"I know 'ittle hymn," said Luly, smiling up confidently in his face.
"Can't you say it for me?" asked the minister. "What is it all about?"
"'Bout 'at a 'ittle child can do," lisped Luly.
"Say it, Luly," said Kitty.
Luly folded her cunning fat hands over each other, and crossed her feet. Then she looked up sideways in Mr. Lacy's face, and sucked her tongue a little bit, and at last, all at once, in a little singing voice, she began:
"I'm a very 'ittle maid;
Hardly can I talk, 'tis true;
Yet mamma I'd love to aid—
What can 'ittle Luly do?
"I can go, on busy feet,
Errands for her all day through;
Work for her, I feel, is sweet—
This can 'ittle Luly do!
"I can hold the gate long skein
When 'tis tangled and askew;
Never wanting to compain[A]—
This can 'ittle Luly do!
"I can search, her book to find,
And be glad to do it, too!
I can always quickly mind—
This can 'ittle Luly do!
"I can ever go up stairs
Cheerfully, when falls the dew;
And with yev'yence[B] say my prayers—
This can 'ittle Luly do!
"God will help me, if I try;
He good children loves to view;
Dear Lord Jesus, from on high,
Pease tell Luly what to do!"
"Ah! that is a beautiful hymn," said the good minister. "Don't you know any, Little Mother?"
"I am learning a beautiful hymn," said Kitty, "but I don't know it yet—not quite."
"No?" said Mr. Lacy. "Then I shall have to tell you something myself, I declare. Here, sit down beside me, and listen very attentively."