YOUNG FOLKS’ CORNER.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1425, 22 June 1899, Page 21

YOUNG FOLKS’ CORNER.

(EDITED BY “ UNCLE TOBY.”) A LITTLE BOY’S SONG. I smile, and then the sun comes out, Fie hides away whene’er I pout; Ho seems a very funny sun To do whatever he sees done. And when it rains he disappears; Like me, he can’t see through the tears. Now, isn’t that tlie reason why I ought to smile and never cry ? —F. I). Sherman, "Helping Words.” THE ROCK-A-BYE BOAT. There's a boat that leaves at half-past, six From the busy port of Play. And it reaches the haven of Slumberlacd Before the close of day. It carriers the tiniest passengers. And it rocks so gently, oh! M lien tlie wee ones nestle in their berth?, And the boatman begins to row I The whistle sounds so low and sweet. (Like a mother’s lullaVA, That the travellers smile and close their eye.s, To dream of angels nigh. Sometimes the travellers tarry too long In the busy port of Play, And the anxious boatman coaxes and calls, And grieves at thir delay. But they come at last to the rocking boat, Which bears them down the stream. And drifts them to the Slumberiand, To rest, and sleep, and dream. The name of tlie boat is Rcck-a-bye, And it's guided by mother’s hand. For she is the patient boatman, dear, Who takes you to Slumberland. Now what is the fare a traveller pays On a Rcck-a-bye boat like this ? Why. the poorest child can afford tho price, or it’s only a gov-d-night kiss! —-Emetine Good.ux, "Litlie Men and Women. - ’ PATHETIC BUT TRUE. From time to time pathetic incidents of the American Civil War are described, and one of a certain cavalry sergeant is certainly worth re-telling. He had been an English soldier, loved the cavalry service, and was a skilled horseman. He took great pride in his cavalry hat. and always went into battle bareheaded, removing his hat from his head, and placing it inside bis shinbosom—shout the only ’ place where he could bestow it. When asked the reason for .us fighting bareheaded, he always replied time ihe rebels had ruined cue hat by shooting through it, and he did not intend ih-w they should destroy another in like manner. In the midst of a fight, one day. wU ,! e dismounted, the sergeant crone upon a young squirrel, paralysed by flight or confused by the noise. Hastily picking him up. lie placed him in iu.s 1 t, and his hat in its usual battle place. After the battle was ever, he had opportunity to attend to and feed his squirrel. The good fellers heart—lie was then forty-five years ot ago —seemed to open fully to the squirrel as the first thing in his life that could care for, watch over, and love. All his spare moments were spent in feeding, petting, and looking after his squirrel. He would sit for hours stroking its soft fur and talking to it. Kc would tell and re-tell to his pet the dimensions and architecture of the mansion he designed to build for him after the war was over, of the dining-room below, the nice chamber above with a gymnasium at one side, the kind of wood he would use in constructing the house, and the colours of the paints used to adorn the building. Generally, when on the march, the squirrel occupied his pockets, or rested on his shoulders, or roamed over his body at will; but in every fight, when tho hat came off, into it went the squirrel, and both were pressed close to his heart. In battle after both the squirrel and hat went safely through the showers of lead, till at length a bullet pierced hat and squirrel, and the warm blood of the little creature flowed clown the soldier’s side. The poor fellow was nearly heartbroken. The turrets and revolving courts of the squirrel mansion were wrecked and ruined in mid-air. Ke caried him for a day or so, and then, through the hushed ranks of his comrades, withdrew to bury him. As he rose, with tears in his eyes, and took up his mutilated hat, lie tried to choke down his grief by saying: "My dear old hat, I don’t know where I can carry you safely now!” The next day the sergeant was badly wounded ; but his manner showed that lie regarded the incident merely as an ordinary and expected one.