INNOCENT PLAY.

1 ABROAD in the meadows to see the young lambs
Run sporting about by the side of their dams,
With fleeces so clean and so white 3
Or a nest of young doves, in a large open cage,
When they play all in love, without anger andrage:
How much we may learn from the sight !

2 If we had been ducks, we might dabble in mud,
Or dogs, we might play till it ended in blood :
So foul and so fierce are their natures: 7
But Thomas and William, and such pretty names,
Should be cleanly and harmlessasdovesoras lambs,
Those lovely sweet innocent creatures.

3 Not a thing that we do, nor a word that we say,
hould injure another in jesting or play ;
For he’s still in earnest that’s hurt :,
How rude are the boysthatthrow pebbles andmire
There’s none but a madman will fling about fire,
And tell you, “Tis all but in sport.”