The First Grief.

The butterfly is glancing bright

Across the sunbeam's track;

I care not now to chase its flight,—
Oh, call my brother back!

The flowers run wild- the flowers we sowed

Around our garden tree;

Our vine is drooping with its load ;- ་

Oh, call him back to me!"

"He would not hear my voice, fair child!

He may not come to thee;

The face that once like spring-time smiled,
On earth no more thou'lt see.

A rose's brief, bright life of joy,
Such unto him was given ;-
Go! thou must play alone, my boy!
Thy brother is in heaven."

"And has he left the birds and flowers,

And must I call in vain?

And through the long, long, summer hours
Will he not come again?

And by the brook, and in the glade,
Are all our wanderings o'er?

Oh, while my brother with me played,

Would I had loved him more!"

MRS. HEMANS.

297

LOVE YOUR LITTLE BROTHER.

HAD a little friend,

And every day he crept

In sadness to his brother's tomb,

And laid him down and wept.

And when I asked him why

He mourned so long and sore,

He answered through his tears, "Because

I did not love him more.

Sometimes I was not kind,

Or cross, or coldly spake;"

And then he turned away, and sobbed
As though his heart would break.

Brothers and sisters are a gift

Of mercy from the skies;
And may I always think of this

Whene'er they meet my eyes;

Be tender, good, and kind,

And love them in my heart,

Lest I should sigh with bitter grief,

When we are called to part.

MRS. SIGOUrney.

THE LITTLE SISTER LEFT IN CHARGE.

LEEP, little brother, you must not awaken

Till mother comes back to her baby again; Weary and long is the way she has taken, Over the common, and through the green glen,

The Little Sister left in Charge.

Up the steep hill, by the path that is nearest,

Thinking of you as she hurries along,

299

Sleep then, and dream that she's watching you, dearest, Rocking your cradle, and singing her song.

In the still room there's no sound to disquiet,
Only the clock ticking even and low
Only the bird in his cage hanging by it,

Chirping a note as he hops to and fro.
Out in the sunlight the woodbine is stirring,
Filling the air with its fragrance so sweet;
On the low window-seat pussy sits purring,
Washing her face with her little white feet.

Far down the lane merry voices are ringing,
Comrades have beckoned me out to their play,
Why did you start? it is I that am singing;
Why did you frown? I'm not going away.
Could I forsake you for play, or for pleasure,
Lying alone in your helplessness here?
How could I leave you, my own little treasure,
No one to rock you, and no one to cheer!

In the room corners I watch the dark shadows,
Deepening, and lengthening, as evening comes on;
Soon will the mowers return from the meadows,
Far to the westward the red sun is gone.
By the green hedge-row I see her now coming,
Where the last sunbeam is just on her track,
Still I sit by you, love, drowsily humming,
Sleep, little baby, till mother comes back.

MORAL SONGS.

BE KIND TO ONE ANOTHER.

E kind to one another:

This is a world of care;

And there's enough of needful woe

For every one to bear:

But if you ease the burden

That weighs another down,

That work of Christian charity

Will lighten half your own.

Be kind to one another;

Scatter the seeds of love

Wide o'er the field of hearts, and rich
The harvest wealth will prove:

A wealth more truly precious

Than aught beneath the sun,

Which India's diamonds could not buy,
And yet how lightly won.

Be kind to one another;

Not to the good alone,

E'en to the cold and selfish heart,
Let deeds of love be shown.

So shall ye be His children
Who rains his gifts on all,

And even upon the thankless ones
Bids his bright sunbeams fall.

A. L. WESTCOMBE.

"Love One Another."

301

"LOVE ONE ANOTHER."

LITTLE girl, with a happy look,

Sat slowly reading a beautiful book,

All bound with velvet, and edged with gold;

And its weight was more than the child could hold.

Yet dearly she loved to ponder it o'er,

And every day she prized it more;

For it said—and she looked at her smiling mother—

It said, "Little children, love one another."

She thought it was beautiful in her book,
And the lesson home to her heart she took;
She walked on her way with a trusting grace,
And a dove-like look in her meek young face,
Which said, just as plain as words could say,
"The Holy Bible I must obey;

So mamma, I'll be kind to my darling brother,
For 'Little children must love one another.

I'm sorry he's naughty, and will not play;
But I'll love him still, for I think the way
To make him gentle and kind to me,
Will be better shown if I let him see

I strive to do what I think is right;
And thus, when we kneel in prayer to-night,

I will clasp my arms about my brother,
And say, 'Little children, love one another.""

The little girl did as her Bible taught,

And pleasant, indeed, was the change it wrought;
For the boy looked up, in glad surprise,

To meet the light of her loving eyes: