Said a precious little laddie,
   To his father one bright day,
"May I give myself to Jesus
   Let Him wash my sins away?"

"Oh, my son, but you're too little,
   Wait until you older grow;
Bigger folk, ‘tis true, do need Him,
   But little folk are safe, you know."

Said the father to his laddie,
   As a storm was coming on,
"Are the sheep all safely sheltered,
   Safe within the fold, my son?"

"All the big ones are, my father;
   But, the lambs, I let them go,
For I didn't think it mattered,
   Little ones are safe, you know."

Oh, my brother!  Oh, my sister!
   Have you, too, made that mistake?
Little hearts that now are yielding
   May be hardened, then - too late!

'Ere the evil days come nigh them,
   "Let the children come to me;
And forbid them not," said Jesus,
   "Of such shall My kingdom be."