“Dear mother,” one morning a little boy said,
“Pray tell me by whom this fine country was made;
At home in our town, where the houses are thick,
I know how they make them of timber and brick.
“I have seen how the mason and carpenter, too,
With trowel and hammer their labors pursue;
But not half so fine do their works all appear
As doth the fair covering that’s everywhere here.
“How lovely this grass with the flowers so sweet!
Nor do I remember a house in the street
So high as that tree where the little bird sings;
Did God, dearest mother, make all these fine things?”
“He did, my dear boy,” did his mother reply;
“Our Father in heaven, who dwells in the sky,
Made all these fine things,—the wide earth and seas,
The hills and the mountains, the rocks and the trees.
“This carpet of grass with its blossoms so fair,
The beasts of the wood and the fowls of the air,—
All my dear boy has seen in sunshine or shade,
His heavenly Father in kindness has made.
“And life, health, and strength he has given to thee,
And hearing, and eye-sight these beauties to see;
O, give him thine heart, then, in grief and in joy;
He will love thee and make thee his own little boy;
Will guard thee in safety thro’ life, and will even
Take thee with him to dwell in his beautiful heaven.”
TIBBY AND HER KITTEN.
Kit has not a sister,
Nor has she a brother;
And she is the darling
Of Tibby, her mother.