WE ARE SEVEN.

1.

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.

'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;

5.

'Two of us in the churchyard lie,
My sister and my brother;
And, in the churchyard cottage, I
Dwell near them with my mother.'

6.

'You say that two at Conway dwell,
And two are gone to sea,

Yet ye are seven-I pray you tell,
Sweet maid, how this may be.'

'Twelve steps or more from my mother's door;

And they are side by side.

10.

'My stockings there I often knit,

My kerchief there I hem;
And there upon the ground I sit-
I sit and sing to them.

11.

'And often after sunset, sir,
When it is light and fair,
I take my little porringer,
And eat my supper there.

12.

'The first that died was sister Jane;
In bed she moaning lay,

Till God released her of her pain,
And then she went away.
13.

'So in the churchyard she was laid;
And when the grass was dry,

Together round her grave we played,
My brother John and I.

14.

'And when the ground was white with snow,

And I could run and slide,

My brother John was forced to go,

And he lies by her side.'

15.

'How many are you, then,' said I,
'If they two are in heaven?'
Quick was the little maid's reply:
'O master! we are seven.'

16.

'But they are dead; those two are dead!
Their spirits are in heaven!'

'Twas throwing words away; for still

The little maid would have her will,

The dew was falling fast, the stars began to blink;
I heard a voice; it said: 'Drink, pretty creature, drink!'
And, looking o'er the hedge, before me I espied

A snow-white mountain-lamb with a maiden at its side.

2.

Nor sheep nor kine were near; the lamb was all alone,
And by a slender cord was tethered to a stone;
With one knee on the grass did the little maiden kneel,
While to that mountain-lamb she gave its evening meal.

H

3.

'What ails thee, young one? what? why pull so at thy cord?

Is it not well with thee? well both for bed and board?

Thy plot of grass is soft, and green as grass can be ; Rest, little young one, rest; what is 't that aileth thee?

4.

'Rest, little young one, rest; thou hast forgot the day When my father found thee first in places far away; Many flocks were on the hills, but thou wert owned by none,

And thy mother from thy side for evermore was gone.

5.

"Thou know'st that twice a day I have brought thee, in

this can,

Fresh water from the brook, as clear as ever ran ;

And twice in the day, when the ground is wet with dew, I bring thee draughts of milk, warm milk it is, and new.

6.

'Thy limbs will shortly be twice as stout as they are

now,

Then I'll yoke thee to my cart like a pony in the plough; My playmate thou shalt be; and when the wind is cold, Our hearth shall be thy bed, our house shall be thy fold.

7.

'Here thou need'st not dread the raven in the sky;
Night and day thou art safe-our cottage is hard by.
Why bleat so after me? Why pull so at thy chain?
Sleep-and at break of day I will come to thee again!'

THE CHILDREN IN THE WOOD.

1.

Now ponder well, you parents dear,
These words which I shall write ;
A doleful story you shall hear,
In time brought forth to light.
A gentleman of good account
In Norfolk dwelt of late,
Who did in honour far surmount

Most men of his estate.

2.

Sore sick he was, and like to die,
No help his life could save;
His wife by him as sick did lie,

And both possessed one grave.
No love between these two was lost,
Each was to other kind;

In love they lived, in love they died,
And left two babes behind.

3.

The one, a fine and pretty boy,
Not passing three years old;
The other, a girl more young than he,

And framed in beauty's mould.

The father left his little son,

As plainly doth appear,

When he to perfect age should come,

Three hundred pounds a year;