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MEDDLESOME MATTY

ONE ugly trick has often spoiled
The sweetest and the best;
Matilda, though a pleasant child,
One ugly trick possessed,
Which, like a cloud before the skies,
Hid all her better qualities.

Sometimes she'd lift the tea-pot lid,
To peep at what was in it;
Or tilt the kettle, if you did

But turn your back a minute.
In vain you told her not to touch,
Her trick of meddling grew so much.

Her grandmamma went out one day,
And by mistake she laid

Her spectacles and snuff-box gay

Too near the little maid;

"Ah! well," thought she, "I'll try them on,

As soon as grandmamma is gone."

Forthwith she placed upon her nose

The glasses large and wide;
And looking round, as I suppose,
The snuff-box too she spied:
"Oh! what a pretty box is that;
I'll open it," said little Matt.

"I know that grandmamma would say,
'Don't meddle with it, dear';
But then, she's far enough away,
And no one else is near:
Besides, what can there be amiss
In opening such a box as this?"

So thumb and finger went to work
To move the stubborn lid,
And presently a mighty jerk.
The mighty mischief did;

Contented John

For all at once, ah! woeful case,

The snuff came puffing in her face.

Poor eyes, and nose, and mouth beside
A dismal sight presented;

In vain, as bitterly she cried,

Her folly she repented.

In vain she ran about for

case;

She could do nothing now but sneeze.

She dashed the spectacles away,
To wipe her tingling eyes,
And as in twenty bits they lay,

Her grandmamma she spies.
"Heydey! and what's the matter now???
Cried grandmamma, with lifted brow.

Matilda, smarting with the pain,
And tingling still, and sore,
Made many a promise to refrain
From meddling evermore.
And 'tis a fact, as I have heard,
She ever since has kept her word.

105

Ann Taylor [1782-1866]

CONTENTED JOHN

ONE honest John Tomkins, a hedger and ditcher,
Although he was poor, did not want to be richer;
For all such vain wishes in him were prevented
By a fortunate habit of being contented.

Though cold was the winter, or dear was the food,
John never was found in a murmuring mood;
For this he was constantly heard to declare,—
What he could not prevent he would cheerfully bear.

“For why should I grumble and murmur?" he said;
"If I cannot get meat, I can surely get bread;
And, though fretting may make my calamities deeper,
It can never cause bread and cheese to be cheaper."

If John was afflicted with sickness or pain,
He wished himself better, but did not complain,
Nor lie down and fret in despondence and sorrow,
But said that he hoped to be better to-morrow.

If any one wronged him or treated him ill,
Why, John was good-natured and sociable still;
For he said that revenging the injury done

Would be making two rogues when there need be but one.

And thus honest John, though his station was humble,
Passed through this sad world without even a grumble;
And I wish that some folks, who are greater and richer,
Would copy John Tomkins, the hedger and ditcher.
Jane Taylor [1783-1824]

THINK BEFORE YOU ACT

ELIZABETH her frock has torn,

And pricked her finger too;
Why did she meddle with the thorn,
Until its use she knew?

Because Elizabeth will touch

Whate'er comes in her way;

I've seen her suffer quite as much,

A dozen times a day.

Yet, though so oft she feels the pain,

The habit is so strong,

That all our caution is in vain,
And seldom heeded long.

I should not wonder if, at last,

She meet some dreadful fate;
And then, perhaps, regret the past,

When sorrow comes too late.

Mary Elliott [18

"There Was a Little Girl"

107

ANGER

ANGER in its time and place
May assume a kind of grace.
It must have some reason in it,
And not last beyond a minute.
If to further lengths it go,
It does into malice grow.
'Tis the difference that we see
"Twixt the serpent and the bee.
If the latter you provoke,
It inflicts a hasty stroke,
Puts you to some little pain,
But it never stings again.

Close in tufted bush or brake
Lurks the poison-swelled snake
Nursing up his cherished wrath;
In the purlieus of his path,
In the cold, or in the warm,

Mean him good, or mean him harm,
Wheresoever fate may bring you,

The vile snake will always sting you.

Charles and Mary Lamb

"THERE WAS A LITTLE GIRL"

THERE was a little girl, who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead,

And when she was good, she was very, very good,
But when she was bad she was horrid.

She stood on her head, on her little trundle-bed,

With nobody by for to hinder;

She screamed and she squalled, she yelled and she bawled, And drummed her little heels against the winder.

Her mother heard the noise, and thought it was the boys Playing in the empty attic,

She rushed upstairs, and caught her unawares,

And spanked her, most emphatic.

Unknown

THE BUTTERFLY AND THE BEE

METHOUGHT I heard a butterfly
Say to a laboring bee;
"Thou hast no colors of the sky
On painted wings like me."

"Poor child of vanity! those dyes,
And colors bright and rare,"
With mild reproof, the bee replies,
"Are all beneath my care.

"Content I toil from morn till eve,

And, scorning idleness,

To tribes of gaudy sloth I leave

The vanity of dress."

William Lisle Bowles [1762-1850]

TRY AGAIN

'Tis a lesson you should heed,

Try again;

If at first you don't succeed,

Try again;

Then your courage should appear,

For if you will persevere,

You will conquer, never fear;

Try again.

Once or twice, though you should fail,

Try again;

If you would at last prevail,

Try again;

If we strive, 'tis no disgrace
Though we do not win the race;
What should we do in that case?

Try again.

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