M. B. Banks writes a missionary lesson after the style of “Mother
Goose”:
Little Jack Horner
Sat in a corner
Eating a very queer pie;
He saw in a trice
It held everything nice
From the lands where the mission fields lie.
From Ceylon came the spice,
And from China the rice,
And bananas from African highlands;
There were nutmegs and cloves
Sent from Borneo’s groves,
And yams from the South Sea Islands.
There were nuts from Brazil
All the corners to fill,
And sugar and sago from Siam;
And from Turkey a fig
That was really so big,
Jack’s mouth thought, “It’s larger than I am.”
There were pomegranates fair
Grown in Persia’s soft air,
And tortillas from Mexico found there;
And there did appear
Grapes and grains from Korea,
And all of the things that abound there.
A Syrian date
Did not turn up too late;
He need not for tea to Japan go;
Tamerinds were not few,
There were oranges too,
And from India many a mango.
“Now,” thought little Jack,
“What shall I send back
To these lands for their presents to me?
The Bible, indeed,
Is what they all need
So that shall go over the sea.”
(1282)
=Gospel, Spread the=--See STORY, POWER OF THE OLD.