Page:Pieces People Ask For.djvu/201

Rh I told him I was proud of him—
 * A fellow standing by,

Informed me that that boy was dumb
 * Who never told a lie!

A LESSON TO LOVERS. , with a milk-pail on her arm,
 * Turns aside with her young cheeks glowing,

And sees down the lane, the slow, dull tread
 * Of the drove of cows that are homeward going.

"Bessie," he said: at the sound she turned,
 * Her blue eyes full of childish wonder:

"My mother is feeble and lame and old—
 * I need a wife at my farmhouse yonder.

"My heart is lonely, my home is drear:
 * I need your presence ever near me.

Will you be my guardian angel, dear,
 * Queen of my household, to guide and cheer me?"

"It has a pleasant sound," she said,—
 * "A household queen, a guiding spirit,

To warm your heart, and cheer your home,
 * And keep the sunshine ever near it:

But I am only a simple child,
 * So my mother says in her daily chiding;

And what must a guardian angel do
 * When she first begins her work of guiding?"

"Well, first, dear Bessie, a smiling face
 * Is dearer far than the rarest beauty;

And my mother, fretful, lame, and old,
 * Will require a daughter's loving duty.

You will see to her flannels, drops, and tea,
 * And talk with her of lungs and liver:

Give her your cheerful service, dear—
 * The Lord he loveth a cheerful giver.