ABROAD in the meadows, to see the young lambs

Run sporting about by the side of their dams,

With fleeces so clean and so white; Or a nest of young doves, in a large open cage,

E

When they play all in love, without anger or rage,

How much may we learn from the sight!

If we had been ducks, we might dabble in mud,

Or dogs, we might play till it ended in blood,

So foul and so fierce are their na

tures;

But Thomas and William, and such pretty names,

Should be cleanly and harmless as doves, or as lambs,

Those lovely sweet innocent creatures..

Not a thing that we do, nor a word that we say,

Should injure another in jesting or

play;

For he's still in earnest that's hurt: How rude are the boys that throw pebbles and mire!

There's none but a madman will throw about fire,

And tell

you, "Tis all but in sport."

WHY should I deprive my neighbour Of his goods against his will? Hands were made for honest labour, Not to plunder or to steal.

"Tis a foolish self-deceiving

By such tricks to hope for gain;

All that's ever got by thieving

Turns to sorrow, shame, and pain.
Have not Eve and Adam tanght us
Their sad profit to compute?
To what a dismal state they brought us
When they stole forbidden fruit!
Oft we see a young beginner
Practise little pilfering ways,
Till grown up a harden'd sinner;
Then the gallows ends his days.
Theft will not be always hidden,
Tho' we fancy none can spy;
When we take a thing forbidden,
God beholds it with his eye.

Guard my heart, O God of heaven,
Lest I covet what's not mine:
Lest I steal what is not given,

Guard my heart and hands from sin.

our eyes!

We tread them to dust, and a troop of them dies

Without our regard or concern: Yet, as wise as we are, if we went to their school,