 | Jane and Ann Taylor: Original Poems for Infant Minds |  |
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ELIZA AND JANE.
Cheer up, my young friends, I have better news now,
Eliza has driven the scowl from her brow;
For finding her labours so little could win,
She turned from without, to the evils within.
Eliza has driven the scowl from her brow;
For finding her labours so little could win,
She turned from without, to the evils within.
'Twas a great deal of trouble, at first, I confess,
Her temper would rise, and was hard to repress;
But being a girl of some sense and discerning,
She would not be stopped by the trouble of turning.
Her temper would rise, and was hard to repress;
But being a girl of some sense and discerning,
She would not be stopped by the trouble of turning.
Ten times in a day—or perhaps in an hour,
Would passion or fretfulness struggle for power;
But deaf to the whispers of weakness or pride,
For victory, ten times the harder she tried.
Would passion or fretfulness struggle for power;
But deaf to the whispers of weakness or pride,
For victory, ten times the harder she tried.
Sometimes she would kneel in her chamber, and pray,
That God in his mercy would take them away;
And He, who is pleased with a penitent's cry,
Bowed down in compassion, and helped her to try.
That God in his mercy would take them away;
And He, who is pleased with a penitent's cry,
Bowed down in compassion, and helped her to try.
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Now, at home or abroad, there is peace in her smile,
A cheerful good nature that needeth no guile;
And Eliza no longer is heard to complain,
That she is not beloved like her play-fellow Jane.
A cheerful good nature that needeth no guile;
And Eliza no longer is heard to complain,
That she is not beloved like her play-fellow Jane.
| Jane and Ann Taylor: Original Poems for Infant Minds | |