THE MIGHTY MAGIC-(Continued)

The ball shows a startling feature,
Its surface begins to peel
And out steps a gorgeous creature
From the cocoon automobile,
Trailing garments enfold her,
A mantle of silken sheen,

In gold and purple behold her,
A beautiful fairy queen!

Then up in the light where fun gleams,
In the fraction of an hour

She will travel the paths of sunbeams
With a message from flow'r to flow'r.
And Oh, little lad, learn the story:
There's a butterfly in your heart
That will spread its wings in glory
If you will but do your part.

-JOSEPHINE Dodge.

(Mrs. Arthur M. Dodge.)

1

NURSERYLAND

THERE'S a nursery world at the top of the

stair,

But it's sleepy and solemn and still up there,
For the queen of three, whose rule is law,
Has gone away for a week or more,

And things are just as a plump little hand
Placed them, and left them in Nurseryland.
It is lonely there,
It is quiet there,

Waiting the rule of a queen that's fair.

A doll with a scalp half-off her head,

And a broken-back soldier who must be dead; A fluffy young maiden all dressed in white.

Is lying out flat, with eyes shut tight,

While a fort of blocks and sentinel stand
Guarding the fortunes of Nurseryland.
But never a smile

For a long, long while,

When the queen's away, it is not the style.

NURSERYLAND-(Continued)

A little low table is set for tea,

With covers for "mother and daddy and me;"
The dishes are pewter and china and tin,
And the best is used when a guest comes in;
There is never sugar enough on hand,

But there's always tea in Nurseryland.

It is tea for me,

And it's tea for thee,

But the queen takes mostly sugar, you see.

But oh, what a topsy world is there;
Dolls with tangled and unkempt hair;
One is erect, but her head is gone,

And some haven't even their night-clothes on;
How they manage to live, I can't understand,
But they all do live in Nurseryland.

The frail and the fit,

The dented and split,

There's nothing so bad but there's good in it.

NURSERYLAND-(Continued)

And all are gentle, and all are kind,

They are well behaved and they always mind, The horse on rollers, the elephant fat,

The cow on wheels, and the sawdust cat,

And the camel who walks o'er the red-rug sand Of the make-believe desert of Nurseryland. Both cattle and man

Enjoy the plan

Of living together as best they can.

Yet the little toy world is mute and still,
Awaiting the rule of an absent will,
And the moo-cow looks an impatient thing,
Her horns tied up with a knotted string,
And the big white bear and piano grand
Are watching and waiting in Nurseryland.
For everything must

Be true to its trust,

Regardless of temper or time or dust.

NURSERYLAND-(Continued)

But soon the curly-crowned head will come
To the world of people and animals dumb.
They will live again in a strenuous whirl
Of fashion and fury and hurly-burl,
When the sceptre-sway of a dimpled hand
Shall govern the fortunes of Nurseryland.
When the dolls will wake,

And the bent will break,

And the world will dine on candy and cake.

Then "me and mother and daddy and me"
Will all sit down to a cup of tea,

The cow will moo, the piano will play,

And the dollies will change their clothes all day;
And may God's all-loving and mighty hand
Be over the spirit of Nurseryland,

In the hours with me,

In the days to be,

In the years to come which I may not see.

-REV. KARL Reiland.