ETHEL.
Little sky-waif, come astrayTwice twelve months ago to-day!What a world of joy is thine!What a glow of summer shineCheers the house wherein thou art,Sly magician of the heart!In those large, those azure eyes,All the splendour of the skies,All the beauty that belongsTo the poet’s sweetest songs,All the wisdom known and lostThat the wisest sage could boast,Beam and lure and half revealSecrets that the gods conceal.See those ringlets all unshornThat her pretty neck adorn;—Golden hues and silken glossOn the charméd air they tossSun-gleams in a starry spray.—Dearest little laughing fay!See her tiny feet beat time,In an ecstasy of rhyme,To the pearly notes that winFrom the speaking violin.See her fingers, dimpled, white,Mimic with a grave delightThose that wonderingly she seesRace along the ivory keys.Hear her prattle, indistinct;—Much we guess at, still we thinkIt may be some long lost speechThat she fondly strives to teach,—Language known to airy things,It may chance, whose spirit wingsIn a merry mischief keepLittle human elves from sleep.Ask her father, ask her mother,They will vouch there is no other,Never was on land or seaSuch a charming girl as she.Surely they who know her bestMust the simple truth attest;But if further proof you seek,Let her solemn grandpa speak.—He a mighty oath will swear,By the silver in his hair!By his sober-sided muse!All good people needs must chooseMake confession, that for grace,Loveliness of form and face,Ways so simple, yet so wise,Large-eyed Ethel takes the prize.
Little sky-waif, come astrayTwice twelve months ago to-day!What a world of joy is thine!What a glow of summer shineCheers the house wherein thou art,Sly magician of the heart!In those large, those azure eyes,All the splendour of the skies,All the beauty that belongsTo the poet’s sweetest songs,All the wisdom known and lostThat the wisest sage could boast,Beam and lure and half revealSecrets that the gods conceal.See those ringlets all unshornThat her pretty neck adorn;—Golden hues and silken glossOn the charméd air they tossSun-gleams in a starry spray.—Dearest little laughing fay!See her tiny feet beat time,In an ecstasy of rhyme,To the pearly notes that winFrom the speaking violin.See her fingers, dimpled, white,Mimic with a grave delightThose that wonderingly she seesRace along the ivory keys.Hear her prattle, indistinct;—Much we guess at, still we thinkIt may be some long lost speechThat she fondly strives to teach,—Language known to airy things,It may chance, whose spirit wingsIn a merry mischief keepLittle human elves from sleep.Ask her father, ask her mother,They will vouch there is no other,Never was on land or seaSuch a charming girl as she.Surely they who know her bestMust the simple truth attest;But if further proof you seek,Let her solemn grandpa speak.—He a mighty oath will swear,By the silver in his hair!By his sober-sided muse!All good people needs must chooseMake confession, that for grace,Loveliness of form and face,Ways so simple, yet so wise,Large-eyed Ethel takes the prize.
Little sky-waif, come astrayTwice twelve months ago to-day!What a world of joy is thine!What a glow of summer shineCheers the house wherein thou art,Sly magician of the heart!
In those large, those azure eyes,All the splendour of the skies,All the beauty that belongsTo the poet’s sweetest songs,All the wisdom known and lostThat the wisest sage could boast,Beam and lure and half revealSecrets that the gods conceal.
See those ringlets all unshornThat her pretty neck adorn;—Golden hues and silken glossOn the charméd air they tossSun-gleams in a starry spray.—Dearest little laughing fay!
See her tiny feet beat time,In an ecstasy of rhyme,To the pearly notes that winFrom the speaking violin.See her fingers, dimpled, white,Mimic with a grave delightThose that wonderingly she seesRace along the ivory keys.
Hear her prattle, indistinct;—Much we guess at, still we thinkIt may be some long lost speechThat she fondly strives to teach,—Language known to airy things,It may chance, whose spirit wingsIn a merry mischief keepLittle human elves from sleep.
Ask her father, ask her mother,They will vouch there is no other,Never was on land or seaSuch a charming girl as she.Surely they who know her bestMust the simple truth attest;But if further proof you seek,Let her solemn grandpa speak.—He a mighty oath will swear,By the silver in his hair!By his sober-sided muse!All good people needs must chooseMake confession, that for grace,Loveliness of form and face,Ways so simple, yet so wise,Large-eyed Ethel takes the prize.