Dedication

TO MY DAUGHTER FLORENCE.
[AFTER A TWELVEMONTH.]

Epigraph

“More Bed-Time Stories,” Sweetest Heart,
And all to you belong:
All that I have and am, my dear,
I give you with my song.

All that I have and am, my dear,
Is not too much to pay
As tribute to the fair, young queen
Who rules my heart to-day;

As tribute to the dear, blue eyes,
And to the golden hair,
And sweet, new grace of maidenhood
That wraps you everywhere,—

The shy surprise of maidenhood,
That still turns back to hear
The tales I tell at shut of day:—
So these are yours, my dear.
L. C. M.

October, 1874.