Hymns, Songs, and Fables, for Young People

Prayer, childhood pleasures and lessons in kindness share the pages of this collection by Eliza Lee Cabot Follen. Written for young people of different ages, its hymns connect Christian belief with familiar experiences: going to bed, feeling afraid, noticing flowers and learning to tell the truth. The songs extend that range to spring, home, friendship and concern for children living in slavery. In the prefaces, serious and cheerful poems belong together as parts of a child's emotional life.

The verse fables give animals and everyday objects their own voices. A freed squirrel thanks Ellen for its liberty, while a pin and a needle quarrel over appearance, usefulness and pride. These small scenes turn moral teaching into conversation and comedy. Readers interested in nineteenth-century children's literature can see how religious instruction, affection for nature and sympathy for others were woven into poems meant to be read and remembered at home.