LITTLE GIRL GRACIE.

So sleepy and demure is my wee Gracie, So long and sober grows the little facie, So silent are the red, red lips so sweet, So quiet are the little hands and feet, I know, yes, well I know My Gracie wants to go Into the soft, white nest where every night My birdie folds her wings till morning light. And now beside my knee the pretty lisper Her evening prayer with folded hands must whisper, While baby sister sleeps on mother’s breast, Lulled with our voices low to dreamy rest. Then in her nightie white, My restless sunbeam bright Is hidden from her shoulders to her feet, And tucked away in slumber soft and sweet.

A merry, white-robed figure at my side, A laughing face, with blue eyes opened wide. Red lips that kiss me in the early dawn And tell me fast enough that night is gone. Ripe and ready for play, In the early morning gray, Restless again are the small hands and feet, Silent no longer, little lips so sweet. Where is the sunbeam like my Gracie’s eyes? Blue as the blue of summer’s bluest skies! What sweeter wakening could be mine than this The soft “Good morning!” of my daughter’s kiss? And thus each hour of day Girl Gracie claims for play Till comes the “Sand-man” with the twilight hour And play has vanished ’neath his mystic power.