Pussy will rub my knees with her head,
      Pretending she loves me hard;
    But the very minute I go to my bed
      Pussy runs out in the yard.

    And there she stays till the morning light;
      So I know it is only pretend;
    But Binkie, he snores at my feet all night,
      And he is my Firstest Friend!

RUDYARD KIPLING.

 (In “The Just So Stories.”)

 MY SHADOW.

“My Shadow,” by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-94), is one of the most popular short poems extant.  I have taught it to a great many very young boys, and not one has ever tried to evade learning it.  Older pupils like it equally well.

    I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,
    And what can be the use of him is more than I can see. 
    He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;
    And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.

    The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow—­
    Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;
    For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball,
    And he sometimes gets so little that there’s none of him at all.

    He hasn’t got a notion of how children ought to play,
    And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way. 
    He stays so close beside me, he’s a coward, you can see;
    I’d think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!

    One morning, very early, before the sun was up,
    I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;
    But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head,
    Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.

 LITTLE WHITE LILY.

This poem (George Macdonald, 1828-) finds a place in this volume because, as a child, I loved it.  It completely filled my heart, and has made every member of the lily family dear to me.  George Macdonald’s charming book, “At the Back of the North Wind,” also was my wonder and delight.

    Little White Lily
    Sat by a stone,
    Drooping and waiting
    Till the sun shone. 
    Little White Lily
    Sunshine has fed;
    Little White Lily
    Is lifting her head.

    Little White Lily
    Said:  “It is good
    Little White Lily’s
    Clothing and food.” 
    Little White Lily
    Dressed like a bride! 
    Shining with whiteness,
    And crowned beside!

    Little White Lily
    Drooping with pain,
    Waiting and waiting
    For the wet rain. 
    Little White Lily
    Holdeth her cup;
    Rain is fast falling
    And filling it up.

    Little White Lily
    Said:  “Good again,
    When I am thirsty
    To have the nice rain. 
    Now I am stronger,
    Now I am cool;
    Heat cannot burn me,
    My veins are so full.”