LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD. In varied pink. The partridge evergreen, Hanging its fragrant wax-work on each stem, 129 And studding the green sod with scarlet berries— —Did you see all those flowers? I marked them not. -O many more, whose names I have not learned. And then to see the light blue butterfly Roaming about, like an enchanted thing, From flower to flower, and the bright honey-bee- Beyond the brook there lay a narrow strip, Like a rich riband, of enamelled meadow, Girt by a pretty precipice, whose top Was crowned with rose-bay. Half-way down there stood Sylphlike, the light fantastic columbine, As ready to leap down unto her lover Harlequin Bartsia, in his painted vest Tut! enough, enough, 130 LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD. Your madcap fancy runs too riot, girl. We must shut up your books of Botany, -Will you shut The book of nature, too? for it is that Poor Red Riding Hood! We had forgotten her; yet mark, dear madam, Thus it is: Mere children read such stories literally, A moral from the fiction. In a word, The wolf that you must guard against is-LOVE. LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD. -In ravenous appetite, Unpitying and unsparing, passion is oft A beast of prey. As the wolf to the lamb, 131 132 LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD. -Nor, in my grandam's cottage, nor elsewhere, Will I e'er lift the latch for him myself, Or bid him pull the bobbin. Well, my dear, You've learned your lesson. THE WITHERED ROSEBUD, BY J K. MITCHELL. Ан, why does this rose-bud more beautiful seem, 'Tis because the sweet floweret had lingered awhile On the bosom of beauty and youth, Had borrowed her lustre, had stolen her smile, And came to me breathing her truth. And now, though its leaflets are gone to decay, And tints from the rainbow are fading away, "Twill still be of roses the gem. Like its fragrance, still lingering, fond memory the while, Will couple this blossom with thee, And soothe by recalling the look and the smile That came with the rose-bud to me. |