MAKE CHILDHOOD SWEET

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Jan 31, 1906

MAKE CHILDHOOD SWEET.

WAIT not till the little hands are at rest Ere you fill them full of flowers; Wait not for the crowning tuberose To make sweet the last sad hours; But while in the busy household band, Your darlings still need your guiding hand; O, fill their lives with sweetness!

Wait not till the little hearts are still For the loving look or praise; But while you gently chide a fault, The good deed kindly praise. The word you would speak beside the bier Falls sweeter far on the living ear; O, fill young lives with sweetness!

Ah, what are kisses on cold, clay lips To the rosy mouth we press, When our wee one flies to her mother's arms For love's tenderest caress! Let never a worldly bauble keep Your heart from the joy each day should reap, Circling young lives with sweetness.

Give thanks each morn for the sturdy boys, Give thanks for the fairy girls; With a dower of wealth like this at home Would you rifle the earth of pearls? Wait not for death to gem Love's crown, But daily shower life's blessings down, And fill young hearts with sweetness.

Remember the homes where the light has fled, Where the rose has faded away; And the love that grows in youthful hearts, O, cherish it while you may! And make your home a garden of flowers, Where joy shall bloom through childhood's hours, And fill young hearts with sweetness. —Selected.