We talked of change, of winter gone, Of green leaves on the hawthorn spray, Of birds that build their nests and sing, And "all since Mother went away!" To her these tales they will repeat, To her our new-born tribes will show, But, see, the evening star comes forth! 'Tis gone—and in a merry fit They run upstairs in gamesome race : I, too, infected by their mood,— I could have joined the wanton chase. Five minutes past-and O, the change! By a "female friend" of Wordsworth. LUCY GRAY; OR, SOLITUDE. Oft I had heard of Lucy Gray : No mate, no comrade Lucy knew: You yet may spy the fawn at play, To-night will be a stormy night- And take a lantern, Child, to light "That, Father! will I gladly do: 'Tis scarcely afternoon The minster-clock has just struck two, And yonder is the moon!" At this the Father raised his hook, Not blither is the mountain roe; The storm came on before its time: The wretched parents all that night At daybreak on a hill they stood That overlooked the moor.: And thence they saw the bridge of wood, A furlong from their door. They wept-and, turning homeward, cried, Half breathless from the steep hill's edge They tracked the footmarks small; And through the broken hawthorn hedge, And by the long stone wall. And then an open field they crossed; They followed from the snowy bank Into the middle of the plank ; And farther there were none ! -Yet some maintain that to this day That you may see sweet Lucy Gray O'er rough and smooth she trips along, And never looks behind; And sings a solitary song Wordsworth. M WE ARE SEVEN. A simple Child, That lightly draws its breath, And feels its life in every limb, What should it know of death? I met a little cottage Girl: She was eight years old, she said; Her hair was thick with many a curl That clustered round her head. She had a rustic, woodland air, "Sisters and brothers, little maid, How many may you be?" "How many? Seven in all," she said, And wondering looked at me. “And where are they? I pray you tell ;' She answered, "Seven are we ; And two of us at Conway dwell, And two are gone to sea. |