And there in her beauty, warm and glowing,

The enchanted Princess lay!

While only a word from his lips was needed

To drive her sleep away.

He spoke the word, and the spell was scattered,

The enchantment broken through!

The lady woke. “Dear Prince,” she murmured,

“How long I have waited for you!”

Then at once the whole great slumbering palace

Was wakened and all astir;

Yet the Prince, in joy at the Sleeping Beauty,

Could only look at her.

She was the bride who for years an hundred

Had waited for him to come,

And now that the hour was here to claim her,

Should eyes or tongue be dumb?

The Princess blushed at his royal wooing,

Bowed “yes” with her lovely head,

And the chaplain, yawning, but very lively,

Came in and they were wed!

But about the dress of the happy Princess,

I have my woman’s fears—

It must have grown somewhat old-fashioned

In the course of so many years!

[THUMB]
[PAGE]

[ JACK AND JILL.]

Little boys, sit still— Girls, too, if you will— And let me tell you of Jack and Jill; For I think another Such sister and brother Were never the children of one mother! For an idle lad, As he was, Jack had No traits, after all, that were very bad. He, was simply Jack, With the coat on his back Patched up in all colors from gray to black. Both feet were bare; And I do declare That he never washed his face; and his hair Was the color of straw— You never saw Such a crop—as long as the moral law!

When he went to school,

It was the rule

(Though ’twas hard to say he was really a fool)

To send him at once,

So thick was his sconce,

To the block that was kept for the greatest dunce.

And Jill! no lass

Scarce ever has

Made bigger tracks on the country grass;

For her only fun

Was to romp and run,

Bare-headed, bare-footed, in wind and sun.

Wherever went Jack,

Close on his track,

With hair unbraided and down her back,

Loud-voiced and shrill,

She followed, until

No one said “Jack” without saying “Jill.”

But to succeed

In teaching to read

Such a harum-scarum, was work indeed!

And I’m forced to tell

That her way to spell

Her name was with only a single ‘l.’

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[PAGE]

Yet they were content. One day they were sent To the hill for water, and they went. They did not drown, But Jack fell down, With a pail in his hand, and broke his crown! And Jill, who must go And always do Exactly as Jack did, tumbled too! Just think, if you will, How they rolled down hill— Straw-headed Jack and bare-footed Jill! But up Jack got, And home did trot, Nor cared whether Jill was hurt or not; While his poor bruised knob Did burn and throb, Tear falling on tear, sob following sob! He could run the faster, So a paper plaster Had bound up the sight of his disaster Before Jill came; And the thoughtful dame, For a break in her head, had fixed the same.
But up Jack got, And home did trot, Nor cared whether Jill was hurt or not;
While his poor bruised knob Did burn and throb, Tear falling on tear, sob following sob!
He could run the faster, So a paper plaster Had bound up the sight of his disaster
Before Jill came; And the thoughtful dame, For a break in her head, had fixed the same.

But Jill came in,

With a saucy grin

At seeing the plight poor Jack was in;

And when she saw

That bundle of straw

(His hair)bound up with a cloth, and his jaw

Tied up in white,

The comical sight

Made her clap her hands and laugh outright!

The dame, perplexed

And dreadfully vexed,

Got a stick and said, “I’ll whip her next!”

How many blows fell

I will not tell,

But she did it in earnest, she did it well,

Till the naughty back

Was blue and black,

And Jill needed a plaster as much as Jack!

The next time, though,

Jack has to go

To the hill for water, I almost know

That bothering Jill

Will go up the hill,

And if he falls again, why, of course she will!

[THUMB]
[PAGE]

[ LITTLE BO-PEEP.]