THREE LITTLE MAIDS

(To the three Misses Drury.)

THREE little maids, one winter day,

While others went to feed,

To sing, to laugh, to dance, to play,

More wisely went to- Reed.

Others, when lesson-time’s begun,

Go, half inclined to cry,

Some in a walk, some in a run;

But these went in a- Fly.

I give to other little maids

A smile, a kiss, a look,

Presents whose memory quickly fades;

I give to these- a Book.

Happy Arcadia may blind,

While all abroad, their eyes;

At home, this book (I trust) they’ll find

A very catching prize.