Long, long afterward, in an oak
    I found the arrow, still unbroke;
    And the song, from beginning to end,
    I found again in the heart of a friend.

HenryW. Longfellow.

The Babie.

I found “The Babie” in Stedman’s “Anthology.”  It is placed in this volume by permission of the poet, Jeremiah Eames Rankin, of Cleveland (1828-), because it captured the heart of a ten-year-old boy whose fancy was greatly moved by the two beautiful lines: 

“Her face is like an angel’s face,
I’m glad she has no wings.”

Nae shoon to hide her tiny taes,
Nae stockin’ on her feet;
Her supple ankles white as snaw,
Or early blossoms sweet.

Her simple dress o’ sprinkled pink,
Her double, dimplit chin,
Her puckered lips, and baumy mou’,
With na ane tooth within.

    Her een sae like her mither’s een,
      Twa gentle, liquid things;
    Her face is like an angel’s face: 
      We’re glad she has nae wings.

JeremiahEames Rankin.

 Let dogs delight to bark and bite.

“Let Dogs Delight to Bark and Bite,” by Isaac Watts (1674-1748), and
“Little Drops of Water,” by Ebenezer Cobham Brewer (1810-97), are poems that the world cannot outgrow.  Once in the mind, they fasten.  They were not born to die.

        Let dogs delight to bark and bite,
          For God hath made them so;
        Let bears and lions growl and fight,
          For ’tis their nature too.

        But, children, you should never let
          Such angry passions rise;
        Your little hands were never made
          To tear each other’s eyes.

IsaacWatts.

 Little things.

    Little drops of water,
      Little grains of sand,
    Make the mighty ocean
      And the pleasant land.

    Thus the little minutes,
      Humble though they be,
    Make the mighty ages
      Of eternity.

EbenezerCobham Brewer.

 He prayeth best.

 These two stanzas, the very heart of that great poem, “The Ancient
 Mariner,” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), sum up the lesson of
 this masterpiece—­“Insensibility is a crime.”

    Farewell, farewell! but this I tell
      To thee, thou Wedding-Guest! 
    He prayeth well who loveth well
      Both man and bird and beast.

    He prayeth best who loveth best
      All things, both great and small: 
    For the dear God who loveth us,
      He made and loveth all.

SamuelT. Coleridge.

 Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

    Twinkle, twinkle, little star! 
    How I wonder what you are,
    Up above the world so high,
    Like a diamond in the sky.