MR. DREAM-MAKER.

COME, Mr. Dream-Maker, sell me to-night
The loveliest dream in your shop;

My dear little lassie is weary of light,
Her lids are beginning to drop.

She's good when she's gay, but she's tired of play,
And the tear-drops will naughtily creep;

So, Mr. Dream-Maker, hasten, I pray,

My little girl's going to sleep.

SAMUEL MINTURN PECK.

}

THE LITTLE ONES HE BLESSED.

I WONDER if ever the children

Who were blessed by the Master of old Forgot he had made them his treasures, The dear little lambs of His fold.

I wonder if, angry and wilful,

They wandered afar and astray,
The children whose feet had been guided
So safe and so soon in the way.

One would think that the mothers at evening,
Soft smoothing the silk-tangled hair,
And low leaning down to the murmur
Of sweet childish voices in prayer,

Oft bade the small pleaders to listen
If haply again they might hear
The words of the gentle Redeemer
Borne swift to the reverent ear.

And

my heart cannot cherish the fancy
That ever those children went wrong

And were lost from the peace and the shelter,
Shut out from the feast and the song.

Child-Song.

To the days of gray hairs they remembered,

I think, how the hands that were riven Were laid on their heads when Christ uttered, "Of such is the kingdom of Heaven."

He has said it to you, little darling,

Who spell it in God's Word to-day;
You, too, may be sorry for sinning,
You also believe and obey;

And 't will grieve the dear Saviour in Heaven
If one little child shall go wrong,

Be lost from the fold and the shelter,

Shut out from the feast and the song.

145

MARGARET E. SANGSTer.

THE RAGGEDY MAN.

O THE Raggedy Man! He works fer Pa;
An' he's the goodest man ever you saw !
He comes to our house every day,

An' waters the horses, an' feeds 'em hay;
An' he opens the shed--an' we all ist laugh
When he drives out our little old wobble-ly calf;
An' nen-ef our hired girl says he can-
He milks the cow fer 'Lizabuth Ann.—
Aint he a' awful good Raggedy Man?
Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man!

W'y, The Raggedy Man-he's ist so good
He splits the kindlin' an' chops the wood;
An' nen he spades in our garden, too,
An' does most things at boys can't do.—
He clumbed clean up in our big tree
An' shooked a' apple down fer me—
An' nother'n', too, fer 'Lizabuth Ann-
An' nother'n', too, fer The Raggedy Man.→
Aint he a' awful kind Raggedy Man?
Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man!

Child-Song.

147

An' The Raggedy Man, he knows most rhymes, An' tells 'em, ef I be good, sometimes :

Knows 'bout Giunts, an' Griffuns, an' Elves, An' the Squidgicum-Squees 'at swallers theirselves!

An', wite by the pump in our pasture-lot,

He showed me the hole 'at the Wunks is got,
'At lives 'way deep in the ground, an' can
Turn into me, er 'Lizabuth Ann!

Aint he a funny old Raggedy Man?
Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man!

The Raggedy Man-one time when he
Was makin' a little bow'-n'-orry fer me,
Says, "When you're big like your Pa is,
Air you go' to keep a fine store like his-

An' be a rich merchunt-an' wear fine clothes?—
Er what air you go' to be, goodness knows!"

An' nen he laughed at 'Lizabuth Ann,

An' I says, "'M go' to be a Raggedy Man !—
I'm ist go' to be a nice Raggedy Man!"
Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man!

JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY. 46 Rhymes of Childhood."

THE BOWEN-MERRILL COMPANY.