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HIAWATHA'S CHILDHOOD

Sang the song Nokomis taught him:
"Wah-wah-taysee, little fire-fly,
Little, flitting, white-fire insect,
Little, dancing, white-fire creature,
Light me with your little candle,
Ere upon my bed. I lay me,
Ere in sleep I close my eyelids!"

Saw the moon rise from the water,
Rippling, rounding from the water,
Saw the flecks and shadows on it,
Whispered, "What is that, Nokomis?"
And the good Nokomis answered,
"Once a warrior, very angry,

Seized his grandmother and threw her
Up into the sky at midnight;
Right against the moon he threw her;
'Tis her body that you see there."
Saw the rainbow in the heaven,
In the eastern sky the rainbow,
Whispered, "What is that, Nokomis?"
And the good Nokomis answered:
"Tis the heaven of flowers you see there:

All the wild-flowers of the forest,

All the lilies of the prairie,

When on earth they fade and perish

Blossom in that heaven above us."

Learned of every bird its language,

Learned their names and all their secrets,
How they built their nests in summer,
Where they hid themselves in winter,
Talked with them whene'er he met them,
Called them "Hiawatha's Chickens.”

HIAWATHA'S SAILING

Of all beasts he learned the language,
Learned their names and all their secrets,
How the beavers built their lodges,

Where the squirrels hid their acorns,
How the reindeer ran so swiftly,

Why the rabbit was so timid,

Talked with them whene'er he met them,
Called them "Hiawatha's Brothers."

HIAWATHA'S SAILING

"GIVE me of your bark, O Birch Tree!

Of

your yellow bark, O Birch Tree!
Growing by the rushing river,
Tall and stately in the valley!

I a light canoe will build me,
Build a swift Cheemaun for sailing,
That shall float upon the river,
Like a yellow leaf in autumn,
Like a yellow water-lily!

Lay aside your cloak, O Birch Tree!
Lay aside your white-skin wrapper,
For the summer time is coming,

And the sun is warm in heaven,

And you need no white-skin wrapper!"
Thus aloud cried Hiawatha

In the solitary forest,

By the rushing Taquamenaw,

When the birds were singing gayly,
In the Moon of Leaves were singing.
And the Sun, from sleep awaking,
Started up and said, "Behold me!
Geezis, the great Sun, behold me!".

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GREAT, wide, wonderful, beautiful World,
With the wonderful water about you curled

MARJORIE'S ALMANAC

And the wonderful grass upon your breast
World, you are beautifully dressed!

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 wheat fields that nod, and rivers that flow,
And cities and gardens, and oceans and isles,
And people upon you for thousands of miles?

Oh! you are so great and I am so small
I hardly can think of you, World, at all;
And yet, when I said my prayers to-day
My mother kissed me, and said, quite gay,

"If the wonderful World is great to you,
And great to father and mother, too,

You are more than the Earth, though you are such a dot!
You can love and think, and the Earth cannot!"

WILLIAM BRIGHTY RANDS.

MARJORIE'S ALMANAC

ROBINS in the tree top,

Blossoms in the grass,

Green things a-growing
Everywhere you pass;
Sudden little breezes,
Showers of silver dew,
Black bough and bent twig
Budding out anew;

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