FEBRUARY ELEVENTH

I wait for my story—the birds cannot sing it,

Not one as he sits on his tree;

The bells can not ring it, but long years oh, bring it

Such as I wish it to be.

Jean Ingelow

FEBRUARY TWELFTH

Thou who didst not erst deny

The mother-joy to Mary mild,

Blessed in the blessed child.

Which hearkened in meek babyhood

Her cradle hymn, albeit used

To all that music interfused

In breasts of angels high and good.

Mrs. Browning

FEBRUARY THIRTEENTH

So sits the while at home the mother well content.

Robert Louis Stevenson

FEBRUARY FOURTEENTH

What use to me the gold and silver hoard?

What use to me the gems most rich and rare?

Brighter by far—aye, bright beyond compare,

The joys my children to my heart afford.

From the Japanese

FEBRUARY FIFTEENTH

Never to living ears came sweeter sounds

Than when I heard thee, by our own fireside

First uttering, without words, a natural tune

While thou, a feeding babe, didst in thy joy

Sing at thy mother's breast.

Wordsworth