s are so big.
Then I waited a minute
And called him again,
"O father! O father!
I am in the pig pen!"
And father did hear,
And he threw down his hoe,
And scampered as fast
As a father could go.

The pigs had pushed me
Close to the wall,
And munched my basket,
Eggs and all,
And chewed my sun-bonnet
Into a ball.
And one had rubbed
His muddy nose
All over my apron,
Clean and white;

And they sniffed at me,
And stepped on my toes,
But hadn't taken
The smallest bite,
When father opened
The door at last,
And oh! in his arms
He held me fast.

E. W. Denison

Writing

Little pens of metal,
Little drops of ink,
Make the wicked tremble,
And the people think.

Value of Writing

Blest be that gracious power
Who taught mankind
To stamp a lasting image
On the mind:

Beasts may convey,
And tuneful birds may sing
Their mutual feelings
In the opening spring;

But man alone has skill
And power to send
The heart's warm dictates
To the distant friend:

Tis his also to please,
Instruct, advise,
Ages remote,
And nations yet to rise.

Crabbe

Use the Pen

Use the pen! there's magic in it,
Never let it lag behind;
Write thy thought, the pen can win it
From the chaos of the mind.

Many a gem is lost forever
By the careless passer-by,
But the gems of thought should never
On the mental pathway lie.

Use the pen! reck not that others
Take a higher flight than thine.
Many an ocean cave still smothers
Pearls of price beneath the brine.

So thy words and thoughts securing
Honest praise from wisdom's tongue,
May, in time, be as enduring
As the strains which Homer sung.

J. E. Carpenter

Power of the Pen

Beneath the rule of men entirely great,
The pen is mightier than the sword.

Lord Lytton

Letters

Such a little thing--a letter,
Yet so much it may contain:
Written thoughts and mute expressions
Full of pleasure, fraught with pain.

When our hearts are sad at parting,
Comes a gleam of comfort bright,
In the mutual promise given:
"We will not forget to write."

Plans and doings of the absent;
Scraps of news we like to hear,
All remind us, e'en though distant,