Little Blue Boy
YOU have heard the story that I shall tell,
Of Little Boy Blue and what befell
That famous lad on a summer day,
When the farmers were busy making hay.
They left him to watch the cows and sheep,
And Little Boy Blue fell fast asleep
And his sleep was as sweet as the fragrant hay,
Where with his head on his arm he lay;
By his side was lying his silent horn,
While the crows held revel amid the corn,
And into the meadows soon followed the sheep,
While Little Blue Boy lies fast asleep.
The rustling leaves of the orchard trees,
The drowsy hum of the droning bees,
The rippling song of a rivulet near,
Like a lullaby softly falls on his ear;
But housemaids and farm hands are calling for you,
So wake from your slumber, my Little Boy Blue.
My story, though brief, has a moral that's clear:
Watch well at your post when temptation is near;
If voices of pleasure allure you to sleep,
You may waken to evils far worse than the sheep.
Beware of the herds of intemperance and sin;
While you carelessly sleep, they creep silently in.
—Mrs. M. P. Chick.