(eee)

Whilst with rapture exploring each moss-covered dell,
They. had plucked the bright cowslips and pretty blue-bell ;
Had watched the shy rabbit run springing along,

And the birds of gay plumage break forth into song.
Yea, the scene had been one of the purest delight,

But now all has changed into sorrow and fright.

For the darkness descends, and a torrent of rain,

And the children are drenched seeking shelter in vain.
They have tasted no food since the first break of day,
Save a few nuts and blackberries plucked by the way ;
And have walked many miles, on by agony forced,
Since they found to their terror their way had been lost.
They have oft called for him they considered their friend,
But the echoes alone to their summons attend.

Now exhausted, they sink to the ground side by side,
And the poor little Rosy most piteously cried.

‘Oh, weep not, dear sister! let’s have a good rest ;

Let us think of the bird we disturbed from her nest,

Of the three little linnets all gaping for food,

Who we thought were so greedy, so ugly, and rude.’
But poor Hubert in vain would her sorrows beguile,
And receives but a sob in the place of a smile.

Hark! what is that cry breaks the silence of night ?
’Tis the screech of the owl as she starts in her flight.
The terrified children now quiver with dread,

And tears of the bitterest agony shed.

‘Oh, Hubert! I’m starving—I know I shall die!

And I shiver with cold, and my tongue feels so dry ;

I seem numbed all over, and all my bones ache,

Yet my eyes are so heavy I can’t keep awake.’

Then they crouched ’neath the shade of a wide-spreaking oak,
And so fast fell asleep that they never awoke ;

Whilst the robin alone for the sad event grieves,

And strewed o’er their bodies a cov’ring of leaves.