| Hush, hush; baby mine! Pussy climbs the big green pine, Ma turns the mill stone, Pa to kill the pig has gone. |
The Danish does not prove an exception:—
| Lullaby, sweet baby mine! Mother spins the thread so fine; Father o'er the bridge has gone, Shoes he'll buy for little John. |
The North German cradle song is:—
| Schlaf Kindchen, schlaf! Dein Vater hut't die schaf; Dein Mutter schuttelts Baumelien, Da fallt herab ein Tramelein, Schlaf, Kindchen, schlaf! |
Which, being done into English, runs:—
| Sleep, baby, sleep! Thy father guards the sheep; The mother shakes the dreamland tree, And from it falls sweet dreams for thee. Sleep, baby, sleep. |
The simplest and crudest of these, we may be sure, has lulled millions to sleep, and by virtue of that association is worth more than many quartos of recent verse deliberately composed with the view of engaging the attention of the nursery circle. How many volumes of the newer wares, for instance, might be accepted in exchange for