HYMNS AND POEMS FOR LITTLE FOLKS. TRUTHFUL DOTTIE; OR, THE BROKEN VASE. NELLIE and Dottie Both hear mamma say, "Pray from the drawing-room Keep away. Don't take your toys there, Lest some one should call ; Run out in the garden With rope, bat, and ball." The garden is lovely, This bright summer day; But Nellie and Dottie Too soon come away. All the furniture flipping : "What will mamma say? Cries Nell, with her hands raised, "Oh, Dottie, let's run ; They'll think it was pussy, Who did it in fun." Dot answers, through big tears, "But, Nell, don't you see, Though nobody watched us, God knows it was me? Mamma always says, That, whatever we do, The harm's not so great, If we dare to be true. So I'll go up and tell her It caught in my rope; Perhaps she won't scold muchAt least, so I'll hope." "That's right!" cries her mother, Who stands by the door. "I would rather ten vases Were smashed on the floor, Than my children should once break The bright words of truth, The dearest possession Of age or of youth. The vase can be mended, C. L. M. |