day long."

The little streamlet heeded not

The prattling child's request, But, while it still ran swiftly on,

The laughing boy address'd:

""Tis true I've squirrels, birds, and flowers,

To cheer me on my way;

And very pleasant is my lot,

But still, I must not stay.

"Like Truth, I have my work to do,

My errand to fulfil :

I cool the weary traveller's lips,

And help the sea to fill.

"If I should stop, and idly lie Upon my pebbly bed,

Soon all my freshness would be gone, My verdant banks be dead.

"Our heavenly Father gives to all
His blessings most profuse;
And, not the least, in wisdom gives
The kindly law of use.

So, little child, your duty do
In cheerfulness all day;

And

you, like me, shall then be bless'd With flowers upon your way."

PRAYING SINCERELY.

WHEN daily I kneel down to pray,
As I am taught to do,

God does not care for what I say,
Unless I feel it too.

Yet foolish thoughts my heart beguile ;

And when I pray or sing, I'm oft thinking all the while About some other thing.

Some idle play, or childish toy,

Can send my thoughts abroad;

Though this should be my greatest joy

To love and seek the Lord.

Oh, let me never, never dare

To act the trifler's part,

Or think that God will hear a prayer
That comes not from my heart.