On the darkling pool below,
Making music so;

'Tis the water elves who play
On their lutes of spray.
Tinkle, tinkle!

Like a fairy silver bell;

Like a pebble in a shell;

Tinkle, tinkle!

Listen well!

Frank Dempster Sherman.

The Voice of the Grass

Here I come creeping, creeping everywhere ;.

By the dusty roadside,

On the sunny hill-side,

Close by the noisy brook,

In every shady nook,

I come creeping, creeping everywhere.

Here I come creeping, smiling everywhere; All around the open door,

Where sit the aged poor;

Here where the children play,
In the bright and merry May,

I come creeping, creeping everywhere.

Here I come creeping, creeping everywhere;
In the noisy city street

My pleasant face you'll meet,
Cheering the sick at heart

Toiling his busy part,-
Silently creeping, creeping everywhere.

Here I come creeping, creeping everywhere;
You cannot see me coming,
Nor hear my low sweet humming;
For in the starry night,

And the glad morning light,
I come quietly creeping everywhere.

Here I come creeping, creeping everywhere;
More welcome than the flowers

In summer's pleasant hours;
The gentle cow is glad,

And the merry bird not sad,

To see me creeping, creeping everywhere.

Here I come creeping, creeping everywhere;

My humble

song of praise

Most joyfully I raise

To him at whose command

I beautify the land,

Creeping, silently creeping everywhere.

Sarah Roberts Boyle.

The Wind in a Frolic

The wind one morning sprang up from sleep, Saying, "Now for a frolic! Now for a leap! Now for a madcap, galloping chase!

I'll make a commotion in every place!"

So it swept with a bustle right through a great town,

Creaking the signs, and scattering down

Shutters, and whisking, with merciless squalls,
Old women's bonnets and gingerbread stalls.
There never was heard a much lustier shout,
As the apples and oranges tumbled about;
And the urchins that stand with their thievish

eyes

Forever on watch, ran off with each prize.

Then away to the field it went blustering and humming,

And the cattle all wondered whatever was com

ing.

It plucked by their tails the grave matronly cows, And tossed the colts' manes all about their

brows,

Till offended at such a familiar salute,

They all turned their backs and stood silently

mute.

So on it went capering and playing its pranks; Whistling with reeds on the broad river-banks;

Puffing the birds as they sat on the spray,
Or the traveller grave on the king's highway.
It was not too nice to bustle the bags

Of the beggar and flutter his dirty rags.

"Twas so bold that it feared not to play its joke With the doctor's wig and the gentleman's cloak. Through the forest it roared, and cried gayly, "Now,

You sturdy old oaks, I'll make you bow!"
And it made them bow without more ado,
Or it cracked their branches through and through.

Then it rushed like a monster o'er cottage and farm,

Striking their inmates with sudden alarm;

And they ran out like bees in a midsummer

swarm.

There were dames with their kerchiefs tied over

their caps,

To see if their poultry were free from mishaps; The turkeys they gobbled, the geese screamed aloud,

And the hens crept to roost in a terrified crowd; There was rearing of ladders, and logs laying on, Where the thatch from the roof threatened soon

to be gone.

But the wind had passed on, and had met in a lane

With a schoolboy, who panted and struggled in

vain,

For it tossed him, and twirled him, then passed and he stood

With his hat in a pool and his shoe in the mud, William Howitt.

Clouds

The sky is full of clouds to-day,
And idly to and fro,

Like sheep across the pasture, they
Across the heavens go.

I hear the wind with merry noise-
Around the housetops sweep,
And dream it is the shepherd boys,
They're driving home their sheep.

The clouds move faster now; and see!
The west is red and gold.
Each sheep seems hastening to be
The first within the fold.

I watch them hurry on until

The blue is clear and deep,

And dream that far beyond the hill
The shepherds fold their sheep.

Then in the sky the trembling stars
Like little flowers shine out,