Let this great maxim be my virtue's guide

CHILDREN.

Little children, not alone

On the wide earth ye are known,
'Mid its labors and its cares,
'Mid its sufferings and its snares;
Free from sorrow, free from strife,
In the world of love and life,
Where no sinful thing has trod,
In the presence of your God,
Spotless, blameless, glorified,
Little children, ye abide!

MARY HOWITT.

I have a son, a second son, a simple child of three;

I'll not declare how bright and fair his little features be;

His presence is like sunshine, sent to gladden home and hearth,

To comfort us in all our griefs, and sweeten all our mirth.

Should he grow up to riper years, God grant his heart may prove

MARY WORTLEY MONTAGUE.

The woman that deliberates is lost.

ADDISON.

CHILDHOOD-CHILDREN.

God keep thee, child, with thine angel brow,
Ever as sinless and bright as now;
Fresh as the roses of earliest spring,
The fair pure buds it is thine to bring.
Would that the bloom of the soul could be,
Beautiful spirit! caught from thee:
Would that thy gift could anew impart
The roses that bloom for the pure in heart.
LUCY HOOPER.

O childhood's innocence! The voice
Of thy deep wisdom is my choice!
Who hath thy love is truly wise
And precious in our Father's eyes.
From the German of GERHARDT TERSTEEGEN.

Yet sometimes sudden sights of grace,
Such as the gladness of thy face,
O sinless babe, by God are given,
To charm the wanderer back to heaven.
JOHN WILSON.

for earthly love:

And if beside his grave, the tears our aching

eyes must dim,

God comfort us for all the love which we shall lose in him.

JOHN MOULTRIE.

Childhood, to thee I turn from life's alarms,
Serenest season of perpetual calms;
Turn with delight, and bid the passions cease,
And joy to think with thee I tasted peace.
H. K. WHITE.

There are smiles and tears in the mother's eyes,
For her new-born infant beside her lies.
O hour of bliss! when the heart o'erflows
With rapture a mother only knows.
Let it gush forth in words of fervent prayer;
Let it swell up to heaven for her precious care.
H. WARE, JR.

My child, even now I see thy tender breath Full quickly come and go

At sound of praise. O may the touch of faith
Those chords so fine and low

Early control, and tune thy heart too high
For aught beneath the sky.

So may that little spark of glory swell
To a full orb, and soar with loftiest saints to
dwell.

KEBLE.

"Suffer these little ones to come to me," Was the command of Him who on the cross Bowed his anointed head, and with his blood Purchased redemption for our fallen race; And blessed they who to that holy task Devote the energies of their young years, Teaching, with pious care, the dawning light Of infant intellect to know the Lord.

ANONYMOUS.

Take care of the children;" nor wasted
Is care on the weakest of these;
The culturer the product has tasted,

And found it the palate to please.
There are sheaves pushing higher and faster,
And age has more branches and roots;
But dearer are none to the Master
Than childhood. in blossoms and fruits!
W. B. TAPPAN.

Ah, what would the world be to us,
If the children were no more?
We should dread the desert behind us
Worse than the dark before.
They are better than all the ballads
That ever were sung or said;

For they are living poems,

And all the rest are dead.

WHITTIER.

Heaven lies about us in our infancy.

WORDSWORTH.

A sweet new blossom of humanity,
Fresh fallen from God's own home to flower

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O child! O new-born denizen
Of life's great city! on thy head
The glory of the morn is shed
Like a celestial benison!
Here at the portal thou dost stand,
And with thy little hand
Thou openest the mysterious gate
Into the future's undiscovered land.
By what astrology of fear or hope
Dare I to cast thy horoscope?
Like the new moon thy life appears;
A little strip of silver light,
And widening outward into night,
The shadowy disk of future years.
A prophecy and intimation,

A pale and feeble adumbration,
Of the great world of light, that lies
Behind all human destinies.

LONGFELLOW.

Who can forget, never to be forgot,

The time that all the world in slumber lies, When like the stars the singing angels shot

To earth, and heaven awaked all his eyes To see another sun at midnight rise On earth? Was never sight of pareil fame, For God before man like himself did frame, But God himself now like a mortal man became. The angels caroled loud their song of peace; The cursed oracles were stricken dumb; To see their Shepherd, the poor shepherds press; To see their King, the kingly sophics come; And then, to guide unto his Master's home, A star comes dancing up the orient, That springs for joy over the strawy tent; When gold to make their prince a crown they all present.

GILES FLETCHER.

See how small room my infant Lord doth take, Whom all the world is not enough to hold! Who of his years or of his age hath told? Never such age so young, never a child so old. GILES FLETCHER.

Welcome! all wonders in one sight,

Eternity shut in a span;

Summer in winter, day in night,

Heaven in earth, and God in man. Great Little One, whose all-embracing birth Lifts earth to heaven, stoops heaven to earth. CRASHAW.

There was joy in heaven!

There was joy in heaven!

When of love the midnight beam

Dawned on the towers of Bethlehem;

And along the echoing hill

Angels sang, "On earth good-will,
And glory in the heaven!"

This is the month, and this the happy morn,
Wherein the Son of heaven's eternal King,
Of wedded maid and virgin mother born,
Our great redemption from above did bring,
For so the holy sages once did sing,
That he our deadly forfeit should release,
And with his Father work us a perpetual peace.
MILTON.

But peaceful was the night
Wherein the Prince of light

His reign of peace upon the earth began;
The winds, with wonder whist,
Smoothly the waters kissed,
Whispering new joys to the mild ocean,
Who now hath quite forgot to rave,
While birds of calm sat brooding on the charm-
èd wave.

MILTON.

Rise, happy morn! Rise, holy morn!
Draw forth the cheerful day from night!
O Father! touch the east, and light
The light that shone when hope was born.
TENNYSON.

That so thy blessed birth, O Christ,
Might through the world be spread about,
Thy star appeared in the East,
Whereby the Gentiles found thee out;
And off'ring the myrrh, incense, gold,
Thy threefold office did unfold.
Tears that from true repentance drop,
Instead of myrrh, present will we;
For incense, we will offer up
Our prayers and praises unto thee;
And bring, for gold, each pious deed
Which doth from saving grace proceed.
GEORGE WITHER.

Wherefore from his throne exalted,

Came He on this earth to dwell; All his pomp, an humble manger, All his court, a narrow cell? "From that world to bring to this, Peace, which of all earthly blisses Is the brightest, purest bliss. VIOLANTE DO CEO.

At His birth a star, unseen before in heaven, Proclaims him come.