One summer's day, with Little Nell,
I wandered in this ferny dell
To where a sparkling cascade fell.

There we sat upon a stone
With moss and ivy overgrown,
And talked and laughed and loved unknown;

And watched the merry sunbeams flash
And dance upon the brooklet's splash,
As down it fell with scattering dash;

And then ran tortuous in and out —
Here and there and round about —
Toying with its speckled trout;

Who, as the silvery stream sped by,
Deftly caught the venturous fly,
Or wanton, gambolled lazily.

In this dell we'd often been —
Nelly called it " a fairy scene, "
And her I named " The Fairies' Queen. "

We had beguiled the fleeting hours
Idly culling pretty flowers
From hedges, nooks, and silvan bowers.

Nelly spread them on the stone,
Then arranged them one by one
In tasteful manner quite her own.

Then she took the sweet woodbine,
Its tendril ends she did entwine,
And wreathed thereon wild eglantine.

" For whom weave you that wreath so fair? "
I asked sweet Nell with careless air,
As though for whom I did not care.

And then with playful coquetry
And laughing eyes thus answered she,
" Watch and wait and you will see! "

The beauteous garland soon was made,
And toyed about in mock parade,
And all its various hues displayed;

Held aloft and tossed in air;
Placed upon her auburn hair —
And kissed at last, I do declare!

" Tis for one who loves me true;
One whom I love dearly too —
Don't look jealous, — 'Tis for you! "


Too like her were those flowers,
Cradled in Nature's bowers,
Gathered in sunny hours —

Alas! they soon did fade;
Like them, my Nell is dead,
And in the grave is laid.