Page 263 - The model orator, or, Young folks' speaker : containing the choicest recitations and readings from the best authors for schools, public entertainments, social gatherings, Sunday schools, etc. : including recitals in prose and verse ...

And chi Idren played all the cottage o’er,
While back and forth on the sanded floor,
Grandma stepped in her golden spring,
And this is the song that the wheel will sing
Round and round,
Round and round,
Loudly laughing with a lithesome sound,
Thread like gold in the sunlight ray;
Spindle whirls and the children p lay;
Children p lay!

Turn again and the song flows onj
But some of its merriment is gone;
It singctli now in a sadder key;
It tells of the children, one, two, throe,
Boys, fast growing from day and day,
Soon to wander from home away;
Round and round,
Lazily lagging with lonesome sound ;
Thread runs slow to the whirling spool;
Happy children have gone to school;
Gone; to school!

Give the old wheel a few quick turns—-
The kettle sings and the back log burns ;
The old log cabin looms up to view;
Grandpa and grandma, loving, true,
Wait for the boys to come back again,
And this is the old wheel's sad refrain :
Round and round,
Round and round,
Softly singing with a solemn sound;
Gone alas t all the children, gay-—
Grown to manhood and gone away,
Gone aw ay!