Now willows have their pussies,
Now ferns in meadow lands
Hold little downy leaflets,
Like clinging baby hands.
Like rosy baby fingers
Show oak-leaves 'gainst the blue;
The little ones of nature
Are ev'rywhere in view.

There's purring in a sunbeam
Where Tabby's babies play.
The hen is softly brooding,
Her chickens came to-day.
Up in the crimson maple
The mother robin sings;
The world is full of caring
For little helpless things.
MARY E. WILKINS.
From "Songs of Happy Life," by permission of publishers.