Little children, never give
Pain to things that feel and live;
Let the gentle robin come
For the crumbs you save at home;
As his meat you throw along
He’ll repay you with a song.
Never hurt the timid hare
Peeping from her green grass lair,
Let her come and sport and play
On the lawn at close of day.
![Kindness to Animals [Illustration by Aneesh Jaisinghani]](/media/poems-17_1.gif)
The little lark goes soaring high
To the bright windows of the sky,
Singing as if t’were always spring,
And fluttering on an untired wing –
Oh! Let him sing his happy song,
Nor do these gentle creatures wrong.