A Garden of Girls

Ruth

She stood breast-high amid the corn,
Clasp'd by the golden light of morn,
Like the sweetheart of the sun,
Who many a glowing kiss had won.

On her cheek an autumn flush,
Deeply ripened;—such a blush
In the midst of brown was born,
Like red poppies grown with corn.

Round her eyes her tresses fell,
Which were blackest none could tell,
But long lashes veil'd a light
That had else been all too bright.

And her hat, with shady brim,
Made her tressy forehead dim ;-
Thus she stood amid the stooks,
Praising God with sweetest looks.

"Sure," I said, "Heav'n did not mean
Where I reap thou shouldst but glean;
Lay thy sheaf adown and come,
Share my harvest and my home."

THOMAS HOOD.

My Peggy

My Peggy is a young thing,
Just entered in her teens,

Fair as the day, and sweet as May,
Fair as the day, and always gay,
My Peggy is a young thing,

And I'm not very auld,

Yet well I like to meet her at
The wauking of the fauld.

My Peggy sings sae saftly,
When on my pipe I play;
By a' the rest it is confest,
By a' the rest, that she sings best.
My Peggy sings sae saftly,
And in her sangs are tauld,
With innocence, the wale of sense,
At wauking of the fauld.

ALLAN RAMSAY.

From "The Gentle Shepherd."

A Garden of Girls

Annie Laurie

Maxwelton braes are bonnie

Where early fa's the dew,

And it's there that Annie Laurie

Gie'd me her promise true,

Gie'd me her promise true,

A Garden of Girls

Which ne'er forgot will be;
And for bonnie Annie Laurie
I'd lay me doune and dee.

Her brow is like the snawdrift,
Her throat is like the swan,
Her face it is the fairest

That e'er the sun shone on,—
That e'er the sun shone on;
And dark blue is her e'e;
And for bonnie Annie Laurie
I'd lay me doune and dee.

Like dew on the gowan lying
Is the fa' o' her fairy feet;
Like the winds in summer sighing,
Her voice is low and sweet,-

Her voice is low and sweet;

And she's a' the world to me;

And for bonnie Annie Laurie

I'd lay me doune and dee.

WILLIAM DOUGLAS OF FINGLAND.

Lucy

Three years she grew in sun and shower;
Then Nature said, "A lovelier flower

On earth was never sown:

This child I to myself will take;
She shall be mine, and I will make
A lady of my own.

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Myself will to my darling be Both law and impulse: and with me

The girl, in rock and plain,

In earth and heaven, in glade and bower,
Shall feel an overseeing power

To kindle or restrain.

"She shall be sportive as the fawn
That, wild with glee, across the lawn,
Or up the mountain springs;

And hers shall be the breathing balm,
And hers the silence and the calm

Of mute, insensate things.

"The floating clouds their state shall lend

To her; for her the willow bend;

Nor shall she fail to see

E'en in the motions of the storm

Grace that shall mold the maiden's form

By silent sympathy.

A Garden

of Girls

A Garden of Girls

"The stars of midnight shall be dear
To her; and she shall lean her ear
In many a secret place

Where rivulets dance their wayward round,
And beauty born of murmuring sound
Shall pass into her face.

"And vital feelings of delight

Shall rear her form to stately height,

Her virgin bosom swell;

Such thoughts to Lucy I will give

While she and I together live

Here in this happy dell."

Thus Nature spake the work was done―
How soon my Lucy's race was run!
She died, and left to me

This heath, this calm and quiet scene;
The memory of what has been,

And nevermore will be.

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.

Jessie

Jessie is both young and fair,
Dewy eyes and sunny hair;
Sunny hair and dewy eyes

Are not where her beauty lies.