LESSON 16
THE BROWN THRUSH

Lucy Larcom, the author of the following poem, was born in 1826, and passed many years of her life as a factory girl at Lowell, Mass. She died in 1893.

1. There's a merry brown thrush1 sitting up in a tree;

“He's singing to me! he's singing to me! ”

And what does he say, little girl, little boy?

“Oh, the world's running over with joy!

Don't you hear? Don't you see?

Hush! look! In my tree

I'm as happy as happy can be! ”

2. And the brown thrush keeps singing, “A nest do you see,

And five eggs hid by me in the juniper2 tree?

Don't meddle! don't touch! little girl, little boy,

Or the world will lose some of its joy!

Now I'm glad! now I'm free!

And I always shall be,

If you never bring sorrow to me.”

3. So the merry brown thrush sings away in the tree,

To you and to me, to you and to me;

And he sings all the day, little girl, little boy,

“Oh, the world's running over with joy!

But long it won't be,

Don't you know? Don't you see?

Unless we're as good as can be.”

STUDY GUIDE

A. Word Definition

merry:happy.

hush:be quiet.

meddle:interfere.

sorrow:sadness.

running over:overflowing.

long:soon.

B. Study Notes

1. Thrush: a small song-bird, usually brown or grey in color and sometimes with a spotted belly. (More specifically, a thrush is the common name for a bird belonging to the scientific family Turdidae.)

2. Juniper is a small evergreen shrub which produces small red berries. Juniper berries are the main flavoring ingredient in the alcohol, gin.

C. Comprehension Questions

1. Why was the thrush so happy?

2. What does the thrush tell the little girl and little boy not to do?

3. What message does the thrush teach us in this story?

4. What do you think “happy as happy can be” in paragraph 1 means?