ROYALSTON, WIS. MRS. LUCY EASTMAN ERMINE.

A BLUEBIRD'S SONG.

There's a glad merry voice, children, calling to you,
A gay burst of song from a wee bit of blue,
Poised daintily there on the maple-twig now,
Like a bright little blossom upon the bare bough,—
"Tu-ra-la, tu-ra-lee,
We're coming, you see:
I'm building my nest in the old apple-tree.
"To you, little children, this message I bring,
The birds, every one, will return with the spring.
What care I if cold winds are blowing around!
The flowers are already awake under ground.
Tu-ra-la, tu-ra-lee:
If snowflakes I see,
I'll dream they are blooms shaken off from the tree.
"Hark! the shy little brooklet is humming a song
As it breaks loose from winter, and dances along.
How happy we'll be through the blithe summer hours,—
The children, the sunbeams, the birds, and the flowers!
Tu-ra-la, tu-ra-lee:
How busy we'll be,
My sweet mate and I, in the old apple-tree!"
RUTH REVERE.

THE BIRD'S RETURN.

Words by Geo. Cooper. Music by D. B. Moody.