My fairest child, I have no song to give you, No lark could pipe to skies so dull and gray, Yet ere we part, one lesson I can leave you, For every day. Be good, sweet child, and let who will be clever; Do noble things, not dream them all day long, And make life, death, and that vast forever, One grand, sweet song. --_Charles Kingsley_. {472} GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD MORNING A fair little girl sat under a tree Sewing as long as her eyes could see; Then smoothed her work and folded it right, And said, "Dear work, good night, good night!" Such a number of rooks came over her head Crying "Caw, caw!" on their way to bed; She said, as she watched their curious flight, "Little black things, good night, good night!" The horses neighed and the oxen lowed; The sheep's "Bleat, bleat!" came over the road, All seeming to say, with a quiet delight, "Good little girl, good night, good night!" She did not say to the sun "Good night!" Though she saw him there like a ball of light; For she knew that he had God's own time to keep All over the world, and never could sleep. The tall pink foxglove bowed his head, The violets curtsied and went to bed; And good little Lucy tied up her hair, And said, on her knees, her favorite prayer. And while on her pillow she softly lay, She knew nothing more till again it was day, And all things said to the beautiful sun, "Good morning, good morning! our work is begun!" --_Lord Houghton_. {473}{474} [Illustration] CHRISTMAS BELLS By Edwin Howland Blashfield (1848- ) "It is the calm and solemn night! A thousand bells ring out, and throw Their joyous peals abroad, and smite The darkness, charmed and holy now! The night that erst no name had worn, To it a happy name is given; For in that stable lay new born, The peaceful Prince of Earth and Heaven, In the solemn midnight Centuries ago!" --_Alfred Domett_ [End illustration] {475} NEW YEAR'S EVE Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, The flying cloud, the frosty light; The year is dying in the night; Ring out, wild bells, and let him die. Ring out the old, ring in the new; Ring, happy bells, across the snow; The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true. Ring out the grief that saps the mind, For those that here we see no more; Ring out the feud of rich and poor, Ring in redress to all mankind. Ring out a slowly dying cause, And ancient forms of party strife; Ring in the nobler modes of life, With sweeter manners, purer laws. Ring out false pride in place and blood, The civic slander and the spite; Ring in the love of truth and right, Ring in the common love of good.