Project, poem, and verse

Milk Carton House

Cover a clean half-gallon carton with brown or gray paper. Cut a 1 1/4-inch or slightly smaller hole near the top. Attatch to a board with rubber bands and camouflage with bark strips, pine needes, or grass. Nail a bark piece for the roof. Hang in a high, dry place for your birds.

The Man in the Boy

In the acorn is wrapped the forest;
In the little brook, the sea;
The twig that will sway with the sparrow today
Is tomorrow’s sturdy tree;
There is hope in a mother’s joy,
Like a peach in its blossom furled;
And a noble boy, a gentle boy,
A manly boy, is king of the world.

The power that will never fail us
Is the soul of simple truth;
The oak that defies the stormiest skies
Was upright in its youth;
The beauty no time can destroy
In the pure young heart is furled;
And a worthy boy, a tender boy,
A faithful boy is king of the world.

The cub of the royal lion
Is regal in his play;
The eaglet’s pride is as fiery-eyed
As the old bird’s bald and grey;
The nerve that heroes employ
In the child’s young arm is furled;
And a gallant boy, a truthful boy,
A brave boy, is king of the world.

—Selected from Moral Lessons (see “Dear Reader” note).

A verse to hide in your heart:

“Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it.”* (Psalm 127:1)