As a little rain-drop clung

To the bosom of a cloud,

Much it trembled ere it fell,

And it sobbed and wept aloud.

"Such a tiny drop as I,

Prithee do not let me go;
My humble work were nothing

On the great round world below.

"If the tender blades are parched,
Or the corn is very dry,

There is nothing I can do—
Such a tiny thing as I.

"I cannot swell a river,

Or e'en fill a lily's bell; And should be lost for ever In the forest if I fell.

"I pray thee let me tarry
In the blue and sunny sky,
Disporting in the sunbeams-
Such a tiny drop as I."

"I know you are a little drop," The cloud it whispered low; "And yet how sad a thing 'twould be If every drop said so!

"Alone you cannot clothe the mead
With fresh and living green;
But each its little work must do,
The little blades between.

"You cannot form the smallest rill,
Much less the foaming tide;
But you may join and form a sea,
With others by your side.

"In all the great and glorious works

The mighty Lord has done,

There is a post of duty fixed

For every little one.

"Each has its humble sphere to fill

Each has its lot assigned, Each must its little burden bear

With firm and willing mind."

WHAT THE TINY DROP DID.
THE cloud then gently disengaged
Its child, and let it go,

And bade it do its duty well
In the great world below.
And as it floated gently down
Thro' boundless fields of air,
Lo! all at once, it saw around
Millions of rain-drops there.
Each one of all that myriad throng
Had left its mother's breast;
Resolved, whatever might befall,
To try to do his best.

All fear was banished, hope prevailed,
Joy glanced from every eye,
And all these diamond glistenings made
A rainbow in the sky.

Down, down, they float incessantly

On forest, field, and flower, Till not a leaf or blade is seen,

Unfreshened by the shower.

Still down, and down, from out the air,
On hill, and dale, and moor,
On garden, waste, and wilderness,
Incessantly they pour.

The verdure lifts its drooping head,
The flowers in rapture glow,
The babbling brooks and rivulets
With leaping waters flow.

These swell the mighty river's tide,
Which rolls in majesty,

Until our tiny drop becomes

Part of the wide wide sea.