LITTLE FRANK AND OTHER TALES. CHIEFLY IN WORDS OF ONE SYLLABLE. [Illustration: [Logo]] =LONDON:= DARTON AND HARVEY, GRACECHURCH-STREET. 1838. TO MY LITTLE BOOK. May many a merry girl and boy Prize thee, my book, above each toy. May bat and ball aside be laid, And dolly quite cast into shade. Thy pages tell of the timid bird, Whose voice by the sedgy stream is heard; And of the hawk, who, with wings of speed, Darts on the prey which his young ones need; And of the glow-worm’s fairy light, Which shines like a gem through the summer night. They tell of the north, with its ice and snow, Where roses and violets never will blow; Where the rein-deer, fleet, doth lightly bound, With its fur-lined sledge o’er the frozen ground. Of the clever rat’s skill thy pages show, Who makes his snug home where the waters flow, And when any dangerous foe is near, He dives ’neath the stream, and hides in fear. But if each bright eye should more brightly shine, When it reads these simple tales of thine, I shall fondly hope that not all in vain Have been the glad labours of my pen. THE OWL. “Oh, dear Tom!” said Grace, in a low voice to her brother, “here we have sat as still as mice for such a long time. I am so tired!” “Let us go into the hall, then,” said Tom. “But will not mamma’s friends think us rude to leave the room?” said Grace. “Oh, I dare say not,” said Tom; “but I will go and ask mamma.” Mrs. Moore gave them leave to do as they wished, and Tom and Grace were soon in the hall. “Come, Grace,” said her brother, as he led her to the glass-door which looked on to the lawn, “what say you to a race down the broad path, and back through the nut-walk?” “No, thank you,” said she, as she drew back; “it is so dark in the nut-walk, I do not wish to go near it.” “It will not be dark now,” said Tom: “see how brightly the moon shines! why I could see to read by its light.” Grace looked up, and saw that dark clouds were rising, and would soon pass over the moon, and then all would be dark again; but she strove to hide her fears, and said, as she took Tom’s hand, “Come, then, let us go; but you will not run away and leave me, will you?” “Oh, no, dear Grace, that I will not,” said Tom: “now then, one, two, three, and away.”