There was a little girl,
And she had a little curl,
Right in the middle of her forehead;
When she was good she was very, very good,
When she was bad she was horrid.
Ah! what would the world be to us
If the children were no more?
We should dread the desert behind us
Worse than the dark before.
Perhaps there lives some dreamy boy, untaught
In schools, some graduate of the field or street,
Who shall become a master of the art,
An admiral sailing the high seas of thought
Fearless and first, and steering with his fleet
For lands not yet laid down in any chart.
| author = Longfellow
| work =
| place =
| note =
| topic = Childhood
| page = 111
}}
{{Hoyt quote
| num = 4
| text = <poem>Who can foretell for what high cause
This darling of the gods was born?
Andrew Marvell—Picture of T. C. in a
Prospect of Flowers.
| author =
| work =
| place =
| note =
| topic = Childhood
| page = 111
}}
{{Hoyt quote
| num = 5
| text = <poem>
Each one could be a Jesus mild,
Each one has been a little child,
A little child with laughing look,
A lovely white unwritten book;
A book that God will take, my friend,
As each goes out at journey's end.
Masefield—Everlasting Mercy. St. 27.
And he who gives a child a treat
Makes Joy-bells ring in Heaven's street,
And he-who gives a child a home
Builds palaces in Kingdom come,
And she who gives a baby birth,
Brings Saviour Christ again to Earth.
Masefield—Everlasting Mercy. St. 50.
Lord, give td men who are old and rougher
The things that little children suffer,
And let keep bright and undefiled
The young years of the little child.
Masefteld—Everlasting Mercy. St. 67.
| author =
| work =
| place =
| note =
| topic = Childhood
| page =
}}
{{Hoyt quote
| num = 8
| text = Rachel weeping for her children, and would
not be comforted, because they are not.
Matthew. II. 18; Jeremiah. XXXI. 15.
Ay, these young things he safe in our hearts just
so long
As their wings are in growing; and when these
are strong
They break it, and farewell! the bird flies!
The childhood shows the man,
As morning shows the day.
Milton—Paradise Regained.
| place = Bk. IV. L. 220.
| seealso = (See also Wordsworth)
{{Hoyt quote
| num =
| text = <poem>As children gath'ring pebbles on the shore.
| author = Milton
| work = Paradise Regained.
| place = Bk. IV. L. 330.
| topic = Childhood
| page =
}}
{{Hoyt quote
| num =
| text = <poem>Ah, il n'y a plus d'enfant.
Ah, there are no children nowadays.
Moliere—Le Malade Imaginaire. II. 2.
| topic = Childhood
| page =
}}
{{Hoyt quote
| num =
| text = Parentes objurgatione digni sunt, qui nolunt liberos suos severa lege proficere.
| trans = Parents deserve reproof when they refuse to benefit their children by severe discipline.
| author = Petronius Arbiter
| work = Satyricon.
| place = IV.
| note =
| topic = Childhood
| page = 111
}}
{{Hoyt quote
| num =
| text = <poem>The wildest colts make the best horses.
Plutarch—Life of Themistocles.
Behold the child, by Nature's kindly law,
Pleas'd with a rattle, tickled with a straw.
A wise son maketh a glad father.
Proverbs. X. 1.
Train up a child in the way he should go; and
when he is old he will not depart from it.
Proverbs. XXII. 6.
Many daughters have done virtuously, but
thou excellest them all.
Proverbs. XXXI. 29.
Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them.
Psalms. CXXVII. 5.
Thy children like olive
thy table.
CXXVIII. 3.
plants round about
There is nothing more to say,
They have all gone away
From the house on the hill.
Edwin A. Robinson—The House on the Hill.
Pointing to such, well might Cornelia say,
When the rich casket shone in bright array,
"These are my Jewels!" Well of such as he.
When Jesus spake, well might the language be,
"Suffer these little ones to come to me!"
Samuel Rogers—Human Life. L. 202.
L'enfance est le sommeil de la raison.
Childhood is the sleep of reason.
| author = Rousseau
| work = Ehnile.
| place = Bk. II.
Gliicklicher Saugling! dir ist ein unendlicher
Raum noch die Wiege,
Werde Mann, und dir wird eng die unendliche Welt.
Happy child! the cradle is still to thee a
vast space; but when thou art a man the
boundless world will be too small for thee.
Schiller—Das Kind in der Wiege.
Wage du zu irren und zu traumen.
Holier Sinn liegt oft im kind'schen Spiel.
Dare to err and to dream. Deep meaning
often lies in childish plays.
Schiller—Thekto. St. 6.
| topic = Childhood
| page =
}}
{{Hoyt quote
| num =
| text = <poem>And children know,
Instinctive taught, the friend and foe.
Scott—Lady of the Lake. Canto n. St. 14.
