HIS FIRST SKETCH.
Reading edition
eneath a cottage window, Upon a summer day, Two little ones are whiling The sunny hours away. A portrait of his sister The boy draws on the wall; The little maid remonstrates, She likes it not at all. At first she sits there pouting— A tear is in her eye; But peals of merry laughter Burst from her by-and-by. What cares the budding artist? He plies his brush with zest; He is in downright earnest, Though she is but in jest. Art-fire is in his spirit, For Nature lit the flame; The first step he has taken Upon the road to fame. In childhood's early morning, Ere opened yet the flower, Within his soul is dawning The future artist's power!
Astley H. Baldwin.