"I will be good, dear mother,"
I heard a sweet child say,
"I will be good,--now watch me!
I will be good all day."
She lifted up her bright young eyes,
With a soft and pleasing smile;
Then a mother's kiss was on her lips;
So pure and free from guile.
And when night came, that little one,
In kneeling down to pray,
Said, in a soft and whispering tone,
"Have I been good to-day?"
Oh, many, many bitter tears
'Twould save us, did we say,
Like that dear child, with earnest heart,
"I will be good to-day."