The child's book consisting of original articles, in prose and poetry |
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LETTER FROM A BABY TO HER NEIGHBOUR, ON HIS SECOND BIRTHDAY. |
 | The child's book |  |
LETTER FROM A BABY TO HER NEIGHBOUR, ON HIS SECOND BIRTHDAY.
The rolling earth,
Your day of birth
Brings fair and fleeting;
And as a friend
I long to send
My simple greeting.
Your day of birth
Brings fair and fleeting;
And as a friend
I long to send
My simple greeting.
Yet almost fear
To have you hear
My poor inditing;
Your critic smile
Must scorn my style
Of baby-writing.
To have you hear
Your critic smile
Must scorn my style
Of baby-writing.
Six months have shed
Upon my head
But little knowledge;
While you are fit,
In sense and wit,
To enter college.
Upon my head
But little knowledge;
While you are fit,
In sense and wit,
To enter college.
My mother said,
The map you'd spread
And show with ease,
All the globe boasts,—
Realms, isles, and coasts,
And lakes, and seas.
The map you'd spread
And show with ease,
All the globe boasts,—
Realms, isles, and coasts,
And lakes, and seas.
That you 'd describe
The four-legged tribe
Both great and small,—
Both wild and tam'd,
That Adam nam'd
In Eden, all.
The four-legged tribe
Both wild and tam'd,
That Adam nam'd
In Eden, all.
Years, at this rate,
Will make you great,
Or I'm mistaken.
Perhaps, with Locke,
The crowd you'll mock,
Or shine like Bacon.
Will make you great,
Or I'm mistaken.
Perhaps, with Locke,
Or shine like Bacon.
With Franklin's zeal
The lightning steal,
And chain its rage;
Or nobly write
Your name, like Dwight,
On heaven's own page
The lightning steal,
And chain its rage;
Or nobly write
Your name, like Dwight,
On heaven's own page
Our sex, I'm told,
Are formed to hold
A lower place;
Our powers of mind
Being far behind
Your lordly race.
Are formed to hold
A lower place;
Our powers of mind
Being far behind
Your lordly race.
I've understood
That “household good”
Was our enjoyment.
To cook and mend,
And babies tend,
Our chief employment.
That “household good”
Was our enjoyment.
To cook and mend,
Our chief employment.
'Tis very well,
I shan't rebel;
And when I grow,
Shall like to make
Nice pies and cake,
And share, also.
I shan't rebel;
And when I grow,
Shall like to make
Nice pies and cake,
And share, also.
But now good bye,—
'Tis time that I
Your patience spare;
May you, each day,
In love repay
A parent's care.
'Tis time that I
May you, each day,
In love repay
A parent's care.
| The child's book | |