WE had a pleasant walk to-day
Over the meadows and far away,
Across the bridge by the water-mill,
By the woodside, and up the hill;
And if you listen to what I say,
I'll tell you what we saw to-day.

Amid a hedge, where the first leaves
Were peeping from their sheaths so sly,
We saw four eggs within a nest,

And they were blue as a summer sky.
An elder-branch dipp'd in the brook,
We wonder'd why it moved, and found
A silken-hair'd smooth water-rat

Nibbling, and swimming round and round. Where daisies open'd to the sun,

In a broad meadow, green and white,
The lambs were racing eagerly—
We never saw a prettier sight.

We saw upon the shady banks
Long rows of golden flowers shine,
And first mistook for buttercups
The star-shaped yellow celandine.

Anemones and primroses,

And the blue violets of spring,
We found, while listening by a hedge
To hear a merry ploughman sing.

And from the earth the plough turn'd up
There came a sweet refreshing smell,
Such as the lily of the vale

Sends forth from many a woodland dell.
We saw the yellow wall-flower wave
Upon a mouldering castle wall,
And then we watch'd the busy rooks
Among the ancient elm-trees tall.

And leaning from the old stone bridge,
Below we saw our shadows lie,
And through the gloomy arches watch'd
The swift and fearless swallows fly.

We heard the speckle-breasted lark
As it sang somewhere out of sight,
And tried to find it, but the sky

Was fill'd with clouds of dazzling light.
We saw young rabbits near the wood,

And heard a pheasant's wings go "whirr; And then we saw a squirrel leap

From an old oak-tree to a fir.

We came back by the village fields,
A pleasant walk it was across 'em,
For all behind the houses lay

The orchards red and white with blossom.

Were I to tell you all we saw,

I'm sure that it would take me hours;

For the whole landscape was alive

With bees, and birds, and buds, and flowers.

ALL HAVE A WORK TO DO.

STOP, little stream, and tell me why

Thou 'rt running on so fast,

For ever gliding swiftly by,

And yet thou 'rt never past.

"I love to look into thy face,

Although I'm but a child,

And watch thy dimpling eddies play,
And hear thy music wild.

"Thou must be very happy here,
With nothing else to do

But running by these mossy banks,
Beneath the green wood too.

"The pretty robin sings to thee
His cheerful matin-song,

While 'mid the leaves the squirrel peeps,
And frolics all day long."

The little streamlet heeded not
The prattling child's request,
But, while it still ran swiftly on,

The laughing boy address'd :—

""Tis true I've squirrels, birds, and flowers, To cheer me on my way;

And very pleasant is my lot:

But still, I must not stay.

"Like Truth, I have my work to do, My errand to fulfil :

I cool the weary traveller's lips,

And help the sea to fill.

"If I should stop, and idly lie

Upon my pebbly bed,

Soon all my freshness would be gone,
My verdant banks be dead.

"Our heavenly Father gives to all
His blessings most profuse,

And, not the least, in wisdom gives
The kindly law of use.

"So, little child, your duty do

In cheerfulness all day;

And you, like me, shall then be bless'd With flowers upon your way."

FLOWERS.

THE flowers are blooming everywhere,
On every hill and dell;
And oh, how beautiful they are,
How sweetly too they smell!

The little birds, they spring along,
And look so glad and gay;

I love to hear their pleasant song,
I feel as glad as they.

The young lambs bleat and frisk about;

The bees hum round their hive;

The butterflies are coming out;

'Tis good to be alive!