Robin’s Welcome

The summer leaves have perished,   The harvest corn is gone, Thy head can find no shelter   When the heavy storm comes on. But in our dwelling waits thee   A welcome, kind and free, And while there’s bread among us   We have a crumb for thee.   Thou hast sung beside our door, Robin,   When the…

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Our Little Rose

How early she went from our hearth and our      play, The youngest of all, yet the first called away,   And oh, but the sorrow was sore! No losses nor partings till then had we seen; No discord, no changes among us had been;   No death in our dwelling before.   At times we are weary…

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The First Walk

A wondrous venture it must be, My trembling little one, for thee   To trust thy feeble feet Upon this hard old earth of ours; And thou hast summoned all thy powers The mighty task to meet.   There’s caution in that look of thine And in the hand that clings to mine,   With clasp so…

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Our Cousins Far Off in the West

  ‘Tis long since we bid them farewell,   One morning, with blessings and tears, Their farm at the foot of the fell,   A stranger has tilled it for years. Beyond the wide sea is their home;   Yet still we remember them best, And welcome the letters that come,   FRom our cousins far off in the…

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Sister Mary and Brother John

They had one seat in a mossy nook, They learned their lessons from one old book, And played together by lane and brook.   At home or abroad, in house or lawn, When holidays reigned, or school came on, ‘Twas ‘’Sisier Mary and Brother John.’’   They feared not the sun that made them brown,…

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Our Garden

It was gay in the spring-time of the year   It was fair at autumn’s close; We heard the earliest cuckoo there,   And we saw the latest rose. The heart-ease and forget-me-not,   They were natives of that ground; Our garden was the sunniest spot   In all the country round.   There was many a quaint and…

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I Used to Think

I used to think there would be fun When all my going to school was done,   And all my lessons o’er; When my good master—I thought him then The worst and wildest of mortal men—   Should hear my tasks no more.   Well, now, the school time all is past, I’m out of my master’s…

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Gathering Wild Flowers

They were blithe times with us when the      Summer had come, With the nightingale’s song, and the honey-bee’s      Hum, With lilies, and roses, and long sunny hours, And holiday goings to gather wild flowers.   We went all together, one bright afternoon, When warm on the woods lay the sunlight of      June, And up in…

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The Warning

Under a tree, and by a well, There stands a cottage in yonder dell; Within that cot live children there, Such children did you never see.   They quarrel at meals, they quarrel at play, They quarrel, I’m told, both night and day; For every-one wants every-thing, And peace from the house has taken wing.…

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My Boat on the Lake

I once made a boat at the midsummer time   When our lake was so glassy and still, I was proud of her build, I was proud of her trim,   And rejoiced in the might of my skill. She was small, and her timbers were not over      Strong,   But I thought they might weather a blast;…

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