A little girlie, with a happy look,
Sat slowly reading in a precious book,
All bound with velvet and edged up with gold;
Its weight was more than the dear child could hold.
Yet loved she dearly it to ponder o’er,
And every day she prized it more and more;
It said, said she to her dear grandmother,
“Little children should love one another.”
She thought it over, prized the blessed book,
The precious lesson to her heart she took;
And on her way she walked with trusting grace,
And dove-like look upon her gentle face,
Which spoke, as plainly as the words could say,
“The Holy Bible I must e’er obey;
So now I’ll kindly be to dear brother;
For ‘children now must love one another.’
How sad he’s naughty, will not with me play;
I’ll love him still, for that is now the way
To make him gentle, kind and good to me;
T’will better be shown if I let him see
I strive to do what I now see is right;
And thus, when we kneel down in prayer tonight,
I’ll put my arms around my dear brother,
Say, “Little children, love one another.”
The little girl did as her Bible taught,
And pleasant, was indeed the change it wrought;
The boy looked up in gladsome, bright sur prise,
To meet the light of her dear, loving eyes;
His heart was full, and he could not now speak,
But pressed a kiss on his dear sister’s cheek;
And God looked down on that happy mother,
Whose “Little children loved one another.”
ML 01/13/1918