The Home Book of Verse Volume I Part 35

"Ah!" begged each silly, pouting leaf, "Let us a little longer stay; Dear Father Tree, behold our grief!

'Tis such a very pleasant day, We do not want to go away."

So, just for one more merry day To the great Tree the leaflets clung, Frolicked and danced, and had their way, Upon the autumn breezes swung, Whispering all their sports among--

"Perhaps the great Tree will forget, And let us stay until the spring, If we all beg, and coax, and fret."

But the great Tree did no such thing; He smiled to hear them whispering.

"Come, children, all to bed," he cried; And ere the leaves could urge their prayer, He shook his head, and far and wide, Fluttering and rustling everywhere, Down sped the leaflets through the air.

I saw them; on the ground they lay, Golden and red, a huddled swarm, Waiting till one from far away, White bedclothes heaped upon her arm, Should come to wrap them safe and warm.

The great bare Tree looked down and smiled.

"Goodnight dear little leaves," he said.

And from below each sleepy child Replied, "Goodnight," and murmured, "It is so nice to go to bed!"

Susan Coolidge [1835-1905]

A LEGEND OF THE NORTHLAND

Away, away in the Northland, Where the hours of the day are few, And the nights are so long in winter That they cannot sleep them through;

Where they harness the swift reindeer To the sledges, when it snows; And the children look like bear's cubs In their funny, furry clothes:

They tell them a curious story-- I don't believe 'tis true; And yet you may learn a lesson If I tell the tale to you.

Once, when the good Saint Peter Lived in the world below, And walked about it, preaching, Just as he did, you know,

He came to the door of a cottage, In traveling round the earth, Where a little woman was making cakes, And baking them on the hearth;

And being faint with fasting, For the day was almost done, He asked her, from her store of cakes, To give him a single one.

So she made a very little cake, But as it baking lay, She looked at it, and thought it seemed Too large to give away.

Therefore she kneaded another, And still a smaller one; But it looked, when she turned it over, As large as the first had done.

Then she took a tiny sc.r.a.p of dough, And rolled and rolled it flat; And baked it thin as a wafer-- But she couldn't part with that.

For she said, "My cakes that seem too small When I eat of them myself, Are yet too large to give away."

So she put them on the shelf.

Then good Saint Peter grew angry, For he was hungry and faint; And surely such a woman Was enough to provoke a saint.

And he said, "You are far too selfish To dwell in a human form, To have both food and shelter, And fire to keep you warm.

"Now, you shall build as the birds do, And shall get your scanty food By boring, and boring, and boring, All day in the hard, dry wood."

Then up she went through the chimney, Never speaking a word, And out of the top flew a woodp.e.c.k.e.r, For she was changed to a bird.

She had a scarlet cap on her head, And that was left the same, But all the rest of her clothes were burned Black as a coal in the flame.

And every country school-boy Has seen her in the wood, Where she lives in the trees till this very day, Boring and boring for food.

And this is the lesson she teaches: Live not for yourself alone, Lest the needs you will not pity Shall one day be your own.

Give plenty of what is given to you, Listen to pity's call; Don't think the little you give is great, And the much you get is small.

Now, my little boy, remember that, And try to be kind and good, When you see the woodp.e.c.k.e.r's sooty dress, And see her scarlet hood.

You mayn't be changed to a bird though you live As selfishly as you can; But you will be changed to a smaller thing-- A mean and selfish man.

Phoebe Cary [1824-1871]

THE CRICKET'S STORY

The high and mighty lord of Glendare, The owner of acres both broad and fair, Searched, once on a time, his vast domains, His deep, green forest, and yellow plains, For some rare singer, to make complete The studied charms of his country-seat; But found, for all his pains and labors, No sweeter songster than had his neighbors.

Ah, what shall my lord of the manor do?

He pondered the day and the whole night through.

He called on the gentry of hill-top and dale; And at last on Madame the Nightingale,-- Inviting, in his majestical way, Her pupils to sing at his grand soiree, That perchance among them my lord might find Some singer to whom his heart inclined.

What wonder, then, when the evening came, And the castle gardens were all aflame With the many curious lights that hung O'er the ivied porches, and flared among The grand old trees and the banners proud, That many a heart beat high and loud, While the famous choir of Glendare Bog, Established and led by the Brothers Frog, Sat thrumming as hoa.r.s.ely as they were able, In front of the manager's mushroom table!

The overture closed with a crash--then, hark!

Across the stage comes the sweet-voiced Lark.

She daintily sways, with an airy grace, And flutters a bit of gossamer lace, While the leafy alcove echoes and thrills With her liquid runs and lingering trills.

Miss Goldfinch came next, in her satin gown, And shaking her feathery flounces down, With much expression and feeling sung Some "Oh's" and "Ah's" in a foreign tongue; While to give the affair a cla.s.sic tone, Miss Katydid rendered a song of her own, In which each line closed as it had begun, With some wonderful deed which she had done.

Then the Misses Sparrow, so prim and set, Twittered and chirped through a long duet; And poor little Wren, who tried with a will, But who couldn't tell "Heber" from "Ortonville,"

Unconscious of sarcasm, piped away And courtesied low o'er a huge bouquet Of crimson clover-heads, culled by the dozen, By some brown-coated, plebeian cousin.

But you should have heard the red Robin sing His English ballad, "Come, beautiful Spring!"

And Master Owlet's melodious tune, "O, meet me under the silvery moon!"

Then, as flighty Miss Humming-bird didn't care To sing for the high and mighty Glendare, The close of the evening's performance fell To the fair young Nightingale, Mademoiselle.

Ah! the wealth of each wonderful note That came from the depths of her tiny throat!

She carolled, she trilled, and she held her breath, Till she seemed to hang at the point of death: She ran the chromatics through every key, And ended triumphant on upper C; Airing the graces her mother had taught her In a manner quite worthy of Madame's daughter.

But his lordship glared down the leafy aisle With never so much as a nod or smile, Till, out in the shade of a blackberry thicket, He all of a sudden spied little Miss Cricket; And, roused from his gloom, like an angry bat, He sternly demanded, "Who is that?"

"Miss Cricket, my lord, may it please you so, A charity scholar--ahem!--you know-- Quite worthy, of course, but we couldn't bring"-- Thundered His Mightiness, "Let her sing!"

The Nightingale opened her little eyes Extremely wide in her blank surprise; But catching a glimpse of his lordship's rage, Led little Miss Cricket upon the stage, Where she modestly sang, in her simple measures, Of "Home, sweet Home," and its humble pleasures.

And the lord of Glendare cried out in his glee, "This little Miss Cricket shall sing for me!"

Of course, of comment there was no need; But the world said, "Really!" and "Ah, indeed!"

Yet, notwithstanding, we find it true As his lordship does will the neighbors do; So this is the way, as the legends tell, In the very beginning it befell That the Crickets came, in the evening's gloom, To sing at our hearths of "Home, sweet Home."