The Keepsake. Unknown

her loud commands,

      And entering, met the maid, who held

      The breakfast in her hands.

      "Julia, what shameful words are those!

      What shameful conduct too!

      The milk is good, too good for those

      Who ask and speak like you.

      "From Betty now your breakfast take,

      And drink it, if you choose,

      And beg that she your haughtiness

      And passion will excuse.

      "What! silent and perverse become?

      Then, Betty, you may go

      And give the milk to that poor girl

      Who's in the yard below.

      "She spins or labours hard all day,

      Yet eats the coarsest food;

      She's thankful for the smallest gift,

      And smiles, because she's good.

      "But you, with that sad pouting lip,

      And brow o'erhung with gloom,

      May, if you please, from hence retire,

      And stay in your own room.

      "No breakfast you will have to-day,

      Nor need again appear,

      Till from your brow you chase that frown,

      And from your eye the tear.

      "Till you can come with cheerful mien,

      And pardon ask from me;

      Then, if you are a better girl,

      Forgiven you may be."

      THE CUCKOO

      Little cuckoo, com'st thou here,

      When the blooming spring is near,

      To sing thy song and tell thy tale,

      To every hill and every vale?

      Tell me, is thy distant home

      Far across the salt sea foam?

      Or hast thou, hidden from the day,

      Slept the wintry hours away?

      Welcome, cheering bird to me,

      Where'er thy wintry mansion be,

      In the earth, or o'er the main,

      Welcome to these fields again!

      Short thy visit to this shore,

      April and May are quickly o'er;

      Then, Cuckoo, chaunt thy strain in peace,

      For in June thy song shall cease.

      RED SHOES AND BLACK SHOES

      Which must I have, little black shoes or red shoes,

      Little thick shoes or thin shoes, which shall be mine?

      In winter 'tis wet, and the roads are all dirt,