“I look upon the blue, blue sky,
That spreads above us there on high:
Below, the water sparkles bright,
And all around the land is light.
“The sun is shining, too, above,
And whispers to us, ‘God is love!’
The moon, also, will shine to-night,
And pretty stars will twinkle bright.”
“Oh, what lovely description you do make!” exclaimed Bessie, when
Maggie read these two verses.
“This world is all so beautiful,
We should be very grateful;
But then, you know, sometimes we’re not,
And do forget our happy lot.”
“We’ll have to read gra-te-ful to make it come right with beautiful,”
said Maggie, “but it sounds good enough.”
“Oh! it’s perfectly lovely,” said Bessie.
“Our father and our mother dear,
Each sitting in a steamboat chair;
Aunt Bessie too, the darling dear,
And Uncle Ruthven sitting near.
“Oh! it doth make my heart rejoice
To hear each loved and pleasant voice;
And then I have my sisters sweet,
Who with kind smiles me always greet.”
“What does ‘greet’ mean?” asked Bessie.
“It means something like welcome,” answered Maggie. “I can’t explain
exactly; but I know it is a word poetry-writers use a great deal, and I
thought I had better put it in.”