THE WILLOW WAND.

BY A. E. W.

I have a little brother, And his name is Little Lewy; His starry eyes are bright as flowers And they are twice as dewy. Sometimes the dew o'erflows them, And trickles down his cheeks; And then he cries so hard, you'd think He wouldn't stop for weeks. Then my other little brother, A bough of willow bringing, Drives all the dew-drops far away, By waving it and singing: "One, two, free, fo', five, six, seven tears! You'll be as old as farver in forty sousand years. Drate big men don't have tears, so let me wipe 'em dry; In forty sousand years from now you'll never, never cry."

This other little brother, Whose name is Little Bert, Frowns in a dreadful manner Whenever he is hurt; The wrinkles right above his nose Look like the letter M, He keeps them there so long, he must Be very fond of them. Then my little brother Lewy, The branch of willow bringing, Sends all the naughty frowns away, By waving it and singing: "A, B, C, D, E, F, G; How many wrinkles are there? One, two, three! We'll send them all off quickly, or they'll climb up to your hair, And then to-morrow morning you'll have lots of tangles there."

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Sometimes our little Lewy Loses all his pretty smiles; He says they're very far away; At least a hundred miles. He looks as sober as a judge, As stately as a king, As solemn as a parson and As still as anything. And then our little Bertie, The witching willow bringing, Sends all the smiles safe home again, By waving it and singing: "I want to buy a smile, sir, if you have some about; I'll draw this leaf across your lips, and that will bring them out. And if you cannot spare me one, just let me take a half. Oh, here they come and there they come, and now we'll have a laugh."

On every "morrow morning," This funny little Bertie Doesn't want to have his face washed Because it don't feel dirty; He runs half-dressed 'way out-of-doors, Safe hidden from our view; We search and call, hunt up and down, And don't know what to do, Until we see our little Lu The wand of willow bringing, And leading Bertie back to us, While all the time he's singing: "Do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si. You look like a very small heathen Chinee. Get the sleep all washed off and hang it up to dry, And then you'll look as fresh as if you'd just come from the sky."

When all the stars are shining, Each little sleepy-head Is lying in a funny bunch Within the little bed. Their eyes are so wide open, They stay awake so long, They're calling me to tell to them A story or a song. So up the stairs again I come, The magic willow bringing, And wave it here and wave it there, While o'er and o'er I'm singing: "Sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep; Sailing away on the dreamy deep; Sister to watch you and angels to keep; Sailing away and away and away, Away on the d-r-e-a-m-y deep; Sleep, sleep, s-l-e-e-p, sleep."

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