THE BABYS REVERY.—THE BRAVESI BOY IN TOWN.

181

THE BABY’S REVERY.

By Mary E. WILKINS.

-A_N exquisite little maiden
With a head like a golden flower,
She soberly stood at the window
In the still, white twilight hour.

“ And what are you thinking, sweetheart ?”

She was such a little. child
She could not answer the question ;
~ She only dimpled and smiled,

But I wondered, as she frolicked,
Her mystic revery o’er,

Was she a rose-shade less a child
Than she had been before?

Was she pausing, as a rose-bud
Seems pausing while it grows?
Had I caught the blooming minute

Of a little human rose?

THE oKAVEST BOY “IN TOWN

By Mrs. Emity Hun tincron Nason.

E lived in the Cumberland Valley,
And his name was Jamie Brown ;
But it changed one day, so the neighbors say,
To the “ Bravest Boy in Town.”

. *Twas the time when the Southern soldiers,
Under Early’s mad command,

O’er the border made their dashing raid
From the north of Maryland.

_And Chambersburg unransomed
In smouldering ruins slept,

While up the vale, like a fiery gale,
The Rebel raiders swept.

And a squad of gray-clad horsemen
Came thundering o’er the bridge,

Where peaceful cows in the meadows browse,
At the feet of the great Blue Ridge;

And on till they reached the village,
That fair in the valley lay,

Defenseless then, for its loyal men,
At the front, were far away.

“ Pillage and spoil and plunder!”
This was the fearful word

That the Widow Brown, in gazing down
From her latticed window, heard.

*Neath the boughs of the sheltering oak-tree,
The leader bared his head,

As left and right, until out of sight,
His dusty gray-coats sped.

Then he called: “Halloo! within there!”
A gentle, fair-haired dame

Across the floor to the open door
In gracious answer came.

“Here! stable my horse, you woman! ”?—
The soldier’s tones. were rude —

“Then bestir yourself and from yonder shelf
Set out your store of food !”

For her guest she spread the table;
She motioned him to his place

With a gesture proud ; then the widow bowed,
And gently — asked a grace.