1 66 ARBOR DA Y MANUAL. 



ROBIN REDBREAST'S SECRET. 



I'M a little Robin Redbreast ; I have a secret I would like 

 My nest is in a tree ; The little girls to know ; 



If you look up in yonder elm, But I won't tell a single boy 



My pleasant home you'll see. They rob the poor birds so ! 



We made it very soft and nice, We have four pretty little eggs; 



My pretty mate and I, We watch them with great care , 



And all the time we worked at it Full twenty nests are in this wood 



We sang most merrily. Don't tell the boys they're there ' 



The green leaves shade our lovely home Joe Thomson robbed my nest last year. 



From the hot, scorching sun ; And year before, Tom Brown; 



So many birds live in the tree, I'lJ tell it loud as I can sing 



We do not want for fun. To every one in town. 



The light breeze gently rocks our nest, Swallow and sparrow, lark and thrush, 



And hushes us to sleep ; Will tell you just the same ; 



We're up betimes to sing our song, To make us all so sorrowful, 



And the first daylight greet. Is just a wicked shame. 



O, did you hear the concert 



This morning from our tree? 

 We give it every morning 



Just as the clock strikes three. 

 We praise our great Creator, 



Whose holy love we share : 

 Dear children, learn to praise Him, too. 



For all His tender care. 



JOY OF SPRING. 



FOR lo ! no sooner has the cold withdrawn, 

 Than the bright elm is tufted on the lawn ; 

 The merry sap has run up in the bowers, 

 And burst the windows of the buds in flowers ; 

 With song the bosoms of the birds run o'er, 

 The cuckoo calls, the swallow 's at the door, 

 And apple-trees at noon, with bees alive, 

 Burn with the golden chorus of the hive. 

 Now all these sweets, these sounds, this vernal blaze, 

 Is but one joy, expressed a thousand ways : 

 And honey from the flowers, and song from birds, 

 Are from the poet's pen his overflowing words. 



LEIGH HUNT. 



