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Three Minute Stories

Chapter 11: THE NEWS FROM ANGEL LAND
By Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards
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Children & Young Adult ReadingShort Stories

About This Book

A collection of brief tales and verses for young readers that blends domestic vignettes, animal fables, and playful rhymes. Many pieces present self-contained scenes—children at play, pets and birds, seasonal and holiday moments—alongside short moral adaptations drawn from older folk stories. Entries range from whimsical nonsense to gentle instruction, and are arranged as easily read, often illustrated, items meant to be finished in a few minutes. The volume offers an accessible assortment of short, illustrated pieces designed to amuse, soothe, and convey simple lessons to a young audience.

THE NEWS FROM ANGEL LAND

Oh! Harry Boy and Johnny Boy,
And little Libbety,
They were three happy children
As ever you did see:
One day there came another child;
Oh! he was sweet and small!
And round his cradle quickly came
The other children all.
“Oh! what’s the news from Angel Land,
Baby, Baby?
We think we still might understand,
Maybe, maybe!
Daddies and Mammies long ago
Forgot the things the babies know;
We hardly think we could forget,
And yet—and yet!”

Now Harry’s eyes were diamond dark,
And John’s were starry blue,
And little Libbety was like
A rosebud dipped in dew.
They stood around the cradle white,
With rosy ribbons tied,
They looked into the baby’s face
And earnestly they cried:
“Oh! what’s the news from Angel Land,
Baby, Baby?
We think we still might understand,
Maybe, maybe!
Daddies and Mammies long ago
Forgot the things the babies know;
We hardly think we could forget,
And yet—and yet!”
The baby gravely met the look
Of brown eyes and of blue:
And gravely opened his baby mouth,
And gravely said, “A-Goo!”
Harry and Johnny shook their heads:
“That word’s too deep for me!”
“I think I used to know it, though!”
Said little Libbety.
“But what’s the news from Angel Land,
Baby, Baby?
We think we still might understand,
Maybe, maybe!
Daddies and Mammies long ago
Forgot the things the babies know;
We hardly think we could forget,
And yet—and yet!”
The baby said “A-Goo!” again
With meaning calm and deep:
And then he said, “Ba-be, ba-ba!”
And then he went to sleep.
The children sighed and turned away:
But none of all the three
Guessed, neither John nor Harry Boy,
Nor little Libbety,
He had told the news from Angel Land,
Baby, baby,
He thought that they might understand,
Maybe, maybe.
Daddies and Mammies long ago
Forgot the things the babies know:
The children ought not to forget,
And yet—and yet!