1 14 ARBOR DA Y MANUAL. 



"Written for the "ARDOR DAY MANUAL." 



NAMING THE TREE. 



I'M a merry little maid 

 With my pick and hoe and spade, 



And I'm digging, digging, digging everywhere. 

 This little sapling lately stood 

 Within a dark and leafy wood, 



And kept nodding, nodding at the maiden-hair; 

 While the moss kept creeping, creeping, 

 And the violets peeping, peeping, 



With those longing eyes so tender and so blue. 



But the sapling grew so slender, and I knew 

 Twas for its good. I shut my eyes, 

 But oh ! you should have heard the sighs, 

 As blindly I with one rash blow, 

 Brought such terror and such woe 

 To the moss and maiden-hair 

 And the violets springing there. 



I'm a merry little maid 



With my pick and hoe and spade, 



And I'm digging, digging, digging everywhere. 

 And on this pleasant Arbor Day, 

 Amid the perfumes of the May, 



This sapling I transplant with tenderest care. 

 Let each with shovel in his hand, 

 Deposit here a bit of sand ; 



Please don't harm the clinging maiden-hair so true, 



Nor creeping moss with violets peeping through. 

 I wonder if 'neath sunny skies 

 Will swell to heavenly rhapsodies 

 These youthful loves nursed in the wood? 

 Oh if they only, only could ! 

 Or do the giant oaks outgrow 

 Their sapling loves as people do ? 



I'm a merry little maid 



With my pick and hoe and spade, 



And I'm digging, digging, digging everywhere. 

 Longfellow to his loves was true, 

 And we bequeath his name to you, 



A noble name, an inspiration, royal, rare, 



And may moss keep creeping, creeping, 

 And violets keep, peeping, peeping, 



