"The Wise Men from the East do come Led by a Shining Star. And offer to the new born King Frankincense, Gold and Myrrh. Which Herod hears & wrathful Grows And now by Heavn's Decree Joseph and Mary and her Son Do into Ægypt flee. The Bloody Wretch enrag'd to think Christ's Death he could not gain, Commands that Infants all about Bethlehem should be slain. But O! to hear the awful cries Of Mothers in Distress, And Rachel mourns for her first-born Snatch'd from her tender Breast." _The History of the Holy Jesus_ was told by Rev. Mr. Instructwell to Master Learnwell. The book contained also the _Child's Body of Divinity_, and some of Dr. Watts' hymns. These _Divine Songs for Children_ appear in many forms. The _Cradle Hymn_ is the one most frequently seen, and I recently have heard it extolled as "a perfect lullaby for a child." A curious study it is, showing how absolutely traditional religious conception could usurp the mind and obscure the impulses of the heart. Its sweet and tender lines, which begin-- "Hush my dear, lie still and slumber. Holy angels guard thy bed," are soon contrasted with the vehement words which tell of the lot of the infant Jesus; and at the mother's passionate expressions of "brutal creatures," "cursed sinners," that "affront their Lord," the child apparently cries, for the mother sings:-- "Soft, my child, I did not chide thee, Though my song may sound too hard." In the next stanza, however, theological venom again finds vent to the poor wondering baby:-- "Yet to read the shameful story How the Jews abused their King-- How they served the Lord of Glory, Makes me angry while I sing." This certainly seems an ill-phrased and exciting lullaby, but is perhaps what might be expected as the notion of a soothing cradle hymn from a bigoted old bachelor. CHAPTER XIV STORY AND PICTURE BOOKS _If we are to consider that the condition of the human mind at any particular juncture is worth studying, it is certainly of importance to know on what food its infancy is fed. --The Book Hunter. John Hill Burton, 1863._ Locke says in his _Thoughts on Education_ that "the only book I know of fit for children is Æsop's 'Fables' and 'Reynard the Fox.'" By this he means the only story-books. A chap-book, a cheap, ill-printed edition of Æsop's _Fables_, was read in New England, but I have found nothing to indicate that these fables were specially printed or bought for children, or that children were familiar with them.