KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



349 



NATURAL PIETY. 



A little boy, in thoughtful mood, 

 Alone, a woodland path pursued, 

 Beneath the evening's tranquil sky, — 

 He thought not where, he knew not why. 



He watch'd the sunset fade away, 

 Leaving the hills with summits grey; 

 He saw the first faint stars appear, 

 And the far river's sound came near. 



The birds were hush'd, the flowers were closed, 



The kine along the ground reposed; 



All active life to gentle rest 



Sank down — as on a mother's breast. 



AH sounds, all sights, of earth and sky, 

 Came to his ear, and to his eye; 

 Until from these absorbed, forgot 

 They were, and he perceived them not. 



Though from his home and friends apart, 

 No sense of fear disturb'dhis heart; 

 Though round him were dark shadows thrown, 

 He did not feel himself alone. 



Touch'd by an influence and a power 

 He never felt until that hour, 

 The language of his eyes was meek, 

 And the warm tears were on his cheek. 



He did not kneel — he did not pray, 

 No thought through utterance found its way ; 

 His feelings could no language find — 

 For God was present in his mind. 



THE POWER OF A BABY'S SMILE. 



Sure we may say with truth,—" a babe's 

 The resting place for Innocence on Earth !" 

 Martin Tupper. 



That we are sworn lovers of our race 

 when in their helpless, innocent baby-hood, is no 

 secret. Ere sin has defiled the infant mind, 'tis 

 pleasant to note its feeble instinct put forth to win 

 a mother's heart — won doubtless already; but 

 the bond must be strengthened. Happy mother ! 

 Happy baby ! 



Nor is a baby's smile confined to its mother 

 only. _ Surely not. Naked simplicity teaches it 

 to smile innocently on all around. Knowing no 

 guile, it suspects none. It may have some 

 " thought "—nobody can say it has not. But to 

 our purpose. 



The following Sketch, by a gentleman travelling 

 in Ireland, has been kindly placed in our hands. 

 We make no apology for printing it. It is of its 

 kind, faultless ; and we hope our readers will enjoy 

 a perusal of it as much as we have done. We 

 are not all fathers and mothers perhaps (yet") 

 —"but who knows?" J 



One intensely hot noon-day (I am a bachelor 

 you must know), I entered a railroad car. Being 

 a modest man, I sunk upon the seat that was un- 

 occupied. Iwas congratulating myself upon my 

 good fortune in securing so commodious a position, 

 when, for the_ first time, I discovered that I was 

 riding vis-a-vis, and in close propinquity,to a young 

 woman and her — baby I 



At first I was horror-struck. I looked about 

 me for some means of escape. Alas ! not a vacant 

 seat was anywhere visible. At this crisis of my 

 discoveries, I might have sat for a model of Dismay. 

 Had the lady been beautiful, or even pretty, my 

 condition would have been endurable ; but far 

 from this, she was almost repulsively ugly. The 

 baby was a little blue-skinned, sickly thing, which 

 looked as if it had been suckled by a bottle of 

 skimmed milk. Had I seen it in the street, I 

 should have pitied it ; but here, just beneath my 

 eyes, a fellow prisoner in the same travelling car, 

 — it was too much ! my very soul loathed it ! 



" Fortunately, " thought I, " we are in a rail- 

 road car — this purgatory will have an end." But 

 my congratulations commenced too soon. There 

 was a delay in starting. We sat waiting a full 

 ten minutes. The baby began to cry, and beg for 

 "whippy" — (I afterwards was informed by the 

 mother that this was the baby-synonym for milk). 

 Mamma strove in vain to hush and quiet it. Nume- 

 rous were her expedients to call its attention 

 to surrounding objects. Her ingenuity amused 

 me. "It is worthy of a better occupation," 

 thought I. 



The poor woman, finding these efforts vain, 

 commenced an attack upon the baby's memory and 

 imagination. " Does Addy want a little black 

 kitten, with a white spot on its tail? Yes, Addy 

 shall have a pretty little kitten, with a white spot 

 on its tail. Mother will go to Miss Barnes's and 

 get Addy a little kitten. Kitty ! kitty ! kitty ! 

 kitty ! Come, kitty, and see Addy !" Addy raised 

 her head, and opened her large black eyes. Evi- 

 dently, imagination was not sufficiently active to 

 change the figures upon the canvas carpet into 

 " a little kitten with a white spot on its tail ;" for 

 she screwed her little dirty face into worse shape 

 than before, and broke out into a loud scream. 



" Scissors !" thought I, burying my face in a 

 large bouquet I carried in my hand. The perspi- 

 ration fell in big drops from my forehead. I 

 wished myself a brick wall, though it is said that 

 even walls have ears. At this moment, I felt 

 something tugging away at one of the roses in my 

 bouquet. I looked up, and found the baby hail 

 seized the choicest of the bunch, and was clinch- 

 ing it firmly in her little dirty fist. 0, what dese- 

 cration ! My flowers, my beautiful flowers ! pre- 

 sented to me by the lily hand of my lady-love, 

 from whom I had just tenderly parted — my dear, 

 beautiful flowers to be mauled in this way by a 

 little, dirty, squalling baby ! Bah ! I was ready 

 to faint. 



I looked lightning, and was about to growl 

 thunder, when I was arrested by — what do you 

 suppose could have checked the righteous indig- 

 nation of a spirit so outraged in its holiest and 

 tenderest feelings ? Pity my weakness, when I 

 confess it was a smile — yes, a little foolish smile 

 from that little baby ! I could not help it — I strove 

 against the infirmity, but soften, my heart would, 

 like snow in a south wind ; and before I was 

 aware of my danger, I had smiled in return ! 



"Pretty flowers, ain't they, Addy?" said the 

 mother, casting down her eyes modestly. (For- 

 give me, my beautiful Margaret ! but there was 

 something in that modest look that brought thee 

 to my thoughts. All the soft, and all the heroic 

 traits of woman's character occurred to me. Think- 



