Birds.

By Sarah J. Hale

Annotations by Kathryn T. Burt/JB

Maria Laumennij. *Horizontal Panel of Birds and Tulips*. Watercolor, pen and brown and red ink, graphite pencil on paper, 1827, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Boston, MA.

          If ever I see,
          On bush or tree,
Young birds in a pretty nest,
     I must not, in my play,
     Steal the birds away,
To grieve their mother's breast.

          My mother I know,
          Would sorrow so,
Should I be stolen away—
     So I'll speak to the birds,
     In my softest words,
Nor hurt them in my play.

Hale, Sarah J. “Birds,” in Poems For Our Children: Including “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” Designed For Families, Sabbath Schools, and Infant Schools, 5. R. W. Hale, 1830.

Contexts

In the original Preface of Poems for Our Children, Sarah Josepha Buell Hale wrote the following:

To all Good Children in the United States.
Dear Children,
I wrote this book for you—to please and instruct you. I know children love to read rhymes, and sing little verses; but they often read silly rhymes,
and such manner of spending their time is not good. I intended, when I began to write this book, to furnish you with a few pretty songs and poems that
would teach you truths, and, I hope, induce you to love truth and goodness. Children who love their parents and their home, can soon teach their hearts
to love their God and their country.
I offer you the 'First Part' of 'Poems for our Children'—if you like these I shall soon write the Second Part, and perhaps I shall make a larger book.
Sarah J. Hale
Boston, May 1, 1830

The poem “Birds.” is the first entry in that original book, and it reflects Hale’s mission to use children’s literature to teach compassion and morals. Hale is the author of the famous lyrical poem “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” which is titled “Mary’s Lamb” in the book. She is also credited with making Thanksgiving a national holiday in the United States due to her lobbying of President Abraham Lincoln.

Resources for Further Study

See Daniel Froid’s “Didactic Children’s Literature and the Emergence of Animal Rights” for more on how Sarah J. Hale’s children’s literature portrayed animals as sympathetic figures and contributed to the 19th-century animal welfare movement.
For more of Hale’s children’s literature with environmental themes, see Aunt Mary’s new stories for young people, Flora’s Interpreter, and Fortuna Flora, and the rest of Hale’s book.
Additionally, see Carolyn L. Burke and Joby G. Copenhaver’s piece, “Animals as People in Children’s Literature,” for advice on incorporating animal literature into a curriculum or a child’s life.