FAIREST AND BEST:"
"There came a child to my side one day,
And lightly she said with a laugh of mirth,
'Tell me of all things, now I pray,
Which is the fairest to you upon earth?
"'Is it the rose, with its breath of balm?
Is it the gem of the diamond mine?
Is it the shell, with its sea-song calm?
Or the pearl, that low in the deep doth shine?'