Little children, love one another

1 A little girl, with a happy look,
Sat slowly reading a pond'rous book,
All bound with velvet, and edged with gold,
And its weight was more than the child could hold.
Yet dearly she loved to ponder it o'er,
And every day she prized it more:
For it said--and she look'd at her smiling mother,
It said, "Little children, love one another."

2 She thought it was beautiful in the book,
And the lesson home to her heart she took;
She walk'd on her way with a trusting grace,
And a dovelike look in her meek young face,
Which said just as plain as words can say,
The Holy Bible I must obey;
So, mamma, I'll be kind to my darling brother,
For "Little children must love each other.

3 I'm sorry he's naughty, and will not play,
But I'll love him still, for I think the way
To make him gentle and kind to me,
And loving, as children ought to be,
Will be to do what I think is right;
And thus, when I kneel in prayer to-night,
I will clasp my arms around my brother,
And say, "Little children, love one another."

4 The little girl did as her Bible taught,
And pleasant, indeed, was the change it wrought,
For the boy look'd up in glad surprise
To meet the light of her loving eyes:
His heart was full--he could not speak--
But he press'd a kiss on his sister's cheek;
And God look'd down on the happy mother,
Whose "little children loved one another."

Source: Linden Harp: a rare collection of popular melodies adapted to sacred and moral songs, original and selected. Illustrated. Also a manual of... #136