Pippa Passes

A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. Some casual influence has dropped good seed, which has taken root and beareth fruit to perfection. The words are the title of a dramatic poem by Robert Browning. Pippa is a chaste-minded, light-hearted peasant maiden, who resolves to en joy New Year’s Day, her only holiday. Various groups of persons overhear her as she passes-by singing her innocent ditties, and some of her stray words, falling into their hearts, act with secret but sure influence for good. (1842.)

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.