FOR CHILDREN. 99

I cannot say how this may be, I know his face is,
air,
And yet his chieftest comeliness is his sweet and

serious afr ;

I know his heart is kind and fond, I know he
loveth me,

And loveth too his mother dear, with grateful
‘fervency,

But that which others most admire is the thought
that fills his mind,

The food for grave inquiring speech he every
where doth find.

Strange questions doth he ask of me, when we
together walk,

He scarcely thinks as children think, or talks as
children talk ;

Nor cares he much for childish play, doats not on
bat or ball,

But looks on manhood’s ways and works, and aptly

mimics all. ©
His little head is busy still, and oftentimes per-
lexed

With thoughts about this world of care, and
thoughts about the next,

He kneels at his dear mother’s knee, she teacheth
him to pray,

And strange, and sweet, and solemn are the words
which he will say.

Oh! should my gentle child be spared to man-
hood’s years like me,

A holier and a wiser man I trust that he will be;