Page 294 - 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 ...

BORN DUMB.
M Y little level M y little speechless child!
Gin I forget my woman’s heart, and be
Forever mute to grief, forever mild ?
Is it not hard to bear the foiling.;- rod
When such an ailment for these baby lips
Divinely suits the policy of God ?

The lambs that play too long at hide-and-seek
Have tongues that ask for mothers ; these, I know,
Learn lovely meanings when the children speak,
The mother comes from far across the Held
And calls assurance to her anxious child,
A s I had answered had my lamb appealed.

So with unfcathered blackcaps ; so with things
Whose tones arc pitched too low for mortal ears ;
They plead, and nature sends them breast and
13ut I shall never hear that storied speech,
That lovely language whose expression is
Defiance of all rules that man may teach

I have brought silence to my husband’s kr.ee !
And lie (O baby, baby, try to speak!)
So great’y counted on thy mimicry
O f words his wit prepared to plague thy lips,
Ready to kiss tfini, rosebud impotence,
Thy mouth, and game;1 all thy precious slip;;,

?l Mother," he used to say, “ when 1 am worn
In days to come with writing, you slinll bring
This bud of April on your shoulder borne,
And be shall chatter to my chain, or tear
M y latest lyric, or shall cry to touch
The raining splendors of your l avished hair,