lovely tune:
You needn't ask your mother
To let you go and play;
The very breezes whisper,
"You may! You may! You may!"

There are no frosts to freeze you,
And no fierce winds to blow;
But winds that seem like kisses,
So soft and sweet and slow;
The lovely sun is shining
'Most every single day.
Of course you may go out, dears--
It is the _month_ of "May"!

THE BIRTHDAY

Bring the birthday-marker!
That's the way to show
How much I've been growing
Since a year ago.

All my last year's dresses
Are too short for me;
This one--with the tucks out--
Only to my knee!

Grandpa rubs his glasses;
Whispers, "Yes, indeed!
How that child is growing--
Growing like a weed!"

Mother's word is sweetest:
"Yes, in sun and shower
She's been growing, growing,
Growing like a flower!"

BABY'S PLAYTHINGS

Ten cunning little playthings
He never is without--
His little wiggle-waggle toes
That carry him about.

They look so soft and pinky,
And good enough to eat!
How lucky that the little toes
Are fastened to his feet!

Ten little pinky playthings
He cannot eat or lose;
Except when Nursey hides them all
In little socks and shoes.

WHEN IT RAINS

We don't mind rainy days a bit,
my brother Ted and I;
There's such a lot of games to play
before it comes blue sky.
Sometimes we play I'm Mrs. Noah,
and Ted's Methusalem!
I put him in his little box and
hand his little drum
(There has to be some way, you see,
to let the Ark-folks know
That Father Noah expects them all,
and where they are to go)
And then they come by twos and twos,
and twos and twos and _twos_,
Till trotting with them 'cross the floor
'most wears out my new shoes.
They all go in, and when it's time,
we let the flood begin;
The rainier it rains the more
we like it staying in.

[Illustration: Staying In]

THE SLEEPING TREES.

I know how the apple-tree went to sleep!
Its fluttering leaves were so tired of play!--
Like frolicsome children when dusk grows deep,
And mother says "Come!" and they gladly creep
To knee and to nest at the end of day.

Its work was all done and it longed to rest;
The reddening apples dropped softly down;
The leaves fell in heaps to the brown earth's breasts
And