345 LUCY AIKIN. Miss Aikin is a niece of the late Mrs. Barbauld. She is known as the historian of the British queen, Elizabeth, and her successor, James I.; but she has not confined her attention to such high themes, she has composed books for the young, and her little work, Poetry for Children, is among the best initiatory collections. The three subsequent pieces are extracted from it. THE BEGGAR MAN. Around the fire one wintry night And jokes went round and careless chat. "Cold blows the blast across the moor, My eyes are weak, and dim with age, So faint I am—these tottering feet Open your hospitable door, And shield me from the biting blast : With hasty step the farmer ran, The little children flocking came Their kindness cheered his drooping soul, The children too began to sigh, INDIA. Where sacred Ganges pours along the plain, e; Two tyrant seasons rule the wide domain, Scorch with dry heat, or drench with floods of rain. THE SWALLOW. Swallow that on rapid wing Now here, now there, now low, now high, Could I skim away with thee What streams would flow, what cities rise, 'Mid orange groves and myrtle trees; Entering then the wild domain Where wolves prowl round the flocks of Spain, Where silk-worms spin, and olives grow, And mules plod surely on and slow. Steering then for many a day For to south our course away, THE TRAVELLER'S RETURN. Sweet to the morning traveller 348 And cheering to the traveller The gales that round him play, And when beneath the unclouded sun The flowing water makes to him And when the evening light decays, And all is calm around, There is sweet music to his ear In the distant sheep-bell's sound. And sweet the neighbouring church's bell But sweeter is the voice of love That welcomes his return! FINIS. Anthology. |