HYMN FOR THE MOTHER My child is lying on my knees; And she is well, yea, bathed in bliss, I mean her well so earnestly, I also am a child, and I Am ignorant and weak; I gaze upon the starry sky, And then I must not speak; For all behind the starry sky, Behind the world so broad, Behind men's hearts and souls doth lie The Infinite of God. Ay, true to her, though troubled sore, I cannot choose but be: Thou who art peace forevermore Art very true to me. Hymn for the Mother If I am low and sinful, bring More love where need is rife; Thou knowest what an awful thing It is to be a life. Hast thou not wisdom to enwrap In doubting safety on the lap Lo! Lord, I sit in thy wide space, And I look up to thee. GEORGE MACDONALD FOREWORD SCATTERED throughout the works of the great poets, there are many beautiful tributes to mothers and subtle interpretations of motherhood; also, in old as well as in very new poems, there are illuminating suggestions to mothers regarding both their opportunities and their responsibilities. This valuable body of "mother literature" has but one drawback the fact that it is so diffused. The aim of this book has been to gather together in one volume the very best poems from these various sources, for the use and also for the enjoyment of presentday mothers, both young and old. E. MCC. CAMBRIDGE, April, 1917. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS THANKS are due the following publishers, and individual owners of copyrights, for their kind permission to include the selections enumerated below: To American Motherhood, for "My Mother," by Frederic Hentz Adams. To the Century Company, for "An English Mother," from Saint-Gaudens, and Other Poems, by Robert Underwood Johnson. To B. W. Huebsch, for "Mother to Son," and "One Mother," by Irene Rutherford McLeod. To Little, Brown & Co., for "Seven Times Four," by Jean Ingelow; and "To My First Love, My Mother," by Christina G. Rossetti. To Charles Scribner's Sons, for "A Christmas Carol," and "Cradle Song," by Josiah Gilbert Holland; "Child and Mother," "Japanese Lullaby," and "Wynken, Blynken, and Nod," by Eugene Field; and "Matres Dolorosa," by Robert Bridges. To Sherman, French & Co., for "Motherhood," from The Border of the Lake, by Agnes Lee. To Small, Maynard & Co., for "Christ the Mendicant," "At Bethlehem," and "To His Mother," by John Banister Tabb. To Anna Hempstead |