I'VE plucked the berry from the bush, the brown nut from the tree, But heart of happy little bird ne'er broken was by me.

I saw them in their curious nests, close couching, slyly peer With their wild eyes, like glittering beads, to note if harm were near;

I passed them by, and blessed them all; I felt that it was good To leave unmoved the creatures small whose home was in the

wood.

And here, even now, above my head, a lusty rogue doth sing; He pecks his swelling breast and neck, and trims his little wing. He will not fly; he knows full well, while chirping on that spray, I would not harm him for a world, or interrupt his lay.

Sing on, sing on, blithe bird! and fill my heart with summer gladness:

It has been aching many a day with measures full of sadness. WILLIAM MOTHERWELL.

THERE are three green eggs in a small brown pocket,
And the breeze will swing and the gale will rock it,
Till three little birds on the thin edge teeter,
And our God be glad and our world be sweeter.

EDWIN MARKHAM.

CHILD FANCIES

ROMANCE

I SAW a ship a-sailing,

A-sailing on the sea;

Her masts were of the shining gold,

Her decks of ivory;

And sails of silk, as soft as milk,

And silvern shrouds had she.

And round about her sailing,

The sea was sparkling white,

The waves all clapped their hands and sang
To see so fair a sight.

They kissed her twice, they kissed her thrice,
And murmured with delight.

Then came the gallant captain,
And stood upon the deck;

In velvet coat, and ruffles white,

Without a spot or speck;

And diamond rings, and triple strings

Of pearls around his neck.

From "The Child's World," by Gabriel Setoun, by permission of John Lane Company, Publishers.

108

ONE, TWO, THREE

And four-and-twenty sailors,
Were round him bowing low;
On every jacket three times three
Gold buttons in a row;

And cutlasses down to their knees;
They made a goodly show.

And then the ship went sailing,

A-sailing o'er the sea;

She dived beyond the setting sun,

But never back came she,

For she found the lands of the golden sands,

Where the pearls and diamonds be.

GABRIEL SETOUN.

ONE, TWO, THREE

Ir was an old, old, old, old lady,
And a boy that was half-past three;
And the way that they played together
Was beautiful to see.

She couldn't go running and jumping,
And the boy, no more could he,

For he was a thin little fellow,
With a thin little twisted knee.

They sat in the yellow sunlight,
Out under the maple tree;
And the game that they played I'll tell you,
Just as it was told to me..

ONE, TWO, THREE

It was Hide-and-Go-Seek they were playing,
Though you'd never have known it to be-

With an old, old, old, old lady,
And a boy with a twisted knee.

The boy would bend his face down
On his one little sound right knee,
And he'd guess where she was hiding
In guesses, One, Two, Three!

"You are in the china closet!"

He would cry, and laugh with glee It wasn't the china closet;

But still he had Two and Three.

"You are up in Papa's big bedroom,

In the chest with the queer old key!" And she said: "You are warm and warmer. But you're not quite right," said she.

"It can't be the little cupboard

Where Mamma's things used to be,
So it must be the clothes press, Grandma!"
And he found her with his Three.

Then she covered her face with her fingers,
That were wrinkled and white and wee,
And she guessed where the boy was hiding,
With a One and a Two and a Three.

And they never had stirred from their places,
Right under the maple tree

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