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380  MARY N. M'DONALD.

You need not deny it, Mabel,
'Twas a little bird who came
But now with the wondrous story,
And told unto me the same.

I mark'd the gleam of his crimson breast,
As he flitted across your cheek;
And the rapid flash of his darting wing
In you eye, when you did speak.

You're dreaming, Bessie, you're dreaming,
No talking birds have we;
And I would not whisper the matter,
I'm sure, to a bird on the tree;

And never a wing came flitting
Across my cheek or eye—
So, Bessie, you must be dreaming,
With all this mystery.

Ah! Mabel; you may dissemble
With duller folks, I ween,
But you cannot still the music
Of the little bird I mean.

He hath his nest in your gentle breast,
And a tell-tale bird is he,
For I mark'd the flush of his crimson coat
On your cheek too easily.

And when I told you the miller
Was a wild and wilful man,
The bird flew out at your flashing eye
As only a fairy can.

And I knew, by your hasty speaking
In such an earnest way,
Than you cared for the honest miller
Much more than you choose to say.

FRANCES S. OSGOOD.  381

So what I but guess'd, my Mabel,
The bird hath told at will,
That you're going to marry the miller,
And live beside the mill.



FRANCES S. OSGOOD.

MRS. OSGOOD is a native of Boston.  Her father, a merchant of the name of Locke, was a man of taste, education, and true poetical sensibilities.  She was chiefly instructed at home; her step-sister, the accomplished Mrs. Wells, (whose poems we have noticed in a former part of this volume,) acting the part of friend, guide, and governess, with equal kindness and ability.  Genius was quickly discovered in all the little Fanny said or wrote; but it was not until strongly urged by her benevolent and gifted friend, Mrs. Lydia M. Child, that the fruits of this genius were permitted to be seen by the world.  She then became a contributor to the Juvenile Miscellany, and other periodicals, under the name of Florence.  During a visit to London, just after her marriage with the distinguished artist whose name she bears, her first collection of poems was published, entitled A Wreath of Wild Flowers from New England.  This gained for her the friendship of the Hon. Mrs. Norton, and much courteous attention from others of noble birth and talent in England.  On her return, Mrs. Osgood edited The Flowers of Poetry, or Poetry of Flowers, and, for a short time, a magazine called The Ladies' Companion.

In 1841, she published The Snowdrop, a book for children, and several other works of the same kind.  Another volume of her Poems appeared in 1845; since which she has edited an annual, called The Floral Offering.  For many years past she has been one of the most popular an' fertile contributors to the monthly magazines of whom our country can boast.  Her style in prose is lively and natural; and her ingenious stories are always freely sprinkled over with songs, or sparkling epigrammatic little poems, which, like jewels on a ball-dress, not only give brilliancy for the immediate occasion, but will be taken out and preserved, when the story itself is laid by and forgotten.