THE SNAIL.

ANON.

The snail he lives in his hard round house,

In the orchard, under the tree;
Says he, "I have but a single room,
But it's large enough for me."

The snail in his little house doth dwell
From week's end to week's end;
But don't you think he's selfish, now?
For he never receives a friend!

THE CHILD'S WORLD.

LILLIPUT'S LEVEE.

[To be recited in a vigorous yet tender way, by a little girl or boy.]

Great, wide, beautiful, wonderful world,

With the wonderful water around you curled,
And the wonderful grass upon your breast-
World, you are beautifully drest!

The wonderful air is over me,

And the wonderful wind is shaking the tree;
It walks on the water, and whirls the mills,
And talks to itself on the tops of the hills.

You friendly Earth! how far do you go

With the wheat-fields that nod and the rivers that flow? With cities and gardens, and cliffs and isles,

And people upon you for thousands of miles ?

Ah, you are so great, and I am so small,

I tremble to think of you, world, at all;

And yet, when I said my prayers to-day,

A whisper inside me seemed to say

"You are more than the Earth, tho' you are such a dot You can Love and Think, and the Earth can not!"

GRAN’MA AL'ARS DOES.

ANON.

[To be given by a little boy, in a little boy's manner.]

I wants to mend my wagon,

'And has to have some nails-
Jus' two free'll be plenty-

We're goin' to haul our rails.
The splendidest cob fences
We're making ever was;
I wish you'd help us find 'em,
Gran'ma al'ars does.

My horse's name is Betsy;

She jumped an' broke her head;

I put her in the stable,

An' fed her milk and bread.

The stable's in the parlor ;

We didn't make no muss;
I wish you'd let it stay there,
Gran'ma al'ars does.

I'se goin' to the cornfield,

To ride on Charley's plough;
I specks he'd like to have me-
I wants to go right now.

O, won't I "gee up" awful,

And "whoa" like Charley whoas;

I wish you wouldn't bozzer,
Gran'ma never does.

I want some bread an' butter-
I'se hungry worstest kind;
But Taddy mustn't have none,
'Cause she wouldn't mind.
Put plenty sugar on it;

I tell you what, I knows
It's right to put on sugar,
Gran'ma al'ars does.

ONLY A BABY.

ANON.

[To be recited by a little boy or girl, in a natural way.]

Only a baby, 'thout any hair,

'Cept just a little fuzz here and there.

Only a baby-name you have none,
Barefooted, dimpled, sweet little one.

Only a baby-teeth none at all;
What are you good for only to squall?

Only a baby, just a week old;

What are you here for? That's to be told.

REPENTANCE.

ANON.

[To be spoken by a little child, simply.]

A kitten once to his mother said,
"I'll never more be good;
But I'll go and be a robber fierce,
And live in a dreary wood,
Wood, wood, wood,

And live in a dreary wood."

It climbed a tree to rob a nest

Of young and tender owls;

But the branch broke off, and the kitten fell,
With six tremendous howls,

Howls, howls, howls,

With six tremendous howls.

Then up it rose and scratched its nose,

And went home very sad-
"Oh, mother dear, behold me here;

I'll never more be bad,

Bad, bad, bad,

I'll never more be bad."

GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD MORNING.

LORD HOUGHTON.

[To be recited in a simple, descriptive manner.]

A fair little girl sat under a tree,

Sewing as long as her eyes could see,

Then smoothed her work, and folded it right,
And said, "Dear work, good night, good night!"

Such a number of rooks came over her head,
Crying "Caw, caw," on their way to bea;
She said, as she watched their curious flight,
"Little black things, good night, good night!"

The horses neighed, and the oxen lowed,

The sheep's "bleat, bleat," came over the road,
And all seemed to say, with a quiet delight,
"Good little girl, good night, good night!"

She did not say to the sun "good night,"
Tho' she saw him there like a ball of light;
For she knew he had God's own time to keep
All over the world, and never could sleep.

The tall pink foxglove bowed his head,
The violets curtseyed and went to bed;
And good little Lucy tied up her hair,
And said, on her knees, her favorite prayer.

And, while on her pillow she softly lay,

She knew nothing more till again it was day;

And all things said to the beautiful sun,

"Good morning, good morning, our work is begun!"

A BABY'S SOLILOQUY.

ANON.

[ spoken by a petite child this will prove exceedingly amusing.]

I am here! And if this is what they call the world, I don't think much of it. It's a very flannelly world, and smells of paregoric awfully. It's a dreadful light world, too, and makes me blink, I tell you. And I don't know what to do with my hands; I think I'll dig my fists in my eyes. No I won't, I'll scramble at the corner of 'my blanket, and chew it up, and then I'li holler-whatever happens I'll holler. And the more paregoric they give me the louder I'll yell. That old nurse puts the spoon in the corner of my mouth in a very uneasy way, and keeps tasting my milk herself all the while. She spilled snuff in it last night, and when I hollered she trotted That comes of being a two-days-old baby. Never mind; when I'm a man I'll pay her back good. There's a pin sticking in me

me.