e feet--
So come, O child, awake, arise!
The sun is high in the morning skies!"

So from the yonder maple tree
The bird kept singing unto me;
But that was very long ago--
I did not think--I did not know--
Else would I not have longer slept
And dreamt the precious hours away;
Else would I from my bed have leapt
To greet another happy day--
A day, untouched of care and ruth,
With sweet companionship of youth--
The dear old friends which you and I
Knew in the happy years gone by!

Still in the maple can be heard
The music of the morning bird,
And still the song is of the day
That runneth o'er with childish play;
Still of each pleasant old-time place
And of the old-time friends I knew--
The pool where hid the furtive dace,
The lot the brook went scampering through;
The mill, the lane, the bellflower tree
That used to love to shelter me--
And all those others I knew _then_,
But which I cannot know again!

Alas! from yonder maple tree
The morning bird sings not to me;
Else would his ghostly voice prolong
An evening, not a morning, song
And he would tell of each dear spot
I knew so well and cherished then,
As all forgetting, not forgot
By him who would be young again!
O child, the voice from yonder tree
Calleth to _you_, and not to _me_;
So wake and know those friendships all
I would to God I could recall!

XIX

OTHER PEOPLE'S DOGS

When I discovered one morning that my young sunflowers and my tomato
vines had been cut down during the night by some lawless depredator I
was mightily incensed. I had not supposed that there was anybody so
mean as to commit such a wanton destruction. The value of the property
destroyed was not large; I had paid but five cents apiece for the
twenty tomato vines, and the young sunflowers were a present from Fadda
Pierce. The intrinsic value of these things was so small as to cut no
figure in my mind, but having watched the graceful creatures wax large
and comely from mere sprouts it was quite natural that I should have a
strong sentimental attachment for them. For the fruit of the tomato
vine I care nothing, but I had with much satisfaction pictured the
enjoyment which Alice and the children would derive from the luscious
tomatoes which I flattered myself were to ripen upon our own vines
under the genial August sun.

Moreover, I had already made up a list of the names of city fr