And butterflies with gauzy wings;

And herds of cows and flocks of sheep; And fruit and flowers and all the things You see when you are sound asleep.

For creeping softly underneath

The door when all the lights are out, Jack Frost takes every breath you breathe, And knows the things you think about.

He paints them on the window pane
In fairy lines with frozen steam;

And when you wake you see again
The lovely things you saw in dream.

Snow in Town

NOTHING is quite so quiet and clean

As snow that falls in the night;

And isn't it jolly to jump from bed
And find the whole world white?

It lies on the window ledges,

It lies on the boughs of the trees, While sparrows crowd at the kitchen door, With a pitiful "If you please?"

Gabriel Setoun.

It lies on the arm of the lamp-post,
Where the lighter's ladder goes,

And the policeman under it beats his arms,
And stamps-to feel his toes;

The butcher's boy is rolling a ball
To throw at the man with coals,
And old Mrs. Ingram has fastened a piece
Of flannel under her soles;

No sound there is in the snowy road
From the horses' cautious feet,
And all is hushed but the postman's knocks
Rat-tatting down the street,

Till men come round with shovels
To clear the snow away,-
What a pity it is that when it falls
They never let it stay!

And while we are having breakfast
Papa says, "Isn't it light?

And all because of the thousands of geese
The Old Woman plucked last night.

And if you are good," he tells us,

"And attend to your A B C,

You may go in the garden and make a snow-man

As big or bigger than me!"

Rickman Mark.

CHRISTMAS

The Old English Christmas

(From Marmion)

AND well our Christian sires of old

Loved when the year its course had rolled,

And brought blithe Christmas back again,
With all his hospitable train.

Domestic and religious rite

Gave honour to the holy night;

On Christmas eve the bells were rung;
On Christmas eve the mass was sung:
That only night, in all the year,
Saw the stoled priest the chalice rear.
The damsel donned her kirtle sheen;
The hall was dressed with holy green;
Forth to the wood did merry-men go,
To gather in the mistletoe.
Then opened wide the Baron's hall
To vassal, tenant, serf, and all;
Power laid his rod of rule aside,
And Ceremony doffed his pride.
The heir, with roses in his shoes,
That night might village partner choose;

The Lord, underogating, share