Nature and Art, Vol. VIII, No 1, June 1900

<h3><SPAN name="A_CHARMING_HOME" id="A_CHARMING_HOME"></SPAN>A CHARMING HOME.</h3> <p class="ac">ANNA R. HENDERSON.</p> <div class="poetry-container"> <div class="poetry"> <div class="verse">Wodie and I in the strawberry bed,</div> <div class="verse">Searching for strawberries juicy and red;</div> <div class="verse">Breathing the airs of a morning in spring,</div> <div class="verse">Listening the notes that the meadow larks sing;</div> <div class="verse">Heart beats and pulse beats keeping in tune</div> <div class="verse">With all that is lovely in beautiful June.</div> <div class="verse">Sharp little twitters near by us we heard;</div> <div class="verse">Where was the haunt of the dear little bird?</div> <div class="verse">Soon the wee nest and its nestlings we found,</div> <div class="verse">Safe in a catnip bush, close to the ground;</div> <div class="verse">Home of the sparrow, whose chirruping brood</div> <div class="verse">Kept their four yellow mouths open for food;</div> <div class="verse">By their fond mother unceasingly fed</div> <div class="verse">With morsels of strawberry, fragrant and red.</div> <div class="verse">"O, Mamma," said Wodie, "did ever you see</div> <div class="verse">So tiny a nest in so tiny a tree?</div> <div class="verse">And isn't it perfectly lovely to stay</div> <div class="verse">In the spicy catnip leaves all day?</div> <div class="verse">And whenever you wish for something to eat,</div> <div class="verse">To dine on a slice of strawberry sweet?</div> <div class="verse">To hear the father-bird singing, a tune</div> <div class="verse">In the old peach tree all the afternoon,</div> <div class="verse">And to be shut out from the dew at night</div> <div class="verse">By the touch of mother-wings, soft and light?</div> <div class="verse">I think when these dear little birdies stray</div> <div class="verse">From their home in the catnip bush away,</div> <div class="verse">Wherever their dear little forms may go,</div> <div class="verse">In the summer's sun or the winter's snow,</div> <div class="verse">They will say, as the old folks always do,</div> <div class="verse">That their baby days were the best they knew."</div> </div> </div> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />