Part 107 (1/2)

Nay, my little master, nay, Do not serve me so, I pray.

Don't you see the wool that grows On my back to make your clothes?

Cold, and very cold you'd be, If you had not wool from me.

True, it seems a pleasant thing To nip the daisies in the spring; But many chilly nights I pa.s.s On the cold and dewy gra.s.s, Or pick a scanty dinner where All the common's brown and bare.

Then the farmer comes at last, When the merry spring is past, And cuts my woolly coat away, To warm you in the winter's day.

Little master, this is why In the pleasant fields I lie.

--_Jane Taylor_.

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[Ill.u.s.tration]

THE WOUNDED LAMB By Von Bremen

”How think ye? if any man have a hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and go unto the mountains, and seek that which goeth astray? And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth over it more than over the ninety and nine which have not gone astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.”--_The Words of Jesus_ [End ill.u.s.tration]

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THE COW

Thank you, pretty cow, that made Pleasant milk to soak my bread, Every day, and every night, Warm, and fresh, and sweet, and white.

Do not chew the hemlock rank, Growing on the weedy bank; But the yellow cowslips eat, They perhaps will make it sweet.

Where the purple violet grows, Where the bubbling water flows, Where the gra.s.s is fresh and fine, Pretty cow, go there and dine.

--_Jane Taylor_.

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[Ill.u.s.tration]

Music for ”Going to Bed”.

[End ill.u.s.tration]

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GOING TO BED

Little baby, lay your head On your pretty cradle-bed; Shut your eye-peeps, now the day And the light are gone away.

All the clothes are tucked in tight; Little baby dear, good night!

Yes, my darling, well I know How the bitter wind doth blow; And the winter's snow and rain Patter on the window pane.

But they cannot come in here, To my little baby dear;

For the window shutteth fast, Till the stormy night is past; Or the curtains we may spread Round about her cradle-bed.

So, till morning s.h.i.+neth bright, Little baby dear, good night!

--_Jane Taylor_.