ARBOR DA Y MANUAL. T T 



A LITTLE PLANTER. 



DOWN by the wall where the lilacs grow, 

 Digging away with the garden hoe, 

 Toiling as busily as he can 

 Eager and earnest, dear little man ! 

 Spoon and shingle are lying by, 

 With a bit of evergreen, long since dry. 



" What are you doing, dear?" I ask. 



Ted for an instant stops his task, 



Glances up with a sunny smile 



Dimpling his rosy cheeks, the while : 

 " Why. it is Arbor Day, you see, 



And I'm planting a next year's Christmas-tree. 



" For last year, auntie, Johnny Dunn 

 Didn't have even the smallest one ; 

 And I almost cried, he felt so bad, 

 When I told 'bout the splendid one we had ; 

 And 1 thought if I planted this one here, 

 And watered it every day this year, 

 It would grow real fast I think it might ; 

 (His blue eyes fill with an eager light), 

 And I'm sure 'twill be, though very small, 

 A great deal better than nothing at all." 



Then something suddenly comes between 

 My eyes and the bit of withered green, 

 As I kiss the face of our Teddy boy 

 Bright and glowing with giving's joy. 

 And Johnny Dunn, it is plain to see, 

 Will have his next year's Christmas-tree. 

 Youth's Companion. 



" Now Nature hangs her mantle green 

 On every blooming tree." 



BURNS, Lament of Mary, Queen of Scots. 



" Now the sun once more is glancing, 

 And the oak trees roar with joy." 



HEINE, Miscellaneous Poems, Germany, 1815. 



