summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/31388.txt
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
Diffstat (limited to '31388.txt')
-rw-r--r--31388.txt7227
1 files changed, 7227 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/31388.txt b/31388.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ed68c35
--- /dev/null
+++ b/31388.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,7227 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Mother Truth's Melodies, by Mrs. E. P. Miller
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Mother Truth's Melodies
+ Common Sense For Children
+
+Author: Mrs. E. P. Miller
+
+Release Date: February 25, 2010 [EBook #31388]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOTHER TRUTH'S MELODIES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Don Kostuch
+
+
+
+
+[Transcriber's notes]
+ Page numbers in this book are indicated by numbers enclosed
+ in curly braces, e.g. {99}. They have been located where page
+ breaks occurred in the original book.
+ Underscores indicate italics.
+ Several pages have only pictures with no text.
+ None of the images in the book have descriptions and most are
+ abstract, so they are not mentioned in this txt file. View the HTML
+ version to see the images.
+[End Transcriber's notes]
+
+
+
+MOTHER TRUTH'S MELODIES.
+
+COMMON SENSE FOR CHILDREN.
+
+
+
+A KINDERGARTEN,
+
+BY
+
+MRS. E. P. MILLER,
+
+AUTHOR OF "A FATHER'S ADVICE; A BOOK FOR EVERY BOY." AND
+"A MOTHER'S ADVICE; A BOOK FOR EVERY GIRL."
+
+
+
+450 ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+
+
+NEW AND ENLARGED EDITION.
+
+
+
+CHICAGO:
+
+CRAM STANDARD BOOK CO.,
+
+BOSTON, MASS., J. Q. ADAMS & Co
+
+1896.
+
+
+
+COPYRIGHTED 1887, BY
+STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY.
+
+COPYRIGHTED BY
+STANDARD COLUMBIAN COMPANY,
+1891, 1892.
+
+COPYRIGHTED BY
+CRAM STANDARD BOOK COMPANY
+1894
+
+
+COPYRIGHTED BY
+GEORGE F. CRAM,
+1895
+
+
+{5}
+
+
+ To all who love the Children,
+ This book, INSCRIBED, I bring,--
+ Thus reaching forth to draw you
+ Within my charmed ring,
+ Where seeds and germs we'll nurture
+ In babies, children, youth,
+ Till every plant shall blossom,
+ And bear the fruits of TRUTH.
+
+
+{6}
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+ Since little ones are _geese_ no more,
+ But _knowing_ have become,
+ It ill beseems that "Mother Goose"
+ Should dwell in every home.
+ So "Mother Truth" in "Melodies"
+ For Babes, here lifts her voice,
+ Assured that parents, children, all,
+ Will welcome and rejoice.
+
+
+{7}
+
+NOTE.
+
+
+Let no one suppose that the Author of these "Melodies" considers them
+poetry. They are simply rhymes, the jingle of which may be music in
+the children's ears, and the illustrations a delight to eager eyes.
+The Truths presented, even if not fully understood at first, will
+leave their impress, and in so far as they fill the little minds, will
+keep out falsehood and false ideas.
+
+The putting of facts in such form as to attract the attention of the
+little ones, and be readily fixed in their memory, was first suggested
+to the writer of these rhymes by a valued friend, the well known
+philanthropist, MRS. ELIZABETH THOMPSON, and her interest in the
+"Melodies" is such that she has generously assisted in procuring
+illustrations for the same.
+
+Thus "Mother Truth's Melodies" are introduced with the hope that this
+effort to entertain children with rhyming reason will meet with the
+approval of every lover of the young, and of Truth.
+
+{8}
+
+Poetry is the language of the imagination, while "facts are stubborn
+things," and, in the mass, refuse utterly to be poetized. Yet, even
+facts may be presented pleasingly and melodiously, and in such way
+that they will be easily impressed upon the minds of children. This
+the author of "Mother Truth's Melodies" sought to do, when the little
+book was first given to the public.
+
+Now, however, in the revising and enlarging of the book, she has given
+wider play to the imagination, has enlarged the range of subjects, has
+embodied lessons for children of older growth, and feels that
+altogether, it will meet more fully the demands which its already
+large sales warrant her in believing to exist.
+
+She can ask no more favorable reception than was first met; but,
+hoping for a continuance of the same, she trusts that as it becomes
+more widely distributed, its truths and teachings will be impressed
+upon household after household, till throughout the land, the little
+ones, and larger, too, shall be influenced thereby.
+
+MRS. E. P. M.
+
+
+{9}
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+WHY FLY AWAY, MOTHER GOOSE, 13
+
+TOSS THE BABY, 14
+
+PAT-A-CAKE, PAT-A-CAKE, 15
+
+HEY, MY KITTEN, MY KITTEN, 16
+
+WINKUM, WINKUM, 17
+
+BABY'S BELL, 18
+
+WILLY-NILLY, 19
+
+BABY'S RECORD, 20
+
+SLEEP, LITTLE SWEETEY, 22
+
+NEVER TELL A FIB, 23
+
+HUMPTY-DUMPTY, 24
+
+HUSH-A-BYE, 26
+
+DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH, 30
+
+BYE-BABY-BUNTING, 31
+
+TO BED WITH THE CHICKENS, 32
+
+DIVE ME SUDAR, 33
+
+TAUSE I'M TROSS, 34
+
+THE NEW BOOK 36
+
+WHISKUM, WHISKUM, 37
+
+THE JACK-HORSE, 38
+
+HI-DIDDLE DIDDLE, 39
+
+THE RAIN, 40
+
+FEED THE BIRDIES, 41
+
+ROCK-A-BYE, 42
+
+THE SNOWBALL, 49
+
+LITTLE BO-PEEP, 50
+
+THE TEA PARTY, 51
+
+TELL IT AGAIN, MOTHER, 52
+
+LITTLE JACK HORNER, 54
+
+LITTLE BOY BLUE, 55
+
+MISS VELVET PAWS, 56
+
+{10}
+
+POLLY HOPKINS, 57
+
+A, B, C, 58
+
+C-A-T SPELLS CAT, 64
+
+THE KITTEN, 67
+
+DOLLY DIMPLE, 70
+
+IF YOU PLEASE, 75
+
+THE POOR LITTLE CHICK-A-DEES, 76
+
+HEIGH-HO, DAISIES AND BUTTERCUPS, 80
+
+THE PONY, 81
+
+BABY'S RECKONING, 86
+
+TWO LITTLE PINK SHOES, 88
+
+BABY PEARL, 90
+
+MY VALENTINE, 91
+
+FEE-FI-FO-FUM, 92
+
+THE OXEN, 100
+
+THE BROKEN PITCHER, 104
+
+THE ELEPHANTS, 105
+
+THE WIND, THE FOG,
+ THE RAIN, THE SNOW, 106
+
+TRUTH, 110
+
+HI DIDDLE, HO-DIDDLE, 112
+
+WHAT IS THE AXIS, 116
+
+HEAT AND COLD, 119
+
+HARLEY'S DREAM, 120
+
+OUR LANGUAGE KEY, 123
+
+THE SPEECH FAMILY, 124
+
+NUMBER AND GENDER, 126
+
+ONE LITTLE CHICKEN, 127
+
+LETTERS, 128
+
+WORDS, 129
+
+A SMILE, 131
+
+TWINKLE, TWINKLE, 132
+
+OLD SOL IN A JINGLE, 134
+
+"ROBERT OF LINCOLN," 137
+
+LIMPY-DIMPY-DINGLE, 138
+
+CASTLE WONDERFUL, 140
+
+THE RATTLE OF THE BONES 148
+
+{11}
+
+WHOLLY HOLE-Y, 153
+
+THE BREATH O' LIFE, 156
+
+THREE LITTLE GIRLS, 157
+
+TEMPERANCE CHILD, 158
+
+LISTEN, CHILDREN, 159
+
+TICK-TOCK, TICK-TOCK, 160
+
+CURIOUS TREES; THE COW TREE,
+ THE SUGAR-PINE, THE BUTTER-TREE,
+ THE BREAD-FRUIT TREE,
+ THE CLOVE-TREE, 161
+
+THE TREE VILLAGE, 166
+
+NO EYES, 168
+
+THE MAMMOTH CAVE, 170
+
+THE CAMELS, 172
+
+KEY NOTES, 177
+
+THE BEARS, 178
+
+THE BEAR, A BLESSING, 181
+
+FRUITS, 183
+
+THE RACCOON, 184
+
+THE BANK SWALLOWS, 190
+
+THE MOCKING BIRD, 194
+
+THE BUSY BEES, 196
+
+HONEY-SWEET, 205
+
+WHAT THEY SAY, 208
+
+BRITAIN'S RULERS, 215
+
+OUR LAND, 218
+
+SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC, 220
+
+GRAPHO, 223
+
+THE STOP FAMILY, 226
+
+LITTLE MISCHIEF, 229
+
+GRANDMA'S CANARY, 233
+
+BABY'S FAITH, 236
+
+THE MEADOW QUAILS, 238
+
+THE LITTLE HOUSEWIFE, 240
+
+MOTHER-LOVE, 242
+
+IT SNOWS! IT SNOWS! 244
+
+AN OLD SAW, 247
+
+{12}
+
+THE DANDELION BLOSSOM, 248
+
+SUNSHINE, 250
+
+OUR ETHEL, 250
+
+LITTLE GIRL'S LETTER TO GOD, 254
+
+GRANDMA'S LESSONS, 258
+
+MY LITTLE FOUR YEAR OLD, 260
+
+HANDSOME DICK, 261
+
+BESSIE'S KISSES, 266
+
+THE DINNER POT, 267
+
+NANNY'S PLAY, 268
+
+NANNY'S LESSON, 272
+
+NANNY'S RIDE, 276
+
+THE RACE, 283
+
+OUR KENNETH, 284
+
+MY TEN YEAR'S OLD, 287
+
+DARE TO SAY NO, 288
+
+ASK MOTHER; TELL MOTHER, 291
+
+DON'T TELL A LIE, 292
+
+LITTLE MOSES, 294
+
+THE CHILDREN'S RAILROAD, 298
+
+THE PHOEBE'S NEST IN
+ THE OLD WELL WHEEL, 304
+
+MABEL'S SNOW-FEATHERS 306
+
+FOREST TREES, 310
+
+CHILDHOOD FANCIES, 312
+
+LIZZIE AND THE ANGELS, 317
+
+CHILD MEMORIES, 324
+
+NELLY AND NED, 326
+
+THE CLAMBERERS, 329
+
+THE NEW WHITE JATTET, 330
+
+REMEMBER THE POOR, 331
+
+THE LITTLE STREET SWEEPER, 332
+
+THE HERE, THERE AND
+ EVERYWHERE FAMILY, 338
+
+QUIRKS, 345
+
+SOMEBODY'S BOY, 346
+
+THE LADDIE-AND LASSIE BIRDS, 348
+
+THE GREAT WATCH FULL I, 352
+
+
+{13}
+
+
+MOTHER TRUTH'S MELODIES.
+
+
+
+_WHY FLY AWAY, MOTHER GOOSE?_
+
+
+ "MOTHER GOOSE, Mother Goose,
+ Why fly away?"
+ "Because Mother Truth is
+ A-coming to-day.
+ She'll tell you funny things,
+ But they'll be true;
+ She'll bring you pictures
+ So charming and new;
+ She'll sing you Melodies, helping to show
+ How, to true women and men, you may grow."
+
+
+{14}
+
+
+_TOSS THE BABY_.
+
+
+ Toss the baby high in air;
+ Catch him though, with special care
+ Lest his little back be strained,
+ Lest his little joints be sprained,
+ Lest his bones be bent or broken;
+
+ Lest through life he bear some token
+ Of a careless toss or fall,
+ That for sympathy shall call,
+ And that must forever be
+ Painful to our memory.
+
+
+{15}
+
+
+_PAT-A-CAKE, PAT-A-CAKE_.
+
+
+ Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake,
+ Mamma's boy,
+ Laughing and crowing,
+ And jumping with joy;
+ Roll it, and pick it and mark it with B,
+ And toss in the oven for Baby and me.
+
+ Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake,
+ Papa's girl,
+ Springing in baby-glee,
+ Shaking her curl;
+ Roll it and pick it and mark it with G,
+ And toss in the oven for Girly and me.
+
+{16}
+
+
+_HEY, MY KITTEN, MY KITTEN_.
+
+
+ Hey, my kitten, my kitten,
+ Hey, my kitten, my deary;
+ If Mamma should feed him too often,
+ He never could be so cheery.
+ Here we go up, up, up.
+ And here we go down, down, down-y.
+ If we never feed baby too much,
+ He never will give us a frown-y.
+
+ Hey, my kitten, my kitten,
+ Hey, my kitten, my deary;
+ We'll put him to bed with the birdies,
+ And that will make him so cheery!
+ Here we go up, up, up,
+ And here we go down, down, down-y;
+ If we give him nothing but smiles,
+ He will give us never a frown-y.
+
+{17}
+
+_WINKUM, WINKUM_.
+
+
+ Winkum, winkum, shut your eye,
+ Sweet, my baby, lullaby;
+ For the dew is falling soft,
+ Lights are flickering up aloft,
+ And the head-light's peeping over
+ Yonder hill-top capped with clover;
+ Chickens long have gone to rest,
+ Birds lie snug within their nest,
+ And my birdie soon will be
+ Sleeping with the chick-a-dee,
+ For with only half a try,
+ Winkum, winkum, shuts her eye.
+
+
+{18}
+
+
+_BABY'S BELL_.
+
+
+ Jingle! jingle! baby's bell;
+ What a tale its tongue might tell.
+ Could it speak it sure would say,
+ "When the baby's tired with play,
+ And is getting cross, don't try
+ To jingle bells, but hush-a-bye;
+ All so still, now crooning low,
+ Lull-a-bye, bye-o, bye-o,--
+ Quiet down his quaking nerves,
+ Soothe him as his state deserves;--
+ Passing hand from head to feet,
+ Sl-o-w-l-y, softly, loving, sweet,
+ As to smooth the feathers down,
+ Rumpled, from your birdling's crown;-- {19}
+ See, he sleeps, and in his dream
+ Yours may hand of angel seem,
+ Raveling out the tangled ills,
+ Knitting up with restful thrills."
+
+
+
+_WILLY-NILLY_.
+
+ Willy-Nilly, birdy sings,
+ For he's running over
+ With the music that he flings
+ To his sweet bird-lover;--
+ Willy-nilly, baby laughs,
+ Gay and glad and gleeful;
+ Brimming over high with health,
+ She is always playful.
+
+
+{20}
+
+
+_BABY'S RECORD_.
+
+
+ New-born baby, soft and pink,
+ Of the two worlds on the brink.
+
+ One month old,--eat and sleep;
+ Precious little human heap.
+
+ Two months old,--tear and smile;
+ Fists in mouth and eyes the while.
+
+ Three months old,--"goo-a-goo,"
+ Windows wide where soul looks through.
+
+ Four months old,--finds his toes,
+ Tries to fix them on his nose.
+
+{21}
+
+ Five months old,--first wee pearl;
+ All the household in a whirl.
+
+ Six months old,--sits alone;
+ Wishes swaddling clothes were gone.
+
+ Seven months old,--creep and crawl,
+ Wonder-eyed, a charm to all.
+
+ Eight months old,--confiscate
+ Pussy's tail and papa's pate.
+
+ Nine months old,--roguish eyes
+ Deepening daily; wilful, wise.
+
+ Ten months old,--witching ways
+ Wind us in; the baby pays!
+
+ Eleven months old,--finger-tip
+ Guides the elfin on his trip.
+
+ Year old,--lots of mischief done;
+ Walking, talking, just for fun.
+
+
+{22}
+
+
+_SLEEP, LITTLE SWEETEY_.
+
+
+ Sleep now, my sweetey,
+ Dear one, and pretty!
+ Weary with playing,
+ Weary with straying,
+ Stop little thinkers,
+ Shut little winkers;
+ Sleep, little sweetey,
+ Precious and pretty.
+
+ Sleep now, my sweetey,
+ Dear One, and pretty!
+ Stop little thinkers,
+ Shut little winkers,
+ Angels a-watching
+ Sleep-doors unlatching;
+ Slip in, my sweetey,
+ Precious and pretty!
+
+ Sleeping, my sweetey,
+ Dear one, and pretty!
+ Stopped, little thinkers,
+ Shut, little winkers,
+ Angels a-watching,
+ Sleep-doors are latching;
+ Slipped in, my sweetey,
+ Precious and pretty!
+
+
+{23}
+
+
+_NEVER TELL A FIB_.
+
+
+ If mamma says she'll punish,
+ She must do it, or she tells
+ A fib, as Sister Annie
+ Told "a story" 'bout the bells;
+ And if mamma tells a fib,
+ Then surely children will,
+ And what a fearful thing,
+ Our home with fibs to fill!
+
+
+{24}
+
+
+_HUMPTY--DUMPTY_.
+
+
+ Humpty-Dumpty, hip-o'-to-hop,
+ Baby is crying, why doesn't he stop?
+ What does he cry for? his clothing is tight;
+ No wonder such things make baby a fright.
+
+ Humpty-dumpty, hip-o'-to-hop,
+ Baby was crying, but now he will stop;
+ What did he cry for? his clothing was wet;
+ No wonder such things should make babies fret.
+
+ Humpty-dumpty, hip-o'-to-hop,
+ Baby is crying, oh, when will he stop?
+ What does he cry for? his feet are a-cold;
+ No wonder such things should make baby scold.
+
+{25}
+
+ Humpty-dumpty, hip-o'-to-hop,
+ Baby is crying, but soon he will stop;
+ What does he cry for? he had too much food;
+ No baby in this way can ever be good.
+
+ Humpty-dumpty, hip-o'-to-hop,
+ Baby is laughing and scarcely will stop;
+ What does he laugh for? Oh, when he feels well,
+ He always is happy,--'tis thus we can tell.
+
+
+{26}
+
+_HUSH-A-BYE_.
+
+ Hush-a-bye, baby,
+ On Grandmother's lap;
+ Hush-a-bye, baby,
+ And take a nice nap;
+ Hush-a-bye, baby,
+ What is it you say?
+ Your "teeth are a-coming,"
+ You're "ten months to-day;"
+ Well, babies must cry,
+ And Grandmothers must try
+ To comfort and hush them, but never forget
+ The little gums ache,
+ And little nerves quake,
+ Till little lips quiver, and babies must fret.
+
+ Hush-a-bye, baby,
+ We'll cool his hot gums,
+ Hush-a-bye, baby,
+ With tiny ice-crumbs;
+ Hush-a-bye, baby,
+ We'll rub hard and long
+ With icy-cold finger,--
+ See him list to my song!
+
+{27}
+
+ Ah, babies are sweet
+ If their wants we but meet,
+ So why should we blame them when fretful and cross?
+ Let us find what is wrong,
+ And remove it ere long,
+ And we'll see that time thus spent is never a loss.
+
+ Hush-a-bye, baby,
+ What more can we do
+ Hush-a-bye, baby,
+ That will comfort you?
+ Hush-a-bye, baby,
+ We'll lay you down flat,
+ On your stomach, dear baby,
+ On Grandmother's lap.
+
+{28}
+
+ Nor trot you a mite,
+ No matter how slight,
+ But, sure that your clothing is all dry and neat,
+ We'll loosen each band,
+ And with soft and warm hand,
+ Gently rub you all over from head to your feet.
+
+ Hush-a-bye, baby,
+ We will not forget,
+ Hush-a-bye, baby,
+ That hands may be wet,
+ Hush-a-bye, baby,
+ And soothe you sometimes,
+ When dry hands won't do it,
+ Hush, list to my rhymes!
+
+{29}
+
+ And now we'll not nurse
+ Till the nursing's a curse;
+ Nor dose you, nor drug you, nor feed with sweet-meats;
+ Nor to soothe, will we try,
+ With old "Dame Winslow" by,
+ For our hopes for the babies, she ever defeats.
+
+ Hush-a-bye, baby,
+ We'll quiet his nerves,
+ Hush-a-bye, baby,
+ The truth it deserves--
+ Hush-a-bye, baby--
+ Even here to be known:
+ We will _quiet his nerves_
+ By _just calming our own!_
+ And our baby will feel
+ The sweet hush o'er him steal,
+ That brings with it soothing and comfort and rest;
+ And to slumber so soft,
+ His spirit we'll waft,
+ And then lay him away in his own baby nest.
+
+
+
+{30}
+
+_DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH_.
+
+
+ Dear Mamma, I've been laughing
+ For Uncle Ben and Pa,
+ And then for sister Lizzie
+ I talked "ar-g o-o" and "gar;"
+ And then a "little story"
+ For Dick and Cousin Jane,--
+ And now you, Mamma, want me
+ To laugh and talk again.
+
+ I'd like to do it,
+ Mamma, but if I even try,
+ I am so weary with it,
+ I'm sure I'd only cry!
+ Don't let them try, dear Mamma,
+ to make me laugh and crow,
+ I'll do it when I'm able,
+ for babies always do.
+
+
+{31}
+
+_BYE-BABY-BUNTING_.
+
+
+ BYE-BABY-BUNTING,
+ The Indians live by hunting,
+ And bring home many a beaver-skin
+ To wrap the little pappoose in.
+ And mother-squaw the baby'll tie
+ Fast on a board, and swinging high,
+ Will hang it up among the trees
+ To rock-a-bye with every breeze;
+ But our dear baby, snug and warm,
+ Shall rock-a-bye on mother's arm.
+
+
+{32}
+
+
+_TO BED WITH THE CHICKENS_.
+
+
+ Oh, put me in my bed, Mamma,
+ When chickens go to rest,
+ For I'm your little chick-a-dee,
+ So put me in my nest.
+
+ Yes, when the birds forget to sing,
+ And lambs forget to play,
+ You'll put your birdy in his nest,
+ Your lamb you'll fold away.
+
+
+{33}
+
+
+_DIVE ME SUDAR_.
+
+
+ Papa, when you dive me tandy,
+ Dive me only white,--
+ 'Tause there's poison in the tolored,
+ Which my health will blight;
+ But you better dive me sudar,
+ Let the tandy be,--
+ 'Tause I shall not want so much,
+ And that is best for me.
+
+
+{34}
+
+_'TAUSE I'M TROSS_
+
+
+ Mamma, 'tause I'm tross don't whip me;
+ I tan't help it, not a bit!
+ 'Tis the tandy hurts my stomat,
+ And that mates me whine and fret.
+ Sometimes, too, I'm whipped for trossness
+ When the trossness tomes from meat; {35}
+ Thint how tiders drowl and drumble,
+ And then dive me food to eat
+ That will mate me well and happy,--
+ Wheat and oat-meal, rice and truit,
+ These will mate me dood and gentle,
+ 'Stead of mating me a brute.
+
+
+{36}
+
+
+THE NEW BOOK.
+
+
+ COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO,
+ A picture-book for you,--
+ Keep it nice, and in a trice
+ Sing Cock-a-doodle-doo.
+
+
+{37}
+
+WHISKUM, WHISKUM.
+
+
+ Whiskum, whiskum, over the house,
+ Scud the cloudlets, still as a mouse;
+ Whiskum, whiskum, by-and-by
+ They'll pour rain-drops from the sky.
+
+
+{38}
+
+_THE JACK-HORSE_.
+
+
+ We will ride our Jack-horse
+ All the meadows across;
+ Oh no, do not whip him,
+ But feed him, my dear!
+ A handful of grass
+ In his mouth as we pass,
+ Will make him trot gaily,
+ And give us good cheer!
+
+
+
+{39}
+
+
+_HI-DIDDLE-DIDDLE_.
+
+
+ HI-DIDDLE-DIDDLE
+ Mother duck's in the middle,
+ Her baby-ducks swimming around;
+ With bills like a ladle,
+ And feet like a paddle,
+ No danger that they will be drowned
+
+
+
+{40}
+
+
+_THE RAIN_.
+
+
+ Come, rain, come,
+ That the water may run,
+ That the meadow grass may grow;
+ That the fruit and grain
+ O'er hill and plain,
+ May greet us as we go.
+
+ Come, rain, come,
+ That the water may run,
+ That the mill may make our meal;--
+ 'Twill grind our wheat,
+ And corn so sweet,
+ When it turns the old mill-wheel.
+
+
+
+{41}
+
+
+_FEED THE BIRDIES_.
+
+
+ Feed the birdies, darling,
+ When the snow is here,
+ When there are no berries
+ On the bushes, dear;--
+ Scatter food out for them,
+ And they'll quickly come,
+ Hopping, singing, chirping
+ "Thank you for the crumb."
+
+
+{42}
+
+
+_ROCK-A-BYE_.
+
+
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ Our darling is ill,
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ We'll soon have him well;--
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ Don't tremble with fear,
+ For that tends to make
+ His slight illness severe.
+
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ Our darling is ill.
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ We'll soon have him well;--
+ Rock-a-bye, baby.
+ Don't coax him to nurse,
+ For urging to eat
+ Only makes matters worse.
+
+{43}
+
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ Our darling is ill,
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ We'll soon have him well;--
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ No company 'round,
+ Not even the dear ones,
+ To make a loud sound.
+
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ Our darling is ill,
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ We'll soon have him well;--
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ Don't rattle the papers
+ Nor whisper around,
+ Little nerves cut such capers.
+
+{44}
+
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ Our darling is ill,
+ Rock-a-bye, baby
+ We'll soon have him well;--
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ Whatever is wrong,
+ Attend to his bowels,
+ Neglected too long,
+
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ Our darling is ill,
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ We'll soon have him well;--
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ If he is too hot,
+ Undress him and bathe him;
+ But, ah! he is not.
+
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ Our darling is ill,
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ We'll soon have him well;--
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ There is cough with unrest,
+ So we'll wring out hot flannels,
+ And cover his chest,
+
+
+{45}
+
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ Our darling is ill;
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ We'll soon have him well;--
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ He's perspiring, to pour!
+ We will keep up this treatment
+ A full hour more.
+
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ Our darling is ill,
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ We'll soon have him well;--
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ Now dry him off neat,
+ And wrap him up warm,
+ And to-morrow, repeat.
+
+{46}
+
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ Our darling is ill,
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ We'll soon have him well;--
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ 'Tis not in his chest?
+ Then place the hot flannels
+ Where he feels the unrest.
+
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ Our darling is ill,
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ We'll soon have him well;--
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ He is moaning with pain,
+ And rolling his head,
+ And we pet him in vain.
+
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ Our darling is ill;
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ We'll soon have him well;--
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ We will wring out from ice,
+ Linen cloths for his head,
+ All so cooling and nice.
+
+{47}
+
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ Our darling is ill;
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ We'll soon have him well;
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ If cold don't relieve,
+ Use hot and then cold,
+ And then hot, you perceive.
+
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ Our darling is ill;
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ We'll soon have him well;--
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ We'll see that his feet
+ Are kept warm all the time,
+ And his clothes dry and neat.
+
+{48}
+
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ Our darling was ill
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ But now he is well;
+ Rock-a-bye, baby,
+ No drugs, not a dose!
+ Yet he's over it finely,
+ Just hear how he crows
+
+
+{49}
+
+_THE SNOWBALL_.
+
+
+ Have ever you seen how a wee bit of snow,
+ To a big bouncing ball, just by rolling, will grow?
+ 'Tis thus our wee sins, children, let to roll on,
+ Will grow big, bigger, biggest, till Satan has won.
+
+
+{50}
+
+
+_LITTLE BO-PEEP_.
+
+
+ Co' Nan, co' Nan, says little Bo-peep,
+ Co' Nan, co' Nan, up come the sheep;
+ They jump the ditch and scale the wall,
+ Where one sheep goes, they follow, all.
+
+ Co' dea', co' dea', says little Bo-peep,
+ Co' dea', co' dea', I'll shear my sheep;
+ Their wool so fine will make my coat,
+ My blankets and my hose to boot.
+
+
+{51}
+
+
+_THE TEA-PARTY_.
+
+
+ Ah! little ones, I'm sure there's not
+ A drop of tea in your weeny pot.
+ For water bright and milk so pure,
+ Alone will bring you health, be sure;
+ And health is beauty, health is cheer,
+ Health is happiness so dear.
+
+
+{52}
+
+
+_TELL IT AGAIN, MOTHER_.
+
+
+ "Tell it again, Mother,
+ Tell it again,"--
+ No matter what story she told
+ We children, would cry,
+ In the days gone by.
+ Before our years were old.
+
+ "Tell it again, Mother,
+ Tell it again,"--
+ No matter how weary and worn.
+ For we children knew naught
+ Of the care we brought,
+ Before our sense was born.
+
+{53}
+
+ "Tell it again, Mother,
+ Tell it again,"--
+ And she, patient, and kind, and wise,
+ The tale would repeat,
+ Or the song so sweet,
+ And 'twas ever a glad surprise.
+
+ "Tell it again, Mother,
+ Tell it again,"--
+ Ah! you children, when children no more,
+ Will go back to the days
+ Of sweet babyhood lays,
+ And Mother's sage sayings con o'er.
+
+
+{54}
+
+
+_LITTLE JACK HORNER_.
+
+
+ LITTLE JACK HORNER
+ Sat in the corner,
+ Eating a morsel of nice brown bread;
+ "Have some pie, or some cake?"
+ "Nay, not I," with a shake
+ And a toss of his wise little head.
+ "For this bread will make bone,
+ And white teeth like a stone,
+ That will neither grow soft nor decay;
+ But rich cake and rich pie
+ Sure will break, bye and bye,
+ My good health, and that never will pay."
+
+
+{55}
+
+
+_LITTLE BOY BLUE_.
+
+
+ "Little Boy Blue, may I go with you now?"
+ "Yes, down to the pasture to drive up the cow."
+
+ "Little boy blue, what then may I have?"
+ A nice cup of milk as ever cow gave.
+
+ "Little boy blue, the milk must be set;"
+ "Yes, for 'tis thus the nice cream we shall get."
+
+ "Little boy blue, what will we do then?"
+ "We'll skim it and dash it, with 'churn, butter, churn.'"
+
+ "Little boy blue, what else can we make?"
+ "O, cheese, tempting cheese, and the dainty cheese cake."
+
+ "Little boy blue, is there anything more?"
+ "O, yes, puddings, custards and dainties, a store."
+
+ "Little boy blue, shall we eat of all these?"
+ "Simple food is far better for us, if you please."
+
+
+{56}
+
+
+_MISS VELVET-PAWS_.
+
+
+ Little Miss Velvet-paws,
+ Raveling out her yarn,
+ Catches mice, in a trice,
+ In everybody's barn.
+
+ Look out for velvet paws,
+ Do not trust them far,
+ For velvet paws cover claws
+ That will leave a scar.
+
+
+{57}
+
+
+_POLLY HOPKINS_.
+
+
+ Now little Polly Hopkins
+ Must surely know great A,
+ And B, and C, and D, and E,
+ F, G, H, I, J, K;
+ And L, and M, and N, and O,
+ And P, and Q, R, S,
+ And T, U, V, and W, X,
+ And Y, & Z, I guess.
+
+
+{58}
+
+
+_A, B, C_.
+
+
+
+ A Stands for Alligator,
+
+ B Stands for Ball,
+
+ C Stands for Cat in a cream-pot,
+
+ D Stands for Doll.
+
+{59}
+
+ E Stands for East, or Ellen.
+
+ F Stands for Fay,
+
+ G Stands for Goat, a
+ Pen in,
+
+ H Stands for Hay,
+
+ I Stands for Indigestion,
+
+{60}
+
+ J Stands for Jar,
+
+ K Stands for King, or Keepsake,
+
+ L Stands for La,
+
+ M Stands for Man, or Thousand,
+
+ N Stands for Nail,
+
+{61}
+
+ O Stands for Oaken bucket,
+
+ P Stands for Pail,
+
+ Q Stands for Queen, or Question.
+
+ R Stands for Rose,
+
+ S Stands for Christmas Stocking,
+
+{62}
+
+ T Stands for Toes,
+
+ U Stands for Urn, or Ulster,
+
+ V Stands for Vane,
+
+ W Stands for West, or Winter.
+
+{63}
+
+ X Stands for Ten.
+
+ Y Stands for Yoke,
+ (with Oxen).
+
+ Z Stands for Zero.
+
+
+ & when you've learned your LETTERS,
+ You'll be a Hero.
+
+
+{64}
+
+
+ C-A-T spells CAT,
+ That brought the kittens here;
+
+ D-O-G spells DOG,
+ That does, the puppies, rear.
+
+ C-O-W, Cow,
+ The mother of the calf;
+
+ O-X spells the Ox,
+ That's bigger, yes, by half.
+
+{65}
+
+ B-O-Y spells BOY,
+ That's little brother Lou;
+
+ G-I-R-L, GIRL,
+ And that is sister Sue.
+
+ B-I-R-D, BIRD,
+ Just hear canary sing;
+
+ G-O-L-D, GOLD,
+ That makes a handsome ring
+
+ B-O-O-K, BOOK,
+ In which we learn to read;
+
+ C-O-O-K, COOK,
+ Supplies the food we need.
+
+
+{66}
+
+
+ S-E-E-D, SEED,
+ From which we raise the plant;
+
+ S-I-N-G, SING,
+ Just hear the children chant.
+
+ B-A, BA, B-Y, BY,
+ And that spells BABY, love;
+
+ L-A, LA, D-Y, DY,
+ And that spells LADY, dove.
+
+ M-A, MA, R-Y, RY,
+ And that spells MARY, child,
+
+ E-D, ED, D-Y, DY,
+ That's EDDY, sweet and mild.
+
+
+{67}
+
+
+_THE KITTEN_.
+
+
+
+ ONE, two, (1, 2,)
+ Here's a kitten for you;
+
+ THREE, four, (3, 4,)
+ She will open the door,
+
+ FIVE, six, (5, 6,)
+ And your cream she will mix,--
+
+{68}
+
+ SEVEN, eight, (7, 8,)
+ If you are too late,
+
+ NINE, ten, (9, 10,)
+ To cover the pan;
+
+ ELEVEN, twelve, (11, 12,)
+ And then you must delve,--
+
+ THIRTEEN, fourteen, (13, 14,)
+ To cover her sporting;
+
+ FIFTEEN, Sixteen, (15, 16,)
+ But while you are fixing,---
+
+{69}
+
+ SEVENTEEN, eighteen, (17, 18,)
+ Remember I'm waiting,
+
+ NINETEEN, twenty, (19, 20,)
+ For butter a plenty.
+
+
+* * * * *
+
+
+ To those who serve you, children, all,
+ Be gentle and polite,--
+ For thus are gentle-women known,
+ Or gentle-men, at sight.
+
+
+{70}
+
+
+_DOLLY DIMPLE_.
+
+
+ DOLLY DIMPLE, just for fun,
+ Stands to show us she is ONE.
+
+ Dolly and her sister Sue
+ Show that ONE and ONE make Two.
+
+{71}
+
+ Dolly, Sue, and Nanny Lee,
+ Show that ONE with TWO make THREE.
+
+ Doll, Sue, Nan, and little Noah,
+ Show that ONE with THREE make FOUR
+
+{72}
+
+ Doll, Sue, Nan, Noah, and Ben Brive
+ Show that ONE with FOUR make FIVE.
+
+ Now all these with Jenny Hicks
+ Show that ONE with FIVE make SIX.
+
+{73}
+
+ One more, Ned, a baby, even,
+ Shows that ONE with SIX make SEVEN.
+
+ With these girls and boys, put Kate,
+ And the ONE with SEVEN make EIGHT.
+
+{74}
+
+ All these eight, with Adaline
+ Show that ONE with EIGHT make NINE.
+
+ Now with these put Dick, and then
+ You'll see that ONE with NINE make TEN.
+
+
+{75}
+
+
+_IF YOU PLEASE_.
+
+
+ I hope my children never will
+ Say, "Give me" this or that,--
+ But, "If you please," I'd like a bun,
+ Or, "Thank you" for a pat.
+
+
+{76}
+
+
+_THE POOR LITTLE CHICK-A-DEES_.
+
+
+ TEN little chick-a-dees clinging to a vine,--
+ A speckled snake charmed _one_, then there were but NINE.
+
+ NINE little chick-a-dees,--one without a mate,--
+ A Sparrow-hawk caught _one_, then there were but EIGHT.
+
+{77}
+
+ EIGHT little chick-a dees, by a 'possum driven,--
+ He caught _one_ and slaughtered it, then there were but SEVEN.
+
+ SEVEN little chick-a-dees hopping round the ricks,--
+ A Weasel came and captured _one_, then there were but six.
+
+ SIX little chick-a-dees watching Rover dive,--
+ He sprang ashore and seized _one_, then there were but FIVE.
+
+{78}
+
+ FIVE little chick-a-dees pecking at the door,
+ Kitty-cat caught _one_, then there were but FOUR.
+
+ FOUR little chick-a-dees full of birdy glee,
+ _One_ was tangled in a net, then there were but THREE.
+
+ THREE little chick-a-dees dabbling in the dew,
+ A stone fell and crushed _one_, then there were but TWO.
+
+{79}
+
+ TWO little chick-a-dees peeping just for fun,
+ A hungry Kite caught _one_, then there was but ONE.
+
+ ONE little chick-a-dee, mourning all alone,
+ Flew away to find a mate, and then there was NONE,
+
+
+{80}
+
+
+_HEIGH-HO, DAISIES AND BUTTER-CUPS_.
+
+
+ HEIGH-HO, daisies and butter-cups
+ Grow in the meadows for children to gather;
+ But cattle will shun them,
+ And farmers will burn them,
+ Because in their fields they are only a bother.
+
+ Heigh-ho, red-top and clover-bloom,
+ Filling the air with their sweetness and beauty,
+ Will yield without measure,
+ Their wealth of rich treasure,
+ Rewarding the farmer for doing his duty.
+
+
+{81}
+
+
+_THE PONY_.
+
+
+ Once 2 is 2,
+ Here's a pony for you;
+
+ Two 2s are 4,
+ But be careful the more,--
+
+ THREE 2s are 6,
+ For perhaps pony kicks;
+
+ FOUR 2s are 8,
+ And if so we must wait,
+
+{82}
+
+ FIVE 2s are 10,
+ Till he's trained by the men;--
+
+ Six 2s are 12,
+ Before trusting ourselves,
+
+{83}
+
+ SEVEN 2s are 14,
+ To ride him out sporting;
+
+ EIGHT 2s are 16,
+ But we can be fixing
+
+ NINE 2s are 18,
+ His food while we're waiting;
+
+ TEN 2s are 20,
+ Oh, yes, give him plenty,--
+
+ ELEVEN 2s are 22,
+ For then he will be gentle to--
+
+{84}
+
+ TWELVE 2s are 24,
+ Us who feed and pet him more.
+
+{85}
+
+{86}
+
+_BABY'S RECKONING_.
+
+
+ One little head, Ah! but what does it hold?
+ No matter,--it's worth its whole weight in pure gold.
+
+ Two big brown eyes, soft with Heaven's own dew;
+ No diamonds so precious, so sparkling, so true.
+
+{87}
+
+ Three cunning dimples, one deep in her chin,
+ And one in each cheek--Ah! they're just twin and twin.
+
+ Four little fingers to clutch mamma's hair,
+ But sweeter than honeycomb, even when there.
+
+ Five, we may call it, with little Tom Thumb,
+ And that fist in her mouth is as sweet as a plum.
+
+ Six wonderful pearls her bright coral lips hide,
+ And the Kohinoor's nothing these pure pearls beside.
+
+ Seven brown wavelets are ever in motion,
+ And silken floss to them is naught, to our notion.
+
+ Eight little giggles run over with glee--
+ And more if you call them, so merry is she.
+
+ Nine songs, (they're Greek tho' to all but mamma),
+ Make us think she is destined, an Opera Star.
+
+ Ten toddling steps, but to us full of grace,
+ For our babe in our hearts ever holds the first place.
+
+
+{88}
+
+
+_TWO LITTLE PINK SHOES_.
+
+
+ Two little pink shoes standing by the head
+ Of our Nanny sleeping in the trundle-bed;
+
+ On the little table, waiting for the morn,
+ Two little pink shoes, our Nanny to adorn.
+
+{89}
+
+ Two little bright eyes, peeping open wide,
+ Spied the little table, and the pink shoes spied.
+
+ Two little fat hands climbing up to catch;
+ Two little fat feet following to match.
+
+ Two little fat arms hug them to her breast;
+ Two little fat legs run to show the rest.
+
+ Never more a treasure can our Nancy choose,
+ That will give such pleasure as these two pink shoes.
+
+* * * * *
+
+ In your work or your play,
+ When you read, talk, or write,
+ Sit always, my child,
+ With your back to the light,
+
+
+{90}
+
+
+_BABY PEARL_.
+
+
+ Now listen while I tell you, child,
+ That I am quite a grown-up girl,
+ For I can read, and spell my name,
+ While you,--why, you're just Baby Pearl.
+
+ I help mamma to "house-keep," too,
+ Although she says I make a whirl!
+ But I can wipe the forks and spoons,
+ While you, Ah, you're just Baby Pearl.
+
+ And then I dress myself, you see,
+ And comb my hair when not in curl,
+ And I can make my dolly's clothes,
+ While you, you're only Baby Pearl.
+
+{91}
+
+ Tis true, mamma says I must be
+ "A very pattern little girl,"
+ Just all for you, and I shall try
+ Because, because, you're Baby Pearl.
+
+
+* * * * *
+
+_MY VALENTINE_.
+
+
+ Dearest little lover mine,
+ Sweetest, pertest valentine;
+ "Desht I'm two years old," he says,--
+ Blessings on his pretty ways,--
+ "'Tan't I be your valentine?"
+ Yes forever, lover mine,
+ Shalt thou be my valentine.
+
+
+{92}
+
+
+_FEE-FI-FO-FUM_.
+
+
+ FEE-FI-FO-FUM,
+ From the Spruce-tree comes the gum;
+ From the Pine the turpentine,
+ Tar and pitch,
+ And timber which
+ Is very choice and fine.
+
+ Fee-fi-fo-fum,
+ How from Spruce-tree comes the gum?
+ Soft enough;--the sticky stuff,
+ From seam and cleft,
+ Both right and left,
+ Flows out, and hardens, rough.
+
+{93}
+
+ Fay-fi-fo-fee,
+ Nut-galls grow on the Oak-tree;
+ By tiny worms the nut-gall forms,
+ Like little ball;
+ And from Nut-gall
+ The Gallic Acid comes.
+
+ Fee-fi-fo-fade,
+ From Nut-galls, too, the Tannin's made;
+ While Acorns grow in group or row;--
+ And Live-oak long,
+ Makes ship-knees, strong,
+ That round the world may go.
+
+{94}
+
+ Fee-fi-fo-fap,
+ We tap the Maples, and the sap
+ We find as sweet as sugar-beet,
+ Then boiling hard,
+ Our sure reward,
+ The maple-sugar treat.
+
+
+{95}
+
+
+ Fay-fi-fo-fee,
+ See the graceful White-Birch tree,
+ With bark so light, so tough and tight
+ That Indians wrought
+ Canoes we're taught,
+ And paddled out of sight.
+
+
+{96}
+
+
+ Fee-fi-fo-fap,
+ Hark and hear the Hemlock snap;--
+ Little spine so full of wind,
+ Heated, hops,
+ And jumping, pops,
+ And makes the bright eyes shine.
+
+ Fee-fi-fo-fur,
+ See the curious chestnut-burr;
+ Green and round, then turning brown.
+ Frost opens wide
+ Each prickly side,
+ And out the chestnuts bound.
+
+{97}
+
+ Fee-fi-fo-fay,
+ Now the farmer makes his hay;
+ Grasses grow, which workmen mow,--
+ Toss every-wise,
+ Till sunshine dries,
+ Then into stacks, they stow.
+
+ Fay-fee-fi-fo,
+ See the farmer wield his hoe,
+ Lettuce, greens, then corn and beans,
+ With pumpkin-vines
+ Along the lines,
+ Where many a weed o'er-leans.
+
+{98}
+
+ Fee-fi-fo-fog,
+ See the wriggling pollywog,*--
+ With funny tail; but without fail
+ This pollywog
+ Will grow a frog,
+ And lose his wiggle-tail.
+
+[Footnote: Pollywog--Common name for poll wig, or tadpole.]
+
+ Fee-fi-fo-faint,
+ Colors, seven, the Rainbow paint;
+ Violet bright is first in sight--
+ Then indigo,
+ Blue, green, yellow,
+ Orange and Red,--the seven, WHITE.
+
+{99}
+
+ Fay-fee-fi-fo,
+ Now you ask, "What makes Rainbow?"
+ It is the sun, my darling one,
+ Shines through the rain,
+ O'er hill and plain,
+ But see, the beauty's flown.
+
+ Fay-fi-fo-fear,
+ Don't you understand it, dear?
+ Raindrops fall, Sun shines through all,
+ Reflects beyond,
+ This beauteous wand
+ Which we the Rainbow call.
+
+
+{100}
+
+
+_THE OXEN_.
+
+
+ The oxen are such clever beasts,
+ They'll drag the plough all day;
+ They're very strong and tug along
+ Great loads of wood or hay.
+
+ They feed on grass, when green or dry;
+ Their flesh is beef, for food;
+ Their lungs are "lights," their stomach, "tripe,"
+ Their skin for leather's good.
+
+ Their hair men use in mortar, too,
+ Lime, water, sand and hair,
+ They nicely mix and smoothly fix,
+ For plastering, so fair.
+
+{101}
+
+ For making soap their bones are used;
+ Their horns for combs we group;
+ Their feet are boiled for "neat's-foot-oil,"
+ Their tails for ox-tail soup.
+
+ Their heart-case forms a money-bag;
+ Their tallow, candles, white;
+ Their intestine, gold-beater's skin,
+ With which gold-leaf we smite.
+
+ Thus every part is useful made;
+ The same is true of cows,--
+ Except their ilk gives luscious milk
+ Instead of dragging ploughs.
+
+{102}
+
+ Oxen and cows are "cattle" called;
+ They go in "herds," when wild;
+ But when they're tame, by other name,--
+ A "drove," _en masse_, they're styled.
+
+ Their little ones are "calves,"--and cows'
+ Rich milk produces cream,
+ Which butter makes, and nice cheese-cakes,
+ With curd, whey, and caseine.
+
+ And now 'tis funny, but 'tis true,
+ Some children young and mazy,
+ Have thought their eyes were used some-wise,
+ To make the ox-eyed daisy!
+
+{103}
+
+ This cannot be, yet creatures' bones
+ Placed round trees, plants and bowers,
+ Will serve to feed just what they need,
+ To grow fine fruits and flowers.
+
+
+{104}
+
+
+_THE BROKEN PITCHER_.
+
+
+ "Sweet, my love, I'm sorry
+ That you did not tell,
+ When you broke the pitcher
+ Coming from the well."
+
+ "Oh, I thought you'd whip me,
+ Just as Betty did;
+ Then when she would ask me,
+ I would tell a fib."
+
+ "Sweet, my child, I never
+ Punish any one
+ For an accidental
+ Thing that may be done.
+
+ "Tell me always, darling,
+ Everything you do;
+ This will help to make you
+ Thoughtful, brave and true."
+
+
+{105}
+
+
+_THE ELEPHANTS_.
+
+
+ THE ivory for our combs,
+ From elephants' tusks is made;
+ The handles, too for many a knife,
+ And for paper-knives the blade.
+
+ The elephant knows a friend,--
+ And well remembers, too,
+ A kindly act, but ne'er forgets
+ The teasing of a foe.
+
+
+{106}
+
+
+_THE WIND_.
+
+ "What is the wind, Mamma?"
+ "Tis air in motion, child;"
+ "Why can I never see the wind
+ That blows so fierce and wild?"
+
+ "Because the Gases, dear,
+ Of which the air is made,
+ Are quite transparent, that is, we
+ See through, but see no shade."
+
+ "And what are Gases, Ma?"
+ "Fluids, which, if we squeeze
+ In space too small, will burst with force;"--
+ "And what are _fluids_, please?"
+
+ "Fluids are what will flow,
+ And gases are so light
+ That when we give them room enough,
+ They rush with eager flight."
+
+{107}
+
+ "What gases, dear Mamma,
+ Make up the air or wind?"
+ "'Tis Oxygen and Nitrogen
+ That chiefly there we find;
+ And when the air is full
+ Of Oxygen we're gay,
+ But when there is not quite enough,
+ We're dull, or faint away."
+
+
+
+_THE FOG_.
+
+
+ "What is the fog, Mamma?"
+ "Sometimes the air is light
+ And cannot bear up all the mists,
+ And then 'tis foggy, quite;
+
+ But when air heavier grows,
+ The fog is borne above,
+ And floated off, the cloudy stuff,--
+ Just see it, graceful, move."
+
+
+{108}
+
+THE RAIN.
+
+
+ "What makes the rain, Mamma?"
+ "The mists and vapors rise
+ From land and stream and rolling sea,
+ Up toward the distant skies;
+ And there they form the clouds,
+ Which, when they're watery, dear,
+ Pour all the water down to earth,
+ And rain afar or near."
+
+
+
+_THE SNOW_.
+
+ "What makes the Snow, Mamma?"
+ "When very cold above,
+ The mists are frozen high in air,
+ And fall as snow, my love."
+
+
+{109}
+
+
+ "And Hail?" "Tis formed the same;
+ Cold streams of air have come
+ And frozen all the water-drops,
+ And thus the hail-stones form.
+
+ "Now do not question more,
+ Dear child, but run and play,
+ I'll tell you of the Water, Fire,
+ And Light, another day."
+ "Oh yes, and dear Mamma,
+ Of Thunder, Lightning, too,
+ For I shall want to know it all,
+ So tell me, Mamma, do."
+
+
+{110}
+
+
+_TRUTH_.
+
+ Do not let "Mother Truth" find a falsehood all over,--
+ Amongst all her children, no, never a lie;
+ Stand for Truth, ye wee babies, for Truth, ye who're older,
+ For Truth while you live, and for Truth till you die.
+
+ All ye myriads of children this little book talks to,
+ Form now in each household a band for the Truth,
+ Do not let even a "white lie," and still less a "whopper,"
+ Find a place in your hearts, nor your heads, nor your mouth.
+
+ You know God is Truth;--and as you are His children,
+ You want to be like Him as near as you can;
+ Speak the Truth, live the Truth, be the Truth with Him,
+ And Heaven will have come, as Christ taught in his plan.
+
+
+{111}
+
+{112}
+
+
+_HI-DIDDLE, HO-DIDDLE_.
+
+
+ HI-DIDDLE, HO-DIDDLE,
+ Pop-diddle-dee,
+ This Earth of ours, on which we live,
+ Is round as it can be.
+ Pray, then, what is a
+ Mountain, valley, hill?
+ They are but like little warts,
+ And pores, on orange-peel.
+
+ Hi-diddle, ho-diddle,
+ Pop-diddle-dee,--
+ Our Earth is swinging in the air,
+ As you can plainly see;-- {113}
+ Pray, then, what keeps it
+ Hanging up in space?
+ The Sun, my child, attracts the Earth
+ And holds it in its place.
+
+ Hi-diddle, ho-diddle,
+ Pop-diddle-dee,
+ A lovely Moon is shining for
+ This Earth of ours, you see,--
+ Held in its cradle
+ Ever since its birth,
+ Because our globe attracted it,
+ As the Sun attracts the Earth.
+
+ Hi-diddle, ho-diddle,
+ Pop-diddle-dee,
+ What I mean by globe, child,
+ You're wondering now, I see. {114}
+ A globe or a ball, dear,
+ Is what is round and true,
+ And that is why I'm calling it,
+ This Earth, a globe, to you.
+
+ Hi-diddle, ho-diddle,
+ Pop-diddle-dee,
+ Instead of globe I might have said
+ A _sphere_ for you and me;
+ For all the same, in truth,
+ Are sphere and globe and ball,
+ And _hemi_'s half so half this Earth,
+ A _hemisphere_, we call.
+
+ Hi-diddle, ho-diddle,
+ Pop-diddle-dee,
+ 'T was once supposed the Earth stood still,
+ While Sun went round it, free;--
+ But now we've learned it well,
+ That 't is the Earth doth turn
+ Upon its Axis, as it's called;
+ And also round the Sun.
+
+{115}
+
+ Hi-diddle, ho-diddle,
+ Pop-diddle-dee,
+ Our Earth in turning round,
+ How long may she be?
+ She turns on her axis
+ In a day, and a night,
+ But to go around the Sun
+ Takes a year for the flight.
+
+
+{116}
+
+_WHAT IS THE AXIS?_
+
+
+ Now you ask, "What is the Axis?"
+ With an apple I will show;
+ Place your thumb upon the stem-place,
+ And your finger at the blow;--
+ Now we'll just suppose the apple
+ Has a stem that passes through,
+ And this stem would be the Axis;
+ Now we'll whirl the apple, true,
+
+ Holding fast 'twixt thumb and finger,--
+ That's the way the Earth goes round
+ On its Axis, as we call it,
+ Though no real stem is found. {117}
+ And the two ends of the Axis
+ Have been called the Poles, my dear;
+ Yes, the North Pole and the South Pole,
+ Where 'tis very cold and drear.
+
+ Now we'll hold a bigger apple
+ At a distance, for the Sun;
+ Tip the smaller one a little,
+ And then slowly wheel it round
+ All around the larger apple,
+ And it represents the Earth
+ Circling round the Sun that holds it,
+ Ceaseless, in its yearly path.
+
+ Wondrous is the strong attraction
+ Of the Sun which holds in place
+ All the Planets in their turnings,
+ All the Stars that see his face;
+ But more wondrous far the power
+ That created Sun and us,
+ And that gave a form and being,
+ To this mighty Universe.
+
+ "The Universe!" now you exclaim:
+ "By the Universe, what do you mean?" {118}
+ 'Tis the Sun and the Planets, and every thing known,
+ That we call by this Universe name.
+
+ Now the "Planets," you ask,
+ "What are Planets?" They're globes,
+ Some larger, some smaller than Earth,--
+ Which are swinging in space,
+ And are all held in place,
+ By the God-power that first gave them birth.
+
+
+{119}
+
+
+_HEAT AND COLD_.
+
+
+ Our earth has a _North Pole_,
+ Where 'tis very cold;
+ It also has a _South Pole_,
+ That's just the same, we're told.
+ But half-way between,
+ And all the way around,
+ We call it the _Equator_,
+ And heat doth there abound.
+ For there the sun shines always,
+ Though it goes north or south
+ Some twenty-three degrees or more,
+ And sometimes causes drouth.
+ The sun goes north, we call it.
+ But 'tis the earth instead,
+ That tips, and makes it seem the sun
+ Comes higher overhead.
+ And when the sun is northward
+ 'Tis summer here, you see;
+ And when it's to the southward
+ 'Tis there in same degree.
+
+
+{120}
+
+_HARLEY'S DREAM_.
+
+ I know a little brown-eyed boy,
+ His name is Harley Hart;
+ And with a naughty boy or girl,
+ Our Harley has no part.
+
+ He cons his lessons o'er and o'er,
+ And once he fell asleep,
+ With finger marking A, B, C,
+ As 'twere the place to keep.
+
+ And then he dreamed a funny dream--
+ The page jumps up to dance,
+ The letters laugh, and by and by,
+ Like imps they leap and prance.
+
+{121}
+
+ Now Harley oft had wondered whence
+ The letters first had come;
+ And I'm afraid he sometimes wished
+ They all had staid at home,
+
+ Instead of teasing him with quirks,
+ And bothering him with names
+ That seemed to help him hardly more
+ In learning words than games.
+
+ One little imp squeaked: "I am _A;_
+ You could not be a man
+ Without me." Then another cried:
+ "I am E" and quickly ran,
+
+ Exclaiming: "And without us both
+ You could not have a h_e_ad."
+ Another says: "You'd have no l_i_mbs
+ If _I_ were lost or dead."
+
+ Then _O_, "You'd have no n_o_se nor t_o_es,
+ If it were not for me;"
+ "And what is more, were I not here,"
+ Says _U_, "yo_u_ could not be."
+
+
+{122}
+
+ And thus they each and all lay claim
+ To parcel and to part
+ Of what he was, or what should do
+ With hand, or head, or heart.
+
+ They hung a ladder 'gainst the tree,
+ And clambered up and down;
+ They played a thousand pranks as wild
+ As any gipsey clown.
+
+ They whispered that they came from Rome,
+ And that, if rightly placed,
+ They'd serve our Harley with a feast
+ A king would joy to taste.
+
+ So when he woke and knew they were
+ The little mystic keys
+ That open Learning's gates so wide,
+ He loved his A, B, C's.
+
+
+
+{123}
+
+_OUR LANGUAGE KEY_.
+
+
+A E I O U Y
+
+
+ We are small, and we are few,
+ But we're wondrous mighty, too,--
+ For no word can language wear,
+ Save in it we hold a share.
+ One of us in May is met,--
+ One is caught in every net;
+ One is in the clambering vine,
+ One, in Moon, must ever shine;
+ One's in you,--and all so shy,
+ The last is hiding in your eye.
+
+
+{124}
+
+
+THE SPEECH FAMILY.
+
+
+ The name of everything we know,
+ as _slate_, or _book_, or _toy_,
+ Is called a _Noun_.
+ All names are nouns; remember this, my boy.
+
+ A word that means to be,
+ to act, or to be acted on,
+ Is called a _Verb_; as _is_,
+ or _eat_, or _sing_; or he _is gone_.
+
+
+{125}
+
+
+ A word that tells the color, form, or quality of things,
+ Is called an _Adjective_; as, _bright_, or _round_, or _softest_ wings.
+
+ A word that tells how things are done, as _quickly_, _bravely_, _well_.
+ Is called an _Adverb_; and I'm sure you many more can tell.
+
+ A word that's used in place of nouns, a _Pronoun_ we may call;
+ As, _I_ for mother; _you_, for James; _this_, _that_, for hoop or ball
+
+ A _Preposition's_ placed before a noun, and serves to show
+ Relation to some other word; as, Rover's _in_ the snow.
+
+ And then _Conjunctions_ join two words or sentences together;
+ As, man _and_ boy, or birds will fly _and_ winds blow o'er the heather.
+
+ Then _Interjections_, _Oh!_ and _Ah! Behold!_ and many another,
+ Express surprise, delight; dismay, far more than every other.
+
+{126}
+
+ And these the _Parts of Speech_ we call; _Eight_ parts as you may tell;
+ And all the language you will know, when these you've studied well.
+
+
+
+_NUMBER AND GENDER._
+
+
+ A NOUN or name that means but one,
+ Is called in the _singular number_;
+ But when it stands for more than one,
+ 'Tis _plural_, child, remember.
+
+
+* * * * *
+
+ A NOUN that is the name of males,
+ As ox, or horse, or father,
+ Is _masculine_ in _gender_, dear;
+ While cow, and mare, and mother,
+ And all the names of females, child,
+ Are _feminine_, 'tis true;
+ Now tell me all the names you know,
+ And tell their gender, too.
+ But you will find there's many a noun
+ Not male, nor female either,
+ As chair, and book; and such we call
+ In _neuter gender_--neither.
+
+
+{127}
+
+ONE LITTLE CHICKEN.
+
+
+ ONE little chicken, two little chickens, three little chickens, dear;
+ Don't you see we add _s_, when more than one is here?
+ And this we do with almost all the nouns that may appear.
+
+ One little birdy, two little birdies, three little birdies soar;
+ The _y_ is changed to _i-e-s_ for birdies two or more;
+ And this, when a word shall end in _y_ with a _consonant_ before.
+
+ One little donkey, two little donkeys, three little donkeys bray.
+ But here the _y_ remains unchanged, and _s_ is called in play;
+ And this, when a word shall end in _y_, where a _vowel_ leads the way.
+
+
+{128}
+
+
+_LETTERS._
+
+
+ A, E, I, O, U,
+ The _vowels_ we may call;
+ W, Y, are vowels too,
+ Whene'er they chance to fall
+ To the end of syllable or word.
+ And this we well may know
+ That all the rest are _consonants_;
+ Just nineteen in a row.
+
+ K, P, and T are called the _mutes_,
+ Because they interrupt
+ All voice or sound; while B and D
+ Can only intercept;
+ Hence these are partial mutes, my child;
+ And H is _aspirate_;
+ And _th_, too, in _th_ink and _th_rone,
+ But vocal in _this, that._
+
+{129}
+
+ Then lip-letters, or _labials_,
+ And _dentals_, or tooth letters,
+ With _palatals_ and _sibilants_
+ Seem wondrously like fetters.
+ But, ah! instead of prisoning,
+ They open wide the way
+ That leads to Learning's loftiest heights;
+ Press on, and win the day.
+
+
+* * * * *
+
+WORDS.
+
+
+
+ TELL me the name of something, dear;
+ As book, or ball, or kite;
+ Now tell some quality of each,
+ As big, or round, or light.
+ And now some word that means _to be_
+ Yes, _is_, my child, you're right.
+
+ The ink is black, The snow is white,
+ The ice is hard--is cold:
+ The sky is blue, The air is light,
+ Sometimes the child is bold. {130}
+ And thus let names of everything
+ Afar or near be told;
+ And Qualities of each and all
+ Let memory infold.
+
+* * * * *
+
+ NOW give one name, and tell me all
+ Its qualities as well;
+ As, coal is black, and coal is hard,
+ And coal's inflammable.
+
+ And now, you children should be taught
+ That we need not repeat
+ The name, with every word that tells
+ Its qualities complete.
+
+ Coal's black, hard, and inflammable,
+ We say; but all so fast,
+ A comma follows after each,
+ With _and_ before the last.
+
+ And now use iron, chalk, and clay,
+ Use water, snow, and ice,
+ Use thread and needle, pin and pen,
+ Use every word that's nice.--
+
+{131}
+
+ ANOTHER lesson now attend--
+ We'll find some quality
+ Embraced by several different things,
+ As you will plainly see.
+
+ Snow is cold, ice is cold,
+ Salt is cold as well;
+ Snow, ice, and salt are cold, my child,
+ As every one can tell.
+
+
+* * * * *
+
+A SMILE.
+
+ "SHE smiled on me, she smiled on me!"
+ In ecstacy exclaimed
+ A little waif in tattered gown,
+ With form so halt and maimed.
+ Remember, even a smile may cheer,
+ A cup of water, bless;
+ A kindly word, sow seeds of joy,
+ Whose fruit is happiness.
+
+
+{132}
+
+
+_TWINKLE, TWINKLE._
+
+
+ "Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
+ Up above the world so far,
+ Whisper now and tell me, pray,
+ What you are, and how you stay."
+
+ "Some of us away so far,
+ Planets like your own Earth, are;
+ And we shine with borrowed light,
+ Borrowed from the Sun, so bright.
+
+ "Some of us are silvery moons,
+ Shining all the nightly noons;
+ Some of us are jelly, soft,
+ Shooting, falling, from aloft.
+
+{133}
+
+ Some of us are Nebulae,--
+ Faint and misty stars we be;--
+ Some are Suns to other worlds;
+ Here and there a Comet whirls.
+
+ "Having each our time and place,
+ Swinging in the wondrous space;
+ Held in line by Him who planned,
+ And who holds you in His hand."
+
+
+{134}
+
+OLD SOL IN A JINGLE.
+
+
+ Hi-diddle-diddle,
+ The Sun's in the middle,
+ And planets around him so grand,
+ Are swinging in space,
+ Held forever in place,
+ In the Zodiac girdle or band.
+
+ Hi-diddle-diddle,
+ The Sun's in the middle,
+ And Mercury's next to the Sun
+ While Venus, so bright,
+ Seen at morning or night,
+ Comes _Second_, to join in the fun.
+
+ Hi-diddle-diddle,
+ The Sun's in the middle,
+ And _Third_ in the group is our Earth;
+ While Mars with his fire,
+ So warlike and dire,
+ Swings around to be counted the _Fourth_.
+
+{135}
+
+{136}
+
+ Hi-diddle-diddle,
+ The Sun's in the middle,
+ While Jupiter's next after Mars,--
+ And his four moons at night
+ Show the speed of the light;
+ Next golden-ringed Saturn appears,
+
+ Hi-diddle-diddle,
+ The Sun's in the middle,
+ After Saturn comes Uranus far;--
+ And his antics so queer,
+ Led Astronomers near
+ To old Neptune, who drives the last car.
+
+[Footnote: Other planets are as yet too little known to claim place.]
+
+
+{137}
+
+"_ROBERT OF LINCOLN_."
+
+
+ "Bob-o-link, bob-o-link, reed-bird, butter-bird,
+ All through the country his jingle is gaily heard;
+ Reveling in rice-fields he sweeps through the South,
+ While wheat, corn, and barley-fields welcome him North,
+ And Bobby is wild with his singing and chatter,
+ So saucily calling with rattle and clatter,
+ Bob-o-link, bob-o-link, Tom-denny, Tom-denny,
+ Come-now-and-pay-me-that-two-shillings-one-penny,
+ No,-I'll-not-wait-for-a-day-nor-a-minute,
+ So-pay-me-up-quick-or-you'll-get-your-foot-in-it;--
+ Chink-a-chee, chink-a-chee, chink-a-chee, chin-it,
+ Yes,-pay-me-up-quick,-or-you'll-get-your-foot-in-it."
+
+
+{138}
+
+
+_LIMPY-DIMPY-DINGLE_.
+
+
+ Limpy-dimpy-dingle, chicky-bid would stray
+ To the trap that had been set for weasels, many a day,
+
+ Limpy-dimpy-dingle, chicky-bid walked in,
+ And the trap its teeth shut up, on chicky-biddy's shin.
+
+ Limpy-dimpy-dingle, chicky-bid is brought,
+ And her leg, so sore and big, we bathe with water hot.
+
+ Limpy-dimpy-dingle, here's a broken bone,
+ All so rough,--but close enough we bring the ends, right soon.
+
+{139}
+
+ Limpy-dimpy-dingle, strips of paste-board cut,
+ We will place with care and grace, from thigh to trembling foot
+
+ Limpy-dimpy-dingle, softest cotton, too,
+ Just within the paste-board thin, to fit around so true.
+
+ Limpy-dimpy-dingle, now with tape or band,
+ Neatly wind, and closely bind, with deft and skillful hand.
+
+ Limpy-dimpy-dingle, nature'll do the rest,
+ And soon will knit the bone to fit, as good as very best.
+
+
+{140}
+
+
+_CASTLE WONDERFUL_.
+
+
+ I know a castle, curious,
+ Of lovely form and make;
+ That we may view the castle through,
+ A hasty peep we'll take.
+
+{141}
+
+ The framework of my castle proud,
+ Is neither wood nor stone,
+ But earthy matter mixed with lime
+ And hardened into bone.
+
+ This frame, of oddments is composed,--
+ In mind, the number fix,--
+ Of long and short and thick and thin,
+ Two hundred just, and six.
+
+ And these are fastened each to each,
+ By hinges, like, or joints,
+ Which, with an oil so soft and pure,
+ The Builder wise, anoints.
+
+ For garnishing this goodly frame,
+ Quaint cushions, large and small,
+ Are fitly fashioned, each in place,
+ And pliant, one and all.
+
+ For cushion covers, deftly wrought,
+ A scarf so beautiful,
+ So pinkish-white, so loose yet tight,
+ So warm and yet so cool;
+
+ Upon the smoothly rounded roof
+ Is strewn the finest floss,
+ A filmy veil, as soft as silk,--
+ Or is it fairy moss?
+
+{142}
+
+ Two windows hath this castle fair,
+ That shut and open wide,
+ With cords and pulleys, curtains fringed,
+ And fixtures fine beside.
+
+ These wondrous windows even smile
+ And speak and fairly dance,
+ And play at anger, hate, and love,
+ And mischief, too, perchance.
+
+ These windows, too, are marvelous
+ In that they let the light
+ Both in and out for him who dwells
+ Within, the lordly knight.
+
+ Two telephones of wondrous make,--
+ A door, with guards and bell,--
+ A ventilator, double-bored,
+ Aye does its duty well.
+
+{143}
+
+ And ah! within, this castle grand,
+ Is fitted to a T,
+ With everything that's needful there
+ For serving you or me.
+
+ And strange to tell, this castle builds
+ Itself, if but supplies
+ Be placed within the open door,
+ With watchful care and wise.
+
+{144}
+
+ It clears itself too of the dust
+ And ashes strewed within,
+ If but the alley-ways are free,
+ And outlets all a-kin.
+
+ And stranger still, this castle comes
+ And goes where'er the will
+ Of him who holds the rule within
+ Shall bid, his hest to fill.
+
+ And wondrous more than all beside,
+ This house the temple is,
+ Of Him the great designer, God,--
+ And "all the earth is his."
+
+{145}
+
+ Now list, and of this castle grand
+ A further tale we'll tell,
+ In language plain, so plain that all
+ May read and heed it well.
+
+ The food we eat makes all our blood,
+ And makes us children grow;
+ And if we eat improper food
+ It harms from top to toe.
+
+ We all have teeth quite sharp and strong,
+ With which to chew our food,
+ And in the mouth are glands and glands--
+ Yes, quite a numerous brood.
+
+ These glands pour out saliva, free,
+ To moisten what we eat
+ And then a trap-door at the throat
+ Performs a wondrous feat
+
+ In guiding all the food along
+ Into the Esophagus,
+ And thence to stomach through a pass
+ Called Cardiac Orifice.
+
+ And here 'tis mixed with Gastric Juice,
+ And into chyme is churned
+ Then through the gateway, Pylorus,
+ As wiser ones have learned.
+
+{146}
+
+ 'Tis in the Duodenum now,
+ Where it is mixed with Bile,
+ And with the Pancreatic juice,
+ Which changes it to Chyle.
+
+ This Chyle flows on, and all that's fit
+ For nourishment and growth,
+ Is taken up by Lacteals,
+ Or "tubes with many a mouth."
+
+ These lead to the Thoracic Duct,
+ Which holds a spoonful large,
+ And from this Duct a pipe proceeds
+ Through which it may discharge.
+
+ Into the great Sub-clavian vein,
+ Which to the Heart doth lead,
+ Whence it is sent into the Lungs,
+ And into good blood made.
+
+ Then back into the Heart it flows,
+ The muscles there contract,
+ And pump it into Arteries,
+ Which wind to every part.
+
+ We'd like to tell about the Bones,
+ The Ribs and Vertebras,
+ The Clavicle, or Collar-bone,
+ Breast-bone, and Scapulae;
+
+{147}
+
+ Of hinge, and ball-and-socket joints;
+ Of muscles, tendons, skin,
+ Of lungs and veins and arteries,
+ Of nerves and heart and brain.
+
+ But, Ah! we should your patience tire,
+ Were we the whole to tell,
+ So, waiting till another time,
+ We bid you now, farewell.
+
+
+{148}
+
+
+_THE RATTLE OF THE BONES_.
+
+
+ How many bones in the human face?
+ FOURTEEN, when they're all in place.
+
+ How many bones in the human head?
+ EIGHT, my child, as I've often said.
+
+ How many bones in the human ear?
+ THREE in each; and they help to hear.
+
+[Footnote: Standard authorities give three, though latest works say four.]
+
+ How many bones in the human spine?
+ TWENTY-SIX; like a climbing vine.
+
+ How many bones of the human chest?
+ TWENTY-FOUR ribs and TWO of the rest.
+
+ How many bones the shoulders, bind?
+ Two in _each_; one before, one behind.
+
+ How many bones in the human arm?
+ In _each_ arm, ONE; TWO in _each_ fore-arm.
+
+
+{149}
+
+{150}
+
+ How many bones in the human wrist?
+ EIGHT in _each_, if none are missed.
+
+ How many bones in the palm of the hand?
+ FIVE in _each_, with many a band.
+
+{151}
+
+ How many bones in the fingers ten?
+ TWENTY-EIGHT, and by joints they bend.
+
+ How many bones in the human hip?
+ ONE in _each_; like a dish they dip.
+
+ How many bones in the human thigh?
+ ONE in _each_, and deep they lie.
+
+ How many bones in the human knees?
+ ONE in _each_, the knee-pan, please.
+
+ How many bones in the leg from knee?
+ Two in _each_, we can plainly see.
+
+ How many bones in the ankle strong?
+ SEVEN in _each_, but none are long.
+
+{152}
+
+ How many bones in the ball of the foot?
+ FIVE in _each_; as in palms were put.
+
+ How many bones in the toes half-a-score?
+ TWENTY-EIGHT, and there are no more.
+
+ And now, all together, these many bones, fix,
+ And they count in the body TWO HUNDRED and Six.
+
+ And then we have, in the human mouth,
+ Of upper and under, THIRTY-TWO TEETH.
+
+ And we now and then have a bone, I should think
+ That forms on a joint, or to fill up a chink.
+
+ A Sesamoid bone, or a Wormian, we call,
+ And now we may rest, for we've told them all.
+
+
+
+{153}
+
+
+_WHOLLY HOLE-Y_.
+
+
+
+ SEVEN million little openings,
+ God has made upon your skin;
+ Mouths of tiny little sewers
+ That run everywhere, within.
+ And along these numerous sewers
+ All impurities must go,
+ That are not by other outlets,
+ Carried off with active flow.
+
+{154}
+
+ When these many little openings.
+ We call PORES, get shut quite close,
+ Through your frame the poison wanders,
+ Making you feel dull and cross.
+ It will make your lungs grow tender,
+ And they'll soon be sore, and cough;
+ It will make your stomach feeble,
+ And your head ache hard enough.
+
+ Then your heart can not be joyous,
+ And your other organs, too,
+ Will get weak, and be unable
+ For the work they ought to do;
+ Quaking nerves will groan and quiver,
+ Weary bones be racked with pain,
+ And you'll all the time be saying:
+ "How can I be well again?"
+
+ HEAT and BATHING widely open
+ All the pores, when discords dire,
+ Quick flow out in perspiration,
+ Quenching all the fever-fire.
+ Raveling out the tangled tissues,
+ Setting free the life-blood's flow,
+ Pouring forth the pent-up poisons,
+ Wakening thus a healthful glow.
+
+
+{155}
+
+
+{156}
+
+
+_THE BREATH O' LIFE_.
+
+ Our lungs are formed of curious cells,
+ And tubes to draw in air,--
+ And if we breathe quite deep and full
+ And take our needful share,
+ 'Twill keep our blood so red and pure,
+ Our health so firm and true,
+ We scarce shall know what suffering means,
+ But joyous feel, and new.
+
+ But if we wear our clothing tight,
+ The little cells will close,
+ And then they cannot do their work,
+ And thus our health we lose;
+ Or if we breathe the air impure,
+ 'T will give us tainted blood,
+ While plenty, pure, sun-ripened air
+ Will make us glad and good.
+
+
+{157}
+
+_THE GIRLS._
+
+
+
+ Three little girls with their sun-bonnets on,
+ Wandered out for a walk in the dew;
+ And they tip-toed about, full of frolic and fun,
+ While their aprons around them they drew.
+
+ But their little wet feet brought fever and cough,
+ And their little red lips grew so thin;
+ And their little round faces were haggard enough,
+ O, I'm sure they'll not do it again!
+
+ Not do it, I mean, without boots that shall guard
+ Their ankles and feet from the wet;
+ For the care of the health brings a joyous reward,
+ The neglect, brings us pain and regret.
+
+
+
+{158}
+
+
+_THE TEMPERANCE CHILD._
+
+
+ Mamma, if you'd have me
+ Be a temperance child,
+ You must give me only
+ Food that's pure and mild.
+ Highly-seasoned dishes
+ Make the stomach crave
+ Stronger things; and often
+ Lead to drunkard's grave.
+
+
+{159}
+
+
+_LISTEN, CHILDREN!_
+
+
+ Listen, children! when your head aches,
+ Do not eat, but wait a meal;
+ This will oftentimes relieve you,
+ Making you right joyous feel.
+
+ Listen, children! when your stomach
+ Rolls and tumbles, wait awhile;
+ Do not eat, but drink warm water,
+ And you'll soon be glad and smile.
+
+ Listen, children! in hot water
+ Put your feet when you've "a cold;"
+ Into bed now, wrapped in blankets,
+ And you'll soon be well, we're told.
+
+ Listen, children! perspiration
+ Is a saving from much sin:
+ Wash and rub, and dry well after;
+ Thus we quell disease within.
+
+ Listen, children! when you're hungry
+ Do not stuff you like a pig,
+ But eat slowly and chew thorough,
+ Lest your teeth your grave shall dig.
+
+
+{160}
+
+
+_TICK-TOOK, TICK-TOCK_.
+
+
+ Tick-tock, tick-tock,
+ Sings the pretty cuckoo clock;
+ Tick-tack, tick-tack,
+ Time flies on, but ne'er comes back.
+
+ Tick-tock, tick-tock,
+ Sings the dainty crystal clock;
+ Tick-tack, Tick-tack,
+ Work and wait, and never lack.
+
+ Tick-tock, Tick-tock,
+ Sings the old grandfather's clock,
+ Tick-tack, tick-tack,
+ Take and keep, the better track.
+
+
+{161}
+
+
+_CURIOUS TREES._
+
+
+THE COW-TREE.
+
+
+ South America's soil
+ Yields the towering Cow-tree,
+ With sweet milk in its cells
+ For you or for me;
+ Its sap is the Milk,--
+ Cut the tree and it flows;
+ Like leather its leaves,
+ And its branches like bows.
+
+
+{162}
+
+
+THE SUGAR-PINE.
+
+ Then, too, my dear children,
+ The sweet Sugar-pine,
+ On Pacific's wild coast,
+ In our own soil we find;
+ Cut or scoop out the trunk,
+ And the juices ooze forth,
+ And harden, for sugar,
+ Like icicles, North.
+
+
+* * * * *
+
+THE BUTTER-TREE.
+
+ And, funny enough,
+ There's a Butter-tree, too;
+ Its seeds, when boiled down,
+ Will make butter for you.
+ In India and Africa
+ The Butter-tree grows,
+ With coffee and spices,
+ As every one knows.
+
+
+{163}
+
+
+THE BREAD-FRUIT TREE,
+
+
+ And listen, dear children,
+ In hot countries too,
+ The Bread-fruit tree grows,
+ Most delicious for you;
+ Its great roasted nuts,
+ Like soft, sweet loaves of bread,
+ Form most of the food
+ On which natives are fed.
+
+{164}
+
+ And further, its fibres
+ Of bark, will make cloth;
+ Its wood, boats and houses;--
+ Its leaves are not loath
+ To be used for a towel,
+ A table-cloth, napkin;
+ Its juice will make bird-lime,
+ And tinder, its catkin.
+
+
+THE CLOVE-TREE.
+
+
+ And, children, one more,
+ Here's a spicy Clove-tree,
+ Growing forty feet high,
+ Ornamental, you see;
+ The little round drop,
+ Fixed the four prongs between,
+ Forms the blossom or flower,
+ When it's not picked too green.
+
+ Now list, while I tell you,
+ Clove-trees will not grow
+ Except in hot climates,
+ Moluccas, or so,
+
+{165}
+
+ Where they bloom the year round,
+ In the sunshine or storm,
+ With their trunks straight and smooth,
+ And their pyramid form.
+
+ And lastly, dear children,
+ Clove-trees never flower
+ Till a half-dozen years
+ They have grown, maybe more;
+ Then the buds, picked by hand,
+ And dried quickly, are best;--
+ Trees a hundred years old
+ Often yield with the rest.
+
+
+{166}
+
+_THE "TREE VILLAGE."_
+
+
+{167}
+
+
+ In the Solomon Group in the great Southern Sea,
+ And on Isabel Island alone,
+ A tree village is found, up the steep, rocky ground,
+ On the top of a mountain of stone.
+
+ So gigantic the trees that it is not with ease
+ That the houses of natives are built,
+ For the stems are six score of our feet, maybe more,
+ And you'd think they must live on a stilt.
+
+ By a ladder facade the ascent must be made,
+ Formed of pliable trees, or a creeper
+ Resembling the vine, which the natives entwine,--
+ And the ladder's drawn up by the sleeper;
+
+ For these houses are made but to sleep in, 'tis said,
+ When some enemy threatens;--to guard
+ 'Gainst surprise in the night, they are fortified quite,
+ With great stones, to be thrown at a pard.
+
+ At the foot, of these trees are the day-huts for ease
+ And for eating and dancing and play,
+ Yet the huts up so high have a goodly supply
+ Of the needful for night or for day.
+
+
+
+{168}
+
+
+
+_NO EYES._
+
+
+ Those Creatures that live in the dark,
+ And have no use for eyes,
+ Are made without these organs bright,
+ Which we so highly prize.
+
+ The fish in the Mammoth cave,--
+ Some species of the Ant,
+ Have only a trace where eyes should be,
+ Yet never know the want.
+
+{169}
+
+ Who knows but girls and boys,
+ Kept always in the dark,
+ Might come to have but little sight,
+ And finally not a spark.
+
+ God meant us to live in the light,
+ He has poured it all about;
+ Oh, let us not ourselves destroy,
+ By shutting His sunshine out.
+
+
+{170}
+
+
+_THE MAMMOTH CAVE._
+
+
+ "WHAT is the Mammoth Cave?"
+ I hear the Children say,
+ Where fishes have no eyes nor sight,
+ And where 'tis dark by day?
+
+ You all have seen a ledge
+ Of big rocks piled, or stone?--
+ Now just suppose a door-way made,
+ Or entrance to go in.
+
+{171}
+
+ And when you're in, a path
+ Leads on, right under ground,
+ And by-and-by you come to a place
+ Like a room with walls around.
+
+ 'Tis jagged and rough and rude,
+ 'Tis dark and damp as a grave,
+ But whether 'tis large or small,
+ 'Tis always called a cave.
+
+ Now, Mammoth means _monstrous big_,
+ And the Mammoth cave, we claim
+ As the largest known in the world,
+ And that's what gives the name.
+
+ And it has many a room,
+ Quite large and wondrous grand,
+ And it has springs and streams and lakes,
+ All dark, you understand.
+
+ And here are fishes, too,
+ Yes, fishes with no eyes,
+ That have lived in the dark for ages past,
+ As learned men surmise.
+
+
+{172}
+
+
+_THE CAMELS_.
+
+
+ The Camels live in desert lands;
+ Their feet are made to walk on sands;
+ They carry burdens far and near,
+ Where neither grass nor trees appear;
+
+ Where there's no rain, no rivers, brooks,
+ No water anywhere for folks;--
+ But God has made in Camels' chest
+ Peculiar sacs, for He knew best
+
+ What they must do, and that they'd die,
+ If He did not their drink supply.
+ Before they start they drink and drink,
+ Till every sac is full, I think;--
+
+ And at the mouth of every sac,
+ A muscle strong, but loose and slack,
+ Will tighten up when it is filled,
+ So that no drink can e'er be spilled.
+
+ And when on journey, last or first,
+ The camel wants to slake his thirst,
+ A bag-string loosens, and out-pours
+ Enough to satisfy for hours.
+
+
+{173}
+
+
+{174}
+
+ The laden camels, in a row,
+ Are called a Caravan, you know;--
+ Sometimes a caravan is lost,
+ Being buried deep in sand and dust.
+
+ A storm of wind, a Simoon named,
+ Will sweep across the desert sand,
+ When camels, men, and every one
+ Must throw themselves their knees upon,
+
+ And bury faces in the earth,
+ For thus alone they save their breath;
+ A fearful thing, but 'tis the best
+ That they can do,--now hear the rest.
+
+{175}
+
+ Sometimes they're buried deep, and find
+ When they dig out they're almost blind
+ And cannot tell which way to go,
+ And thus are lost, a serious woe!
+
+ Sometimes, when lost, the drink for men
+ Gets short; is gone; they thirst, and then
+ They kill a camel just for lack
+ Of what he carries in his sac.
+
+{176}
+
+ In deserts bare and bleak and drear,
+ The sun shines hot through all the year,
+ But many an Oasis is found,
+ Or spot where grass and trees abound.
+
+ And here is drink, and here they rest,
+ And take their fill of what is best;
+ Then travel on in thankful mood,
+ With song and shout! "Allah is good!"
+
+
+{177}
+
+
+_KEY-NOTES._
+
+
+L M N R
+
+
+ LIGHTLY flowing LIQUIDS, we,--
+ Tethered with our brothers.
+ Make we music, melody,
+ More than all the others;
+ Lulling, mellowy, nimble, rare,
+ Reveling in rhythm,
+ Running here and everywhere,
+ Make me merry with 'em.
+
+
+{178}
+
+
+_THE BEARS._
+
+
+ Wild bears are found all over,
+ From Northern lands to South,
+ But largest, strongest, where 'tis cold
+ And fiercest farthest North.
+
+ All bears are fond of honey,
+ Of berries, too, and roots;
+ They hug or squeeze their prey to death,
+ As this their nature suits.
+
+ They mate in June-y weather;
+ Their little ones are cubs;
+ They sadly mourn when mates are killed,
+ You'd almost hear their sobs.
+
+ They'll try to feed a cub
+ That's lying cold and dead,
+ And will not flee, but stand and take
+ The fatal knife instead.
+
+
+{179}
+
+{180}
+
+
+ They sleep through winter-time,
+ But prowl in wildest storms,
+ With hope to find some creature killed,
+ Or struck with death's alarms.
+
+ The bears are white, or black,
+ Or brown or grizzly gray,
+ The white 'mong polar snows are found,
+ Where half the year is day.
+
+ Their fur is used for robes,
+ For coats, sometimes a muff,--
+ Their meat is prized by some as food,
+ While some would call it "stuff."
+
+{181}
+
+ They nimbly climb a tree,
+ But "back down," for their frame
+ Is made so lungs would forward press,
+ If they head-foremost, came.
+
+
+* * * * *
+
+
+_THE BEAR A BLESSING._
+
+
+ To people of Kamtschatka,
+ The bear a blessing proves;
+ His skin forms beds and coverlets,
+ And bonnets, shoes, and gloves.
+
+ His flesh and fat are dainties,
+ And of his intestine,
+ Is made a mask for warding off
+ The glare of Sun in Spring.
+
+{182}
+
+ 'Tis also used for windows,
+ As substitute for glass;
+ Of shoulder-blade a tool is made,
+ That's used for cutting grass.
+
+ Norwegians think the Bear is
+ More sensible than men;
+ While Laplands call him "Dog of God,"
+ And dare not him offend.
+
+
+{183}
+
+
+_FRUITS_
+
+
+ The fruits of the orchard and garden
+ Are beautiful, luscious and good,
+ Partake of them freely, dear children,
+ But eat them at meals with your food.
+
+
+{184}
+
+
+_THE RACCOON._
+
+
+ Come, child, and see our pet Raccoon,--
+ The Raccoons live in the woods, you know;
+ But ours was caught,
+ And caged, and brought
+ From old Virginia, long ago.
+
+{185}
+
+ Oh, no, you need not be afraid.
+ See, he is fastened with a chain;
+ For ropes enough
+ He has gnawed off,
+ And he is hard to catch again.
+
+ He e'en will climb this ten-foot fence,
+ And, careless where his feet may strike,
+ He tumbles, bang!
+ And there will hang,
+ His rope being caught by vine or spike.
+
+ And once the rascal ran away;
+ Was gone for days, and maybe weeks;
+ When children came,
+ And charging blame,
+ Said, "Your Raccoon has caught our chicks."
+
+
+{186}
+
+ "He's on our roof a-making mouth,
+ And chatters when we would go near.
+ We wish you'd come
+ and take time home,
+ So that our chick need not fear."
+
+
+{187}
+
+ So now he's chained; yet up he'll climb
+ The stake to which he's fastened tight,
+ And mutter low,
+ So pleading, Oh!
+ 'T would make you sorry for him, quite.
+
+ Just see his nose, so pointed, sharp,--
+ His ears as keen as keen can be,--
+ His eyes so bright,
+ So full of light,
+ And see him leap right merrily!
+
+ His fur, you see, is yellowish gray,--
+ And he is nearly two feet long;
+ He lives on roots,
+ And nuts and fruits,
+ When he's his native woods among.
+
+ But here we give him bread and milk;
+ He never eats like dogs or lambs,
+ But takes it up
+ From out the cup
+ With his fore-foot, as we use hands.
+
+{188}
+
+ You'd laugh to see him, I am sure;
+ Of strawberries, too, he's very fond;
+ Will poke around
+ Till he has found
+ Each one among the hulls out-thrown.
+
+ Then, too, he's fond of nice clean clothes,
+ Will spring for sheet hung out to dry;
+ And children dressed
+ In very best,
+ Are sure to please his dainty eye.
+
+ No matter where his feet have been,
+ He'll spring and plant them, little pest,
+ On something white,
+ And then will fight
+ To hold, and hide it in his nest.
+
+* * * * *
+
+{189}
+
+ You've "come again to see our Coon"?
+ Well, he is gone; he plagued us so,
+ We sent the "Rac"
+ To Central Park,
+ Where you can see him when you go.
+
+ Oh yes, they're glad to get him, there;
+ They have no clothes hung out to dry;
+ And children aye
+ Must stand away,
+ For there a keeper's always nigh.
+
+* * * * *
+
+ A "Yes" and "No" are common, hard,
+ But "yes'm," "no-sir," choice;--
+ Let none but sweet and gentle words
+ Flow from your gift of voice.
+
+
+
+{190}
+
+
+_THE BANK-SWALLOWS._
+
+
+ In a village of Bank-Swallows,
+ You will find so many a nest,
+ "That you scarce can tell their number
+ Nor which one of them is best."
+
+{191}
+
+ In the sand-hill, see the openings,
+ Round or oval odd-shaped, some,
+ Size and form depending often,
+ On how loose the sand become.
+
+ When with their short bills they pecked it,
+ Clinging fast with claws the while,
+ Till they made an open door-way
+ Suiting them in size and style.
+
+ Once within, they peck and peck it,--
+ Sometimes quite a yard or more,
+ While the nest is snugly builded,
+ Farthest from the outer door.
+
+ But, so wise are they, this archway
+ From the entrance to the nest,
+ Is inclining ever upward,
+ That no rain within may rest.
+
+ So the pink-white eggs are laid there,
+ Safe from harm, till baby-birds
+ Chirrup forth to take their places,
+ 'Mongst the self-sustaining herds.
+
+{192}
+
+ Smallest of the swallow species,
+ Homeliest, too, yet favorites dear,
+ For their graceful, airy movements,
+ And their simple, social cheer.
+
+ Found are they from North to South-land,
+ Known of every tribe and race;--
+ Swift in flight, yet swinging, swaying,
+ Skimming low from place to place.
+
+ Parent-birds care less for young ones,
+ Than do other swallow-kind;--
+ Push them off half-fledged and timid,
+ Each his food and home to find.
+
+ Thus they, many a time, fall prey to
+ Hawks and crows, their enemies;--
+ Even the nest sometimes is entered
+ By the snakes and fleas and flies.
+
+ Swallows migrate in the Winter,
+ From the cold to warmer climes,
+ Flying back as Spring approaches,
+ To the haunts of former times.
+
+{193}
+
+ "Ne'er one swallow makes a Summer,"
+ Is a saying everywhere;--
+ But when swallows come in myriads,
+ Blessed Summer-time is here.
+
+
+{194}
+
+
+_THE MOCKING-BIRD._
+
+
+ The New World boasts the Mocking-bird
+ And whether caged or free,
+ His wondrous voice pours forth in songs
+ Of rarest melody.
+
+ His notes swell out and die away,
+ As if a joyous soul
+ Were wrought to highest ecstacy,
+ All music to control.
+
+{195}
+
+ His native notes are bold and full,
+ And then he'll imitate,
+ Till it would seem the feathered tribe
+ Were all arrayed in state.
+
+ He'll whistle for the dog or cat,
+ Will squeak like chicken, hurt,
+ And cluck and crow and bark and mew,
+ So comical and curt.
+
+ While blue-birds warble, swallows scream,
+ Or hens will cackle clear.
+ In robin's song, the whip-poor-will
+ Pours forth his plaint so near.
+
+{196}
+
+ Canaries, hang-birds, nightingales,
+ He echoes loud and long;
+ While they stand silent, mortified,
+ He triumphs in his song.
+
+
+
+_THE BUSY BEES._
+
+
+ Why do the little busy bees
+ So dearly love their queen,
+ And wait upon and pay respect,
+ With watchful care and mien?
+
+{197}
+
+ Because the queen lays all the eggs,
+ And mothers all the young,
+ While every father-bee that's hatched
+ Is nothing but a drone.
+
+ The working bees might all be queens,
+ If cared for and well-fed
+ When they are in the larvae state,
+ But they're half-starved instead,--
+
+ While those intended for young queens
+ Are fattened overmuch,
+ And nursed and petted every hour,
+ That they full growth may reach.
+
+ For every different kind of egg
+ That makes the different bees,
+ A different kind of cell is made,
+ The queen directing these.
+
+ For drones or males, six-sided cells,
+ Quite neat, and smooth, and nice;
+ For working-bees a smaller cell,
+ Uncouth, and rough, and coarse;
+
+{198}
+
+ While those for queens are large and free,
+ And fashioned fine with care,
+ And lined with softest, silken shreds
+ So daintily they fare.
+
+ The queen-bee lays the worker-eggs,
+ A dozen days, I ween,
+ And then the drones as many more,
+ Then workers, then the queen.
+
+ Eggs, two or three, and sometimes four
+ Are laid in worker-cell;
+ While drones and queens have each but one,
+ As oft is proven well.
+
+ The bluish eggs so close and warm,
+ Hatch out with three days passed; {199}
+ When larvae, white, as little worms,
+ Are watched and fed and nursed.
+
+ These larvae, when some six days old,
+ Close in their cells are shut,
+ And there at once begin to weave
+ A silken web about.
+
+ They turn and twist till all around
+ Themselves 'tis woven quite,
+ And then they rest for twenty days,--
+ 'Tis such a pretty sight.
+
+ The small cocoons of working-bees,
+ The larger ones of drones,
+ The large and plump and perfect ones
+ Of all the coming queens.
+
+{200}
+
+ In twenty days they now burst forth,
+ Equipped from tip to toe,
+ The working-bees and drones, I mean,
+ For queens come forth more slow.
+
+ The queen cocoons ope from behind,
+ And I will tell you why,
+ 'Tis that the reigning queen may sting
+ The others till they die.
+
+ If mother queen leads off a swarm,
+ A young queen they release,
+ And she may take another swarm,
+ And leave the hive in peace.
+
+ Another queen is then let out,
+ Perhaps a third and fourth,
+ As many as can raise a swarm,
+ To follow them, not loath;
+
+{201}
+
+ But when no more can swarm and go,
+ Because not bees enough,
+ As I have said, the reigning queen
+ Stings all the rest to death.
+
+ For in each hive and everywhere,
+ One queen alone will reign,
+ And any interloper meets
+ With sure and sharp disdain.
+
+ Of workers, some are strong to fly,
+ While some are weak and small,
+ Unfitted quite, for load or flight,
+ Or outside work at all.
+
+ These last complete the larvae-cells,
+ And nurse and feed the young;
+ They mix the bee-bread, cleanse the hive,
+ And care for every drone.
+
+ All bees have stings except the drones,
+ And these, when Autumn nears,
+ Are stung to death with furious wrath,
+ As by the book appears.
+
+{202}
+
+ And now I hope you children all,
+ Will use your wondrous power
+ To "gather honey all the day,
+ From every opening flower."
+
+
+{203}
+
+
+BBB R YYY
+B U YY
+
+[Footnote: Bees are wises; Be you wise.]
+
+
+{204}
+
+{205}
+
+
+_HONEY-SWEET._
+
+
+ "Ah, but how do bees make honey?"
+ Now the children, eager, ask;
+ And we'll try to give them answer,
+ If we're able for the task.
+
+ See, the under-lip is lengthened,
+ Like a trunk or proboscis,
+ Ending by a kind of button,
+ Fringed with tiny moving hairs.
+
+ All along its length, too, fringes,
+ Just the same, are growing forth;
+ And by means of these, the honey
+ Is conveyed from flowers to mouth.
+
+ Then the bee has two small stomachs,
+ In the first of which is stored
+ All the honey it can gather,
+ But, when home, 'tis quick out-poured.
+
+{206}
+
+ Bees have six legs; and in hindmost,
+ There are baskets found, or bags,
+ Into which the pollen gathered,
+ Is brushed off by the other legs.
+
+ And this pollen, for the bee-bread
+ And as food for young, they use,
+ Mixed with honey and with water,--
+ Swallowed and disgorged like juice
+
+ By the nurses, who digest it
+ Partly, for the larvae-food,
+ Taking care that each shall have it,
+ Just according to the brood.
+
+{207}
+
+ Now we'll watch and see them working;
+ See them brush off pollen-dust;
+ See them, too, disgorge the honey,
+ Into cells the sweetness thrust.
+
+ Children, with your useful fingers,
+ Hands and arms and feet and head,
+ Do not let the bees surpass you,
+ Making honey, nay, nor bread.
+
+
+{208}
+
+
+_WHAT THEY SAY._
+
+
+ Those creatures that chew the cud,
+ The "RUMINANTS" we call,
+ From "Rumen," or the stomach-pouch,
+ In which their food doth fall.
+
+ A "SPECIES" is a kind
+ Of animals or plants;--
+ Each species has a different name,
+ And differing traits and wants,--
+
+ And species may unite
+ To form a RACE we know,
+ For _race_ from _root_ is always drawn,
+ And _roots_ must spread and grow.
+
+{209}
+
+ That men and women are
+ The race most choice and fine,
+ We plainly see, and sometimes call,
+ The _Human Race Divine_.
+
+{210}
+
+ The noble Horse neighs out,
+ "I am the race _Equine_,
+ And nearest seem, and dearest to
+ The 'human race, divine.'"
+
+ The Ox and Cow l-o-o, l-o-o,
+ "We are the race _Bovine_;
+ And we most useful are, unto
+ The 'human race, divine.'"
+
+{211}
+
+ The Ass and Mule bray out,
+ "Our race is_ Assinine_,
+ And very like us seem some of
+ The 'human race, divine.'"
+
+ The Dog bow-wows as race
+ _Canine, Canine, Canine_; {212}
+ While Tigers, Cats and Catamounts,
+ G-r-o-w-l, growl, as race _Feline_.
+
+ The Lion, king of beasts
+ (Feline), roars "_Leonine_;"--
+ The Lamb that's to lie down with him,
+ Ba-a, ba-as for race _Ovine_.
+
+{213}
+
+ Fishes in lakes or seas
+ or rivers Sport _Piscine_;
+ While birds in air or cages close,
+ Sing, "race _Avine, Avine_."
+
+ All bees in hives or wild,
+ Hum out the race _Apine_; {214}
+ And reptiles all rejoicing crawl
+ In race _Reptilian_.
+
+
+* * * * *
+
+ I've a name that's made up of three letters alone,--
+ That reads backwards and forwards the same;
+ I speak without sound,--yes, I talk without tongue.
+ And to beauty I lay the first claim.
+
+
+* * * * *
+
+
+ A word of three syllables, children, now find,
+ That holds the whole twenty-six letters combined. [1]
+
+ The B ing m t, John put some: [2]
+
+ stand take to taking
+ ----- ---- -- ------ [3]
+ I you throw my
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Alphabet]
+
+[Footnote 2: The grate being empty, John put some coal on.]
+
+[Footnote 3: I understand you undertake to overthrow my undertaking.]
+
+
+{215}
+
+
+_BRITAIN'S RULERS_.
+
+
+ Old Britain was under the Romans
+ From fifty-five years before Christ (55 B. C.)
+ To four hundred fifty-five (455 A. D.)
+ Then her eight States on home-rule insist.
+
+{216}
+
+ For many a year now they wrangle,
+ Ah! yes, for quite three seventy-two,
+ Being ruled now by this king, now that one,
+ As each might the former o'erthrow.
+
+ But ever since eight-twenty-seven (827),
+ Britain's rulers have reigned by descent,
+ From Egbert, first "Monarch of England,"
+ To Victoria, daughter of Kent.
+
+ A score reigned and fell.--Second Harold
+ In ten-sixty-six (1066), proud; usurps,
+ But soon in fierce battle is conquered
+ By William of Normandy's troops.
+
+ Then came William the Conqueror, a Norman,
+ Then William the Second, his son;
+ Then Henry and Stephen and Henry,
+ Then Richard (Coeur de Lion), and John.
+
+ Next Henry the Third, and First Edward,
+ Edward Second and Third, Richard, two (II).
+ Henrys Fourth, Fifth and Sixth, and Fourth Edward
+ Fifth Edward,--Third Richard, they rue.
+
+ Henry Seventh and Eighth, and Sixth Edward,
+ Then Mary, Bess, James, and Charles First,--
+ Eleven years then with no monarch;
+ Second Charles, Second James, not the worst.
+
+{217}
+
+ Then William and Mary, then Anne,
+ Four Georges, Fourth William, until
+ Came Victoria, long live her queenship,
+ For she wields her proud scepter with skill.
+
+
+{218}
+
+_OUR LAND_.
+
+
+ A ship sailed over the blue, salt sea,
+ For a man, Columbus called,
+ Had thought that the world was round, and he
+ Of the old ideas had palled.
+
+ So, in fourteen hundred and ninety-two,
+ He sailed across from Spain,
+ And found our continent so new--
+ The "land beyond the main."
+
+{219}
+
+ But jealousies and rivalries
+ And bickerings begun,
+ And Christopher Columbus now
+ With grief was overborne.
+
+ Americus Vespucius soon
+ Our shores came sailing round,
+ And stole the naming of the land
+ Columbus sought and found;
+
+ While he, Columbus, lay in chains,
+ And died in sore distress;
+ Yet won for us who tread his land,
+ A lasting blessedness.
+
+
+* * * * *
+
+
+ Young I-know is saucy and pert,
+ And thinks himself wondrously wise;
+ But I-know, the second, steps in all so curt,
+ And you'd think that each might lose his eyes.
+
+
+{220}
+
+
+_SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC_.
+
+
+ THE annual path of the Sun,
+ The_ Ecliptic_ is called, as we see,--
+ And a belt, eight degrees, on each side,
+ The _Zodiac_ ever will be.
+
+ The principal planets all seem
+ To move in the zodiac lines,
+ While the belt, of itself, is cut up
+ Into twelve equal parts, called the _Signs_.
+
+ And these signs were first named, we are told,
+ From their fancied resemblance to beasts,
+ Which astronomers thought they could see
+ In the stars, from the West to the East.
+
+{221}
+
+ There is Aries, the Ram, then the Bull,
+ Which is Taurus,--then Gemini, Twins;
+ Then Cancer, a Crab and then Leo,
+ A Lion, and Virgo, Virgin.
+
+ Next Libra, the Balance or Scales,
+ And Scorpio, a Scorpion (with sting),--
+ Sagittarius, the Archer or Arrow,--
+ Capricornus, a Goat's horn we bring.
+
+{222}
+
+ Aquarius, the Bearer of Water,--
+ And Pisces, or Fish from the sea,--
+ All together make twelve, and a wonder
+ It is, that these fancies should be.
+
+
+{223}
+
+
+_GRAPHO_.
+
+
+ Children, you ought to know
+ That _Grapho_ can but mean
+ To picture out, or tell about,
+ Some object or some thing.
+
+ Now _Geo_ means the _earth_;
+ And so Geography
+ Means picturing out or telling about
+ This earth of ours, you see.
+
+ As _Phono_ means a _sound_,
+ Phonography so terse,
+ Just pictures out or tells about
+ The sounds of the human voice.
+
+{224}
+
+ As _Photo_ means the _light_,
+ Photography must mean
+ A picturing of the light that falls
+ Upon a thing, I ween.
+
+ Now _Astro_ means the _stars_;
+ And hence Astrography
+ Means to describe or tell about
+ The stars we all may see.
+
+ And then Astronomy
+ Tells all the various laws
+ That govern or relate to stars;
+ Of their motions tells the cause.
+
+ Now _Bios_ means a _life_;
+ And so Biography
+ Means writing out the life of one,
+ Which we may often see.
+
+ _Zoos_ means _animal_;
+ And your Zoography
+ Describes the animals that live
+ On land or in the sea.
+
+{225}
+
+ Then there's Stenography,
+ A writing narrow, small,
+ Or, as so many call it now,
+ "Short-hand," which tells it all.
+
+ And then Xylography--
+ Engraving upon wood;
+ And Crystallography as well,
+ That tells of crystals good.
+
+ But these are _ographies_
+ Enough for now, you think;
+ Yet when you're older, wiser grown,
+ You many more will link.
+
+
+{226}
+
+
+_THE STOP FAMILY_.
+
+
+ "I'm a dot with a quirk," whispers little Miss Comma,
+ "And you'll please not to pause long for me."
+ "I'm a dot over Comma," says Miss Semicolon,
+ "And you'll pause twice as long where I be."
+
+ "I am dot over dot," Master Colon speaks out,
+ "You'll pause longer for me than they say:"
+ "I am one dot alone," Period says with a tone
+ That means: "Stop when you see me obey!"
+
+{227}
+
+ "I'm a hook over dot," says Dame Interrogation,
+ "I ask questions; but answer? O, nay!"
+ "I'm a splash over dot," says old Sir Exclamation;
+ "I show wonder, delight, or dismay!"
+
+ "I'm a line east and west," says Miss Dash, "and I'm best
+ At changing of subjects, you know."--
+ "I am Dash's small sister," says Hyphen, and kissed her;
+ "I unite words, or syl-la-bles, so."
+
+ Then said Marks of Parenthesis (carefully curved),
+ "We inclose what you well may omit;
+ But we're often displaced by Miss Dash (in your haste),
+ Whom you sadly mistake for a wit."
+
+ Now Apostrophe, Caret, Quotation, exclaimed:
+ "We are commas and hyphens combined;
+ We leave out, or put in, or reveal to your kin
+ What you've said, when their backs you're behind."
+
+ Then Star, Daggers, Parallels, Paragraph too,
+ Started up, staring wildly about, {228}
+ With "We rise to explain on the margin, 'tis plain,
+ Or to point a new paragraph out."
+
+ Of the whole Punctuation, each knew his own station.
+ Each did his own duty, we see;
+ If we do ours as well, and of their's, too, can tell,
+ We shall soon learn good readers to be.
+
+
+* * * * *
+
+
+ "All is not gold that glitters;"
+ Yet think not, children mine,
+ That all that glitters is not gold;
+ The true must ring and shine.
+
+
+
+{229}
+
+
+_LITTLE MISCHIEF_.
+
+
+ Little Master Mischief
+ Lives in Nellie's eye,
+ Sitting in the corner,
+ Peeping out so sly;
+ Now he's crossed the snow-ground
+ And in chamber blue,
+ Thinking he is hidden,
+ Peek-a-boos at you.
+
+ Now he drops the curtain,
+ Sure that he is hid,
+ But you see him dancing
+ Even on the lid.
+ Now, the curtains lifting,
+ You can see he's crept
+ To the inner chamber,
+ Where the love-light slept.
+
+ Watching now his moment
+ He pops out, and see,
+ Mamma's spools and thimble
+ Quickly disagree.
+
+{230}
+
+{231}
+
+ Shall we punish Mischief?
+ Better teach the child
+ How to hold and lead him,
+ Running now so wild.
+
+ Would she like her playthings
+ Scattered here and there,
+ When she had arranged them?
+ Would she think it fair?
+ Would she like her puzzle
+ Portions of it, lost?
+ Would she like her dishes
+ Everywhere uptossed?
+ Would she like her apron
+ With a missing string,
+ Mamma hunting, meanwhile,
+ Thread and everything?
+
+ Nellie, learn the lesson:
+ Be to others true,
+ Always do as you would
+ Have them do to you.
+
+{232}
+
+ This the dear Lord's precept,--
+ This the Golden Rule,--
+ This the highest lesson
+ In our Nellie's school.
+
+* * * * *
+
+ Be gentle and loving,
+ Be kind and polite;
+ Be thoughtful for others,
+ Be sure and do right.
+
+
+{233}
+
+
+_GRANDMA'S CANARY._
+
+
+ Grandma loves her birdy,
+ And when he gaily sings,
+ She will laugh and chat with him,
+ At which he hops and springs.
+
+ Fearing though, that birdy
+ Might not understand,
+ Grandma from the toy-shop,
+ Brought a whistle grand.
+
+ Tuning now the whistle,
+ To his sweet bird-note,
+ He in singing back to her,
+ Nearly burst his throat,
+
+{234}
+
+ Birdy, free outflying,
+ Often comes to light
+ On Grandma's tip-of-finger
+ Or chair-back, pretty sight!
+
+ From her hand she feeds him,
+ And he oft will take
+ From her mouth the sugar,
+ With a merry shake.
+
+ Yester-morn the window
+ Being open wide,
+ Birdy thought it brighter
+ On the outer side.
+
+ Grandma mourning sadly,
+ Shed of tears a few,
+ Then she prayed the Father,
+ "Show me what to do."
+
+ Soon she set his cage out
+ On the window-sill,
+ Saying, "Birdy'll come now,
+ Oh, I'm sure he will!"
+
+{235}
+
+ Then she, hopeful, praying,
+ "Bring my birdy home,"
+ Took the sweet bird-whistle,
+ Playing "Birdy, come."
+
+ And the birdy hearing,
+ Quickly came and lit
+ On the cage, and shortly
+ Flitted into it.
+
+ Thankful now was Grandma,
+ To the dear Lord, who,
+ Listening to her prayer
+ Taught her what to do.
+
+
+{236}
+
+
+_A BABY'S FAITH_.
+
+
+ Our Maude was dancing with her doll,
+ In childhood's chattering glee;
+ A brimming bucket standing by,
+ The maiden failed to see,
+ And skipping, tripped; the bucket tipped;
+ The water, cool and clear, {237}
+ Was rudely swayed, but, undismayed,
+ And quickly kneeling near,
+ Both little hands she spread above
+ The water's merry surge.
+ "And what's she doing there," we ask?
+ No answer, till we urge,
+ And then, "Why mamma, don't you know
+ God stilled the waves so wild,
+ With His great hand? And so I thought,
+ Although I'm but a child,
+ That I might still these little waves
+ With my two hands so small;
+ And mamma, see, they're quiet now!
+ But where's my baby-doll?"
+
+
+* * * * *
+
+_HEALTH AND HAPPINESS_.
+
+
+ Mamma keeps her children
+ In the happiest mood
+ When she feeds them only
+ With the simplest food.
+ Viands clog and pain them,
+ Then they fret and cry,
+ And then when she whips them,
+ Everything's awry.
+
+
+{238}
+
+
+_THE MEADOW QUAILS_.
+
+
+ Over in the meadow where the men make hay,
+ In an elm-tree shadow on a bright summer day,
+ Two speckled quails ponder as to what will be best,
+ Should the stout mower blunder on their pretty home-nest.
+
+ But a cloud in a minute from her great white bed
+ Threw a big silver bonnet o'er the sun's golden head
+ And the quails, though they wondered would their home be beset,
+ Cried aloud, and it thundered: "More wet! more wet!"
+
+{239}
+
+ Then the great sturdy yeoman coming close to the nest,
+ With the heart of a true man beating soft in his breast,
+ Saw the parent-quails watching, with what fear who can tell?
+ Saw the baby-quails hatching, hardly out of the shell.
+
+ And who knows but he thought of his own precious baby
+ His dear little daughter in her mother's arms, maybe?
+ For he quickly made over that portion of meadow
+ With the sweetest of clover, and the softest of shadow.
+
+ To the quails who all summer lived alongside the lane,
+ Ever warning the farmer of the forth-coming rain;
+ For long ere it thundered and I hear the cry yet
+ They would call as they wandered, "More wet! More wet!"
+
+
+* * * * *
+
+ DIDN'T-THINK is a heedless lad
+ And never takes the prize:
+ Remember-well wins every time.
+ For he is quick and wise.
+
+
+{240}
+
+
+_THE LITTLE HOUSEWIFE_.
+
+
+ This little girl knows how to make
+ A batch of bread, or loaf of cake;
+ She helps to cook potatoes, beets,
+ To boil or bake the fish and meats.
+ She knows to sweep and make a bed,
+ Can hem a handkerchief for Ned;
+ In short, a little housewife she,
+ As busy as the busy bee.
+
+{241}
+
+ Let every girl learn how to do
+ All things that help to make life true;
+ That serve to keep the home-hearth bright;
+ That o'er life's burdens throw a light.
+ And then if she may never need
+ Herself to labor, she may lead
+ Her household in the better way,
+ That eft shall bring a brighter day.
+
+ The boys, too, let them learn to know
+ Of household duties, and to sew;
+ For oft a button, oft a rip,
+ By sewing they may save a "fip."
+ Yes, let them know that "woman's work"
+ With many a turn and many a quirk,
+ Is not "a play with straws," as some.
+ Would seem to think. 'Tis making home.
+
+
+{242}
+
+
+_MOTHER-LOVE_.
+
+
+ "AR-G-O-O, ar-g-o-o," is the song of songs,
+ To the loving mother's ear;
+ "Ar-g-o-o, ar-g-o-o," these baby notes
+ Fill all the house with cheer.
+
+ The baby's laugh, the baby's coo.
+ The baby's every move,
+ Is music, joy, and grace to her,
+ Who is rich in mother-love.
+
+{243}
+
+ The precious pearl that is first unlocked
+ By Nature's mystic key,
+ From out the baby's jewel-box,
+ Makes mamma's jubilee.
+
+ The day of baby's mastership
+ To raise himself upright,
+ An era marks along the way,
+ By mother-love made light.
+
+ Her mother-voice lures on his step,
+ Her care protects from harm;
+ While deeper into her heart he glides,
+ With every opening charm.
+
+ And when he "ma-ma" sweetly says,
+ Or "pa-pa," in her breast
+ His throne is fixed forevermore,
+ This prince of babes confessed.
+
+ When threads of thought begin to spin,
+ And webs of mind to weave,
+ When kindling soul looks out at eyes
+ That know not to deceive,--
+
+ The mother's holiest task to keep
+ Her darling pure and true;
+ Her constant care, her watchful prayer,
+ Alone can guide him through
+
+{244}
+
+ The maze his youthful feet must tread,
+ And if perchance he fall,
+ Her baby still in him she sees,
+ Her love can cover it all.
+
+ O, the wondrous love the baby brings,
+ Is far beyond our ken!
+ We only know that the fount once oped,
+ Can never be dry again.
+
+
+* * * * *
+
+
+_IT SNOWS! IT SNOWS!_
+
+
+ It snows! yes, it snows! and the children are wild,
+ At thought of the fun in the snow-drifts up-piled;
+ The boy with his first new boots is in sight,
+ And the wee baby-girl, with her mittens so bright.
+ They are tramping and tossing the snow as they run,
+ And laughing and shouting, so brimful of fun;
+ While the ten-year-old twins, in a somersault mood,
+ Have measured their length from the barn to the wood.
+ A dozen times, yes, or it may be a score,
+ Till their cheeks are as red as the roses, and more;
+ Then the elfin of twelve and the boy of fifteen,
+ Are pelting each other with snowballs so keen,
+ That we, who are older, forget to be staid, {245}
+ And shout, each with each, as the youngsters, arrayed
+ In feathery garments, press on or retreat,
+ Determined to win, nor acknowledge defeat,
+ And the snow tumbles down with such beauty and grace
+ That the air seems filled up with soft, bridal-veil lace,
+ Through whose meshes the sunbeams shall kiss Mother Earth,
+ Till the buds and the blossoms are bred into birth.
+ But the children, at length, tired out with their play,
+ And stamping the snow from their feet by the way,
+ Come slipping and stumbling and scrambling along,
+ While the big brother catching the baby-girl's song,
+ "Oh, my finders are told!" gives her now a gay toss,
+ The golden hair streaming like distaff of floss;
+ And so cheery the group that is ranged round the board,
+ That for snow, blessed snow! we all thank the good Lord.
+
+
+{246}
+
+{247}
+
+AN OLD SAW.
+
+ "If you'll break the first brake
+ And will kill the first snake,
+ You'll be sure to go through
+ With what you undertake."
+
+ Thus our Grandma, quaint but queenly,
+ Taught us grand-bairns one by one;
+ And the lesson relished keenly
+ Filled each spring-time full of fun.
+
+ For the watchful eyes were eager,
+ And the flying feet must roam
+ Till they every nook beleaguer
+ Round the old ancestral home.
+
+* * * * *
+
+ But 'twas not the broken brakelet
+ That wrought good for after years;
+ Not the killing of the snakelet,
+ But the conquering of fears,
+
+ And the patient, wistful watching,
+ Educating thought and eye,
+ Made the brakelet and the snakelet
+ Types of weal for bye and bye.
+
+
+{248}
+
+
+_THE DANDELION BLOSSOM._
+
+
+ In the spring when the grass
+ Had sprung up in the pass,
+ And the meadows with velvet were green,
+ We children would tease,
+ "O, dear mother, please
+ Let us doff shoes and stockings,
+ (Ah! naught gave us shockings),
+ And barefooted run o'er the leas,
+ Aye, barefooted run o'er the leas."
+
+ And mother, so wise,
+ Looking into our eyes,-- {249}
+ "There's a snowdrift down under the hill!
+ But when you will bring me,
+ Yes, when you will fling me
+ A dandelion blossom
+ To wear on my bosom
+ You may barefooted run as you will,
+ Aye, barefooted run as you will."
+
+ So for "guineas of gold,"
+ O'er the dandelion-wold,
+ We hunted afar and anear;
+ And with shouts of delight
+ We all greeted the sight
+ Of the fully-blown flower
+ Presaging the shower
+ Of bright blossoms that brought us such cheer,
+ Aye, the blossoms that brought us such cheer.
+
+
+* * * * *
+
+
+ FEAR naught save that which slimes thee o'er
+ With falsity or fraud:--
+ Let thine own soul stand clean and white
+ Before its maker, God.
+
+
+{250}
+
+
+_SUNSHINE._
+
+
+ The sun shines on forever
+ Though clouds may hide his face;
+ His brightness and his glory
+ The whole wide world may trace
+ For clouds are naught but vapor
+ Whose fleecy veils unfold,
+ And softest silver lining
+ We then with joy behold.
+
+
+* * * * *
+
+_OUR ETHEL._
+
+
+ Our Ethel was not always,
+ As people may have thought,
+ A goody-goody little girl
+ Who never mischief wrought.
+
+ Oh, no, our darling Ethel,
+ The precious little woman,
+ Although so very dear to us,
+ Was most intensely human.
+
+ She waded into mischief
+ Like ducklets into water,
+ And kept us ever on the watch
+ With, "Daughter!" "Oh, my Daughter!"
+
+{251}
+
+ She took the ribbon from her hair
+ The kitten to bedeck,
+ Then brought its tail between its legs
+ And tied it tail and neck.
+
+ She took her dolly to the pump
+ And pinned it on the spout,
+ And then with all her might and main
+ She pumped the water out.
+
+ "Oh, little Haynth tho' thelfith,'
+ She cried, because her cousin {252}
+ Besought one pillow, while she hugged
+ Them all, a half a dozen.
+
+ She found a bell that tinkled,
+ And fastened it, for fun,
+ 'Round kitty's neck then clapped her hands,
+ And cried, run! Kitty, run!
+
+ She fain would pick the eyes out,
+ Of little baby-brother,
+ "To find the pretty balls like those
+ In fishes' eyes, and other."
+
+{253}
+
+ And then she'd fold her little hands
+ So quaintly and demurely,
+ You'd think she must be quite a saint,
+ Or not a sinner, surely.
+
+ And thus her pranks from day to day
+ And hour to hour repeated,
+ Would bring the thought, "Tis all for naught,
+ Our aims are all defeated."
+
+* * * * *
+
+ Nay, nay, not so, the years roll by,
+ And Ethel's baby-mischief
+ Becomes the power that leads her kind,
+ For by her force she is chief.
+
+
+* * * * *
+
+_THE SIX SISTERS._
+
+ ONE of us e'er lives in dates,
+ One in every peach awaits;
+ One in pine-apple is found,
+ One in orange, bright and round,
+ One in plum, so luscious sweet,
+ And our last in strawberry--treat.
+
+
+{254}
+
+
+_THE LITTLE GIRLS' LETTER TO GOD._
+
+
+ Now Susy's such a naughty dirl,
+ And I ain't any better,
+ And so we thought we just would wite
+ The dear dood Dod a letter.
+
+ And tell him all about our bad,
+ Betause he'd have to know,
+ Or else he touldn't mate us dood,
+ And so we told him how,
+
+{255}
+
+ Once when I spit on Susy's dwess
+ Then Susy spit on me;
+ And when I bwote her dolly's arm
+ She smashed my Twistmas-twee.
+
+ Then when I pushed her off the wall,
+ She spattered me with mud;
+ When I pulled up her tolumbine,
+ She snapped my wed wose-bud
+
+{256}
+
+ I talled her "old dwanmother Dwill"
+ And she tailed me "old maid,"--
+ And then we stwatched each others' eyes
+ Down in the darden shade.
+
+ And then my ma and Susy's ma
+ Both said the only way
+ Would be to teep us little dirls
+ Apart in all our play.
+
+{257}
+
+ And so the bid, brown date was shut,
+ And that was such a bother,--
+ 'Tause Susy's yard was on one side
+ And mine was on the other.
+
+ But we tould peet thwough all the twats,
+ And tiss us thwough the hole
+ Where the bid, udly knot tame out,
+ As bid as Susy's bowl,
+
+ For I love Susy awful much,
+ And Susy she loves me,
+ And so we told the dear, dood Dod
+ We'd twy dood dirls to be.
+
+ So now when we just feel the bad
+ A-tomin' in our heart,
+ We both wun home and shut the date
+ And teep ourselves apart.
+
+ And in a minute all the dood
+ Tomes bat,--and then our plays
+ Seem nicer yet, and we fordet
+ The naughty,--naughty--ways.
+
+
+{258}
+
+{259}
+
+
+_GRANDMA'S LESSONS._
+
+
+ "Tis guilt to wear the garb of sin,
+ Though all be innocent within,"
+ These little girls heard grandma say,
+ And wondered if 'twere half in play.
+ But when they're wiser, older grown,
+ And when the world to them is known,
+ They'll learn to shun even seeming ill;
+ They'll learn with grace their lives to fill,
+ And thank dear grandma o'er and o'er,
+ For this, and many lessons more.
+ "'Tis guilt to wear the garb of sin,
+ Though all be innocent within."
+
+ "If you do well by others' ills,
+ You'll do right well," she said,
+ When we would come and tell about
+ The naughtiness of Ned.
+ "Now children, if you shun the bad
+ You may in others find,
+ And never let yourself be rude,
+ Or naughty, or unkind,
+ You'll learn to do by others' ills
+ Right well," dear grandma said,
+ "And in the way that's good and true,
+ Your youthful feet shall tread."
+
+
+{260}
+
+
+_MY LITTLE FOUR-YEARS-OLD_
+
+Telling Dolly what she will say to her birthday friends
+
+
+ I'm four years old to-day, and I
+ Can talk enough for ten birth-days,
+ And I shan't rhyme it, neither;--
+ For little girls can't do it nice.
+ No matter what they think, and so
+ They needn't try, no, never.
+
+ I'm glad you all are here, and now,
+ With all our dollies in a row,
+ I'm sure we'll have good times;
+ And when we have our apples, grapes,
+ And nuts and figs and patty-cakes,
+ Who'll care for silly rhymes!
+
+
+{261}
+
+
+_HANDSOME DICK._
+
+
+ ELZIE'S kitty, white as snow,
+ Loves his little mistress so,
+ That he'll come at her command,
+ Lift his paw to shake her hand,
+ Bow his head and kneel to her,
+ Rumpling all his milk-white fur;
+ Many another pretty trick,
+ Too, he's learned, our Elzie's Dick.
+
+{262}
+
+ Well, the Church-Fair coming on,
+ Elzie thought, "What can be done
+ By a little girl like me,
+ In the cause of charity?"
+
+ Mam'a told her she would show
+ Her some fancy work to do,
+ Which a half-a-dozen dimes
+ Sure would bring;--so, many times
+ Elzie made her fingers fly
+ Neat and nice to form the "tie."
+ Now our Elzie, large and fine,
+ Looks like twelve, though only nine--
+ And the "tie" when quite complete,
+ Was so small, though choice and neat,
+ That it could not be denied,
+ Elzie was not satisfied.
+ So she shook her curly head,
+ As with curious smile she said:
+ "If I were a _little_ girl,
+ Like Nannette or Cousin Pearl,
+ This wee 'tie' might then appear
+ Just the thing,--but now, I fear,
+ Looking at the 'tie' and me,
+ We shall seem to disagree.--
+
+{263}
+
+ Now, Mamma, don't answer quick;
+ Stop and think,--my snowy Dick
+ At the Fair might win some pence,
+ By his wise obedience;
+ And his pretty winsome ways
+ Being shown through all the days;--
+ And, dear Mamma, then I should
+ Feel I'd done the best I could."
+
+ Quickly Mamma took the thought,
+ And a royal cage was brought;
+ Cushion made of scarlet bright,--
+ For our Dicky, pure and white,
+ Thus was wont to perch and sit,--
+ And a collar blue we fit
+ To his neck, when loyal, true,
+ He presents red, white, and blue.
+
+ So the cage is placed within
+ A sly corner, free from din,
+ And with tickets five cents each,
+ Elzie sought her end to reach.
+
+{264}
+
+ "Handsome Dick! weight fifteen pounds"--
+ Whispers Elzie on her rounds;
+ "What is 'Handsome Dick'?" they say;
+ "Come and see, please,--step this way;"
+
+ And once seen they're glad to tell
+ Others of white Dick, as well;--
+ For the cat, as knowing now
+ He must make his courtliest bow.
+
+{265}
+
+ Did his best to help along
+ Elzie's plan, the friends among.
+ Upon his cushion he would stand,
+ Or sit, as Elzie might command;
+ Then down upon his blanket lie
+ And be wrapped up like baby-bye;
+ Would lap his milk, or dainty, sip,
+ And shake his pretty under-lip,
+ Thus showing teeth as white as pearl,--
+ Then round and round would quickly whirl,
+ Till each one seeing, cheerful, said:
+ "For that five cents I'm sure we're paid."
+
+ Thus the three days passing by,
+ Which the Fair must occupy--
+ Dollars ten--ah, yes! and more,
+ Elzie holds within her store!
+ Dues for cage and tickets met,
+ And the _ten_ is Elzie's yet,--
+ Which unto the Fair she gave
+ With an air so joyful-grave,
+ That it seemed a spirit bright,
+ Nestled in her heart so light;--
+ And a happier child than she,
+ We may never hope to see.
+
+
+{266}
+
+
+_BESSIE'S KISSES._
+
+
+
+ Kisses, kisses, raining, raining,
+ On her lips, her cheeks, her brow,
+ Till she, wearied, "Daughter, darling,
+ Mamma's had enough for now."
+ "Ah! but Bessie has so many!"--
+ Naught the pretty prattler daunts;
+ Mamma pleading, baby shouting,
+ "Ah! but Bessie's more'n she wants."
+
+
+{267}
+
+
+_THE DINNER-POT._
+
+
+ The homeliest things are highest worth,
+ The dinner-pot's a treasure
+ Compared with diamonds, chains and rings,
+ Which serve alone for pleasure;--
+ Enwreathe the dinner-pot with flame,
+ And fill it with love's mixings,
+ And it possesses charms beyond
+ All gold or fancy fixings.
+
+ And then, our bony frame-work, too,
+ So stiff and hard and homely,
+ Will serve when plumpness all is gone,
+ And lost is all that's comely.
+ Fling beauty, grace and sweetness round,
+ Festoon your lives with flowers,
+ But ne'er forget that plainest things
+ Are life's most precious dowers.
+
+
+{268}
+
+
+_NANNY'S PLAY._
+
+
+ Our Nanny helped her mother
+ In many a childish way,--
+ She picked up chips to feed the fire,
+ And "played that it was play."
+
+ She loved the hens and chickens
+ And fed them day by day,
+ And dubbed them each with quaintest name,
+ And this was always play.
+
+ She hunted through the big barn
+ For hens' nests in the hay,
+ And fetched the eggs right carefully,
+ And this again was play.
+
+ She donned her mother's dust-cap
+ And danced about so gay,
+ And planned how she would house-keep,
+ And this was "truly play."
+
+{269}
+
+ With basin full of water
+ She scrubbed the door one day,
+ And splashed about till mother dear
+ Must work instead of play.
+
+{270}
+
+ With brush and broom a-sweeping
+ She fluttered like a fay;
+ The broken cup soon told her
+ 'Twas anything but play.
+
+{271}
+
+ She romped around the hay-field
+ And shook the new-mown hay,
+ And with her baby-rake she gleaned
+ The meadow for her play.
+
+ She ran to pick the berries
+ That ripened by the way,
+ And with her basket full to brim
+ This was the best of play.
+
+ So many things, so many,
+ Far more than I can say,
+ Our Nanny in her childhood
+ Has "played that it was play."
+
+
+{272}
+
+
+_NANNY'S LESSONS._
+
+
+ Our Nanny was but four years old
+ When mother said, "My love,
+ Your needle learn with skill to use,
+ It will a blessing prove."
+
+ So Nanny learned to "overhand,"
+ And "hem" so fine and neat,
+ To "backstitch," "run," and many a join
+ That she could scarce repeat.
+
+{273}
+
+ She learned to "catch-stitch" and to "cross,"
+ To "patch" and "darn," as well,
+ To "gather," "plait," "box-plait" and "side,"
+ To "feather-stitch" and "fell."
+
+ She sewed the buttons fast, and "worked
+ The buttonholes" so neat,
+ That many an eld accomplishes
+ With less success, the feat.
+
+ "Be sure your thread is smooth and strong,
+ A goodly knot or two,
+ A double stitch for first, and then
+ A fastening sure when through;
+
+ "And thus your seams will never rip,
+ Your sewing never wear,--
+ Like buttons loose and hooks awry,--
+ A slip-shod, shiftless air."
+
+ All this and more her mother taught,
+ And Nanny conned it o'er
+ Till she was versed in all the arts
+ That point the seamster's lore.
+
+
+{274}
+
+{275}
+
+
+ Her ninth birthday, and mother said
+ "You're old enough to care
+ For all your clothing now, my child,
+ Except the best you wear.
+
+ "And here, within this little chest,
+ And in this drawer wide,
+ You'll keep them ranged so neat and nice,
+ Whatever may betide.
+
+ "A place for this, a place for that,
+ Each garment grouped aright,
+ That you may lay your little hand
+ Upon it, day or night.
+
+ "No garment must be laid within,
+ Except it ready be,
+ To don and wear, for thus you spare
+ Us trouble, you and me."
+
+ And Nanny, pleased with mother's trust,
+ Accepted it with pride,
+ And, in her heart, the lessons learned
+ Forevermore abide.
+
+
+{276}
+
+
+_NANNY'S RIDE._
+
+
+ Our Nanny oft in fancy
+ Soared up, the earth above,
+ And sailed the great air-ocean
+ With skylark or with dove.
+
+ And in this fashion musing,
+ One sunny summer's day,
+ Half-watching mother mending
+ And baby-brother play,
+
+ Without a word of warning
+ The old umbrella came,
+ Opened upside down before her,
+ And whispered soft her name.
+
+{277}
+
+ "Come, Nanny you've been longing
+ For a ride, and now's your time:
+ Jump in,--be quick! And careful, too,
+ For I'm o'erpast my prime."
+
+ So, springing in, she sat there
+ As happy as you please,
+ And through the open window,
+ Was borne upon the breeze.
+
+ The sparrows eyed her keenly,
+ The doves left off their cooing,
+ And children, cause they couldn't go,
+ Set up a grand boo-hoo-ing.
+
+ She bobbed against a clothes-line,
+ And all the wash went flying; {278}
+ The good dame cried, "A witch! a witch!
+ The saints forefend my drying."
+
+ And next she got entangled
+ In the telegraphic wires;
+ And when she jerked away from them,
+ She bumped against the spires.
+
+ She hit the tallest chimneys,
+ And set the smoke a-curling,
+ Then knocked a flag-pole all awry,
+ The stars and stripes a-whirling.
+
+ Now, far beyond the city,
+ With mountains in her face,
+ An eagle pounced to catch her,
+ But she quickly won the race.
+
+{279}
+
+ Within a mountain cavelet,
+ Two baby-bears so young,
+ Smiled on her as she passed them,
+ And greetings to her flung.
+
+ She heard the thunder rolling.
+ And saw the lightning's glare,
+ From clouds away beneath her,
+ While 'round her all was fair.
+
+{280}
+
+{281}
+
+ She met a cherub driving
+ A brace of butterflies,
+ While dancing on a gorgeous one,
+ Away in wonder-skies.
+
+ She saw an angel lighting
+ The stars up one by one,
+ As he balanced on a cloudlet
+ That was left behind the sun.
+
+ She heard angelic music,
+ Far up, the blue along,
+ And knew 'twas Mary crooning o'er
+ Her first sweet cradle-song.
+
+{282}
+
+ She saw such wondrous pictures,
+ So beautiful and grand,
+ Such skyscapes and such cloudscapes,
+ Such waterscapes and land.
+
+ But now the fluttering insects
+ All round her plainly told
+ That she was nearing Mother Earth
+ Far o'er the daisy-wold;
+
+ And startled at the distance
+ From home, the baby screaming
+ And mother still a-mending there,
+ Told Nanny she'd been dreaming.
+
+
+{283}
+
+
+_THE RACE._
+
+
+ A hop, a skip, and a gambol,
+ A run, a tumble, a scramble,
+ An up-and-a-going,
+ A laughing-and-crowing,
+ A weal-and-a-woe-ing,--
+ Yes, a race for a ball
+ Or a toy we may call,
+ This race that is human,--
+ For child, man, or woman,
+ Tis one and the same,
+ A mysterious game
+ That is played by us all,
+ And we each get a fall;
+ And so many it may be
+ That forever a baby
+ We feel in the race
+ For a name and a place.
+
+
+
+{284}
+
+
+_OUR KENNETH._
+
+
+Written for our pet, as indicative of what he _should be_ but _is not_.
+
+
+ Know ye our little black-eyed boy?
+ His name is Kenney Stone;
+ Now listen, for he always speaks
+ In such a gentle tone.
+
+ He never says "I will!" "I wi'n't!"
+ He's never rough nor rude,
+ But always bows with, "Thank you; please;"
+ And tries to be so good.
+
+ Our Kenneth never kicks nor strikes,
+ Nor makes an ugly face;
+ He never slides down banisters,
+ Nor puts things out of place.
+
+ He never says a naughty word,
+ Nor tells a big, big story!
+ O, no, nor even a little one,
+ To make us all so sorry.
+
+{285}
+
+{286}
+
+ Our Kenneth is a gentleman,
+ He will not scratch nor bite;
+ He never speaks to any child,
+ A word that is not right.
+
+ Our Kenneth never slams the doors
+ Nor stamps along the halls;
+ He goes away when he is told,
+ And comes when mamma calls.
+
+ Our Kenneth, everybody loves,
+ Because he's so polite,
+ Our darling little black-eyed boy,
+ Our Kenney Stone so bright.
+
+
+{287}
+
+
+_TO MY TEN-YEARS-OLD._
+
+
+ On thy cheek the roses lie;
+ Lilies, on thy forehead fair;
+ Violets blue, in each bright eye,
+ Sunbeams, in thy golden hair.
+
+ Pearls, within thy coral lips,
+ Ears and nostrils, crystal-clear,
+ Dainty, sea-shell finger tips,
+ Form, a sylph might love to wear.
+
+ Yet no beauty, thou, my child,
+ Save as filled with inward grace;
+ Save a spirit, undefiled,
+ Warm thy heart and wreathe thy face.
+
+
+
+{288}
+
+
+_DARE TO SAY NO._
+
+
+ Dear children, you are sometimes led
+ To sorrow, sin, and woe, {289}
+ Because you have not courage quite,
+ And dare not answer, No.
+
+ When playmates tell you this, or that
+ Is "very nice to do,"
+ See first what mamma says, or if
+ You think 'tis wrong, say No.
+
+ Be always gentle, but be firm.
+ And wheresoe'er you go,
+ If you are asked to do what's wrong,
+ Don't fear to answer, No.
+
+ False friends may laugh and sneer at you.
+ Temptations round you flow,
+ But prove yourself both brave and true,
+ And firmly tell them, No.
+
+ Sometimes a thing that's not a sin,
+ You might be asked to do,--
+ But when you think it is not best,
+ Don't yield, but answer, No.
+
+ True friends will honor you the more,
+ Ah, yes, and false ones too,
+ When they have learned you're not afraid
+ To stand and answer, No.
+
+{290}
+
+ And when temptations rise within,
+ And plead to "come," or "go,"
+ And do a wrong for "_just this once_"
+ Be sure you answer, No.
+
+ For when you once have done a Wrong,
+ The Right receives a blow,--
+ And Wrong will triumph easier now,
+ So haste and answer, No.
+
+ There's many a little boy and girl,
+ And man and woman too,
+ Have gone to ruin and to death
+ For want of saying, No!
+
+ So, young or old, or great or small,
+ Don't fail, whate'er you do,
+ To stand for Right and nobly dare
+ To speak an honest No.
+
+
+{291}
+
+
+_ASK MOTHER._
+
+
+ Yes, my darling, when you question,
+ I will answer, simple, plain,
+ Just the Truth;--and when playmate
+ Tells you anything again,
+ Come to Mother, she will tell you,
+ Yes, and tell you always true,
+ For she knows what's low and sinful,
+ And what's right and wrong for you.
+
+
+
+_TELL MOTHER._
+
+ 'Tis wrong, my dear, to do a thing
+ That mother must not know;
+ And when your playmates, old or young,
+ Shall tell you thus to do,
+ Leave them at once, and quickly come
+ To your dear Mother's side,
+ And tell her,--for she'll know what's wrong,
+ And she will be your guide.
+
+
+{292}
+
+
+_DON'T TELL A LIE._
+
+
+ Don't tell a lie, dear children,
+ No matter what you do,-- {292}
+ Own up and be a hero,
+ Right honest, brave, and true.
+
+ You'd better have a whipping
+ Each day than tell a lie,--
+ No, not a "white one," even,
+ They lead to blackest dye.
+
+ The rod but hurts your body,
+ While lies deform your soul;--
+ Don't mind the present smarting,
+ Keep the spirit pure and whole.
+
+ But I am sure that mamma
+ And papa, too, will try
+ To help you children tell the Truth,
+ Nor drive you to a lie.
+
+ They will not punish harshly,
+ Nor when they're angry, quite;
+ Nor promise, and then fail to do,--
+ But always lead you right.
+
+
+{294}
+
+
+_LITTLE MOSES._
+
+
+ In the Talmud you will find it,--
+ In the quaint and curious lore
+ Of the ancient priests, or Rabbins,
+ Whom the people bowed before;
+
+ Find the story of an infant
+ Sitting on the kingly knee;
+ "Little Moses," Pharaoh calls him,--
+ Crowing loud in baby glee.
+
+{295}
+
+ And the banqueters were cheering,
+ When the infant with a spring,
+ Reached and caught the crown that rested
+ Upon Pharaoh's head, as king.
+
+ Caught the crown, and quickly placed it
+ On his own unwitting head;
+ But the king and all his princes,
+ In the deed a meaning read.
+
+ Then spake Balaam, the magician,
+ "Not because the child is young,
+ Hath he done this thing unknowing;--
+ He hath mocked thee, he hath flung
+
+ "In thy face thy kindly dealings;
+ Such hath ever been the way
+ Of his people; a usurper--
+ Let his blood be spilled this day."
+
+ But the winsome baby-fingers
+ Toying with the kingly beard,
+ Won the edict: "Call the judges;
+ Let their counselings be heard."
+
+{296}
+
+ So the judges and the wise men
+ Came with Jethro, Midian's priest,
+ Who, with wish to save young Moses,
+ Thus his majesty addressed:
+
+ "If it to the king be pleasing,
+ Fetch two plates, and we will hold
+ Them before the babe, a-brimming,
+ One with fire, and one with gold.
+
+ "If the child shall grasp the golden,
+ He hath done this knowingly;
+ He will trample on thy statutes;
+ For thine honor he must die.
+
+ "But if he shall grasp the other,
+ Know, O King, he knoweth nought
+ Of a royal crown or scepter,--
+ And his life with fire is bought."
+
+ These wise words, the king approving,
+ Plate of fire and plate of gold,
+ Courtiers brought, and screams of anguish,
+ Soon the childish choosing told.
+
+{297}
+
+ For he, baby-like, had thrust it
+ In his mouth; and though he flung
+ Quick the coal, he ever after
+ Spake with slow and stammering tongue.
+
+[Footnote: Exodus IV:10]
+
+
+* * * * *
+
+ Charming 'tis to see
+ Children who agree;
+ Chaste, and choice, and cheery,
+ Chiming in so merry,
+ Childlike, ever;
+ Churlish, never.
+ Championing the good;
+ Challenging the rude;
+ Chary as the dove;
+ Chief in Jesus' love.
+
+
+{298}
+
+
+_THE CHILDREN'S RAILROAD._
+
+
+ Old Time has built a Railroad,
+ On which you children speed
+ To a land of light and plenty,
+ Or a land of darksome need;
+ And soon you'll come to a meadow,
+ Where two tracks mark the way,
+ But they'll run close up alongside
+ For many and many a day.
+
+ And one is strewn with roses,
+ While one looks bleak and bare,
+ With now and then a berry-bush,
+ And a violet here and there;--
+
+{299}
+
+ On one you'll find companions
+ Who but for pleasure seek,
+ While friends along the other,
+ Will words of wisdom speak.
+
+ Be careful in your choosing,
+ For if you take the _Right_,
+ You will travel in the shadow
+ Of the Rock that shields at night;
+ 'T will lead through greenest pastures
+ Where softest brooklets flow,
+ And land you at a Station
+ That is full of cheer and glow.
+
+{300}
+
+ On the other track, the roses
+ Are backed by sharpest thorns;
+ While berries always nourish,
+ And the violet but adorns;--
+ You will stumble into sluices,
+ And what is worse than all,
+ Your self-respect and conscience
+ Grow weak with every fall.
+
+ Yes, if you choose the other
+ That looks so bright and gay,
+ You'll find the bridges broken,
+ And the road-bed washed away;
+ And when you near the Station,
+ You'll switch to a fearful leap,
+ That will hurl you into darkness,
+ And bury you in the deep.
+
+ But those who choose the Right one
+ Grow manly, womanly, true;
+ God's love-light shines upon them,
+ And falls as heavenly dew;--
+ They grieve at your wild folly,
+ And will gladly help you back,
+ If at any curve or turning
+ You seek the trusty track.
+
+{301}
+
+ But ah! the scars you're wearing,
+ From thorns that pierced you sore,-- {302}
+ And the ditches in which you've fallen,
+ That were strewn with roses o'er;--
+ And the joys you've lost, unnumbered,
+ That spring from good deeds done;
+ And the fruits you've missed, unmeasured,
+ That by others have been won.
+
+ Though friends may be indulgent,
+ And loved ones even forget,
+ Yourself can never banish
+ The memories that beset.
+ You will wish you had never traveled
+ The way that leads to death;
+ You will wish you had never reveled
+ In the viper's venomed breath.
+
+ So beware which track you follow;
+ And again I say, beware!
+ The _False_ is strewn with roses,--
+ The _True_ looks bleak and bare;
+ But this, 't is plain, is only
+ That youthful, artless eyes
+ Are open to show and glamour,
+ But see not deep nor wise,
+
+{303}
+
+ To Truth then, children, listen,
+ And cultivate the seed
+ That in your hearts God planted,
+ To serve your every need;--
+ Yes, heed the voice within you,
+ And follow it all the way,
+ For it will help you choose the road
+ That leads to endless day.
+
+
+{304}
+
+
+_THE PHOEBE'S NEST IN THE OLD WELL-WHEEL._
+
+
+ "Phoe-be, phoe-be," why, 'tis a little bird,
+ "Phoe-be, phoe-be," singing the pretty word;
+ "Phoe-be, phoe-be," brown feathers cover him,
+ Gray breast, with blackish stripes scattered all over him.
+
+ "Phoe-be, phoe-be," here comes his little mate,
+ "Phoe-be, phoe-be," both on the garden gate,
+ "Phoe-be, phoe-be," loving now they trill,
+ Planning to build a nest in the old well-wheel.
+
+ "Phoe-be, phoe-be," now the nest is begun;
+ "Phoe-be, phoe-be," now it is nearly done;
+ "Phoe-be, phoe-be," how will the birdies feel,
+ When the egg is dropped down, with turn of the wheel.
+
+ "Phoe-be, phoe-be," children are sorry now,
+ "Phoe-be, phoe-be," birds are all a-worry now,
+ "Phoe-be, phoe-be," laying eggs day by day,
+ While the turn of the wheel ever drops them away.
+
+{305}
+
+ "Phoe-be, phoe-be," never the lesson learned,
+ "Phoe-be, phoe-be," year by year they returned,
+ "Phoe-be, phoe-be," building persistently,
+ Where the turn of the wheel dropped the eggs all away.
+
+ Phoe-be, phoe-be, yet not in vain you wrought,
+ Phoe-be, phoe-be, for, by your folly taught,
+ Phoe-be, phoe-be, children plan so to build,
+ That no eggs may be lost by the turn of life's wheel.
+
+
+{306}
+
+
+_MABEL'S SNOW-FEATHERS._
+
+
+ Listen, children, while I tell you
+ What our merry Mabel said
+ When she saw the feathery snow-flakes
+ Tumbling down about her head.
+
+ Clapping hands and dancing gaily,
+ "Mamma, mamma, come and see!
+ Come and see the feathers, mamma,
+ Soft and white as they can be!"
+
+{307}
+
+ Standing then a moment, pondering
+ As it were, whence came the snow,
+ Little face so wise and thoughtful,
+ Mabel cried: "Oh, now I know,
+
+ "There are lots of eider ducklets
+ Up in Heaven, above the blue,
+ And they're dropping off their feathers,--
+ And such downy feathers, too!
+
+ "See them frolic with each other;
+ See them kiss as fast they fly;
+ See them make believe they are going to,
+ Then go gaily flitting by.
+
+ "See them on the Spruce and Balsam,
+ Pile up little soft, fat hands;
+ See their many plump, white cushions;
+ See them wave their fairy wands.
+
+ "See the showers of flying feathers
+ Whisking 'round in merry moods;
+ See, the telegraph their perch is,--
+ Oh, I'm sure they're almost birds!"
+
+{308}
+
+ Now she fancies she can hear them
+ Whisper of their ducklet birth;--
+ Hear their soft and wean-y quacklings,
+ As they tumble down to earth.
+
+ Now she listens for the jingle
+ Of the sleigh-bells they will bring;
+ Now she sees the flying horses,
+ Prancing gaily at their ring.
+
+ Lovely are these fleecy feathers,
+ Dainty in each rare device;
+ All unlike our ducklet feathers,--
+ White and soft, but cold as ice.
+
+{309}
+
+ Yet they cover, warmly cover
+ Mother Earth so bleak and brown;
+ Cover her with feathery mantles,
+ Comforters of eider-down.
+
+
+{310}
+
+
+_FOREST TREES._
+
+
+ Children, have you seen the budding
+ Of the trees in valleys low?
+ Have you watched it creeping, creeping
+ Up the mountain, soft and slow?
+ Weaving there a plush-like mantle,
+ Brownish, grayish, red-dish green,
+ Changing, changing, daily, hourly,
+ Till it smiles in emerald sheen?
+
+ Have you watched the shades so varied,
+ From the graceful, little white birch,
+ Faint and tender, to the balsam's
+ Evergreen, so dark and rich?
+ Have you seen the quaint mosaics
+ Gracing all the mountain-sides,
+ Where they, mingling, intertwining,
+ Sway like softest mid-air tides?
+
+{311}
+
+ Have you seen the autumn frostings
+ Spread on all the leafage bright,
+ Frostings of the rarest colors,
+ Red and yellow, dark and light?
+ Have you seen the glory painted
+ On the mountain, valley, hill,
+ When the landscape all illumined,
+ Blazons forth His taste and skill?
+
+ Have you seen the foliage dropping,
+ Tender cling, as loth to leave
+ Mother-trees that taught them deftly,
+ All their warp and woof to weave?
+ Have you seen the leafless branches
+ Tossing wildly 'gainst the blue?
+ Have you seen the soft gray beauty
+ Of their wintry garments' hue?
+
+ Have you thought the resurrection
+ Seen in Nature year by year,
+ Is a symbol of our rising
+ In a higher, holier sphere?
+ Children, ye are buds maturing;
+ Make your autumn rich and grand,
+ That your winter be a passage
+ Through the gates to Glory-land.
+
+
+{312}
+
+
+_CHILDHOOD FANCIES._
+
+
+ The twilight gray is falling,
+ Now list and you shall hear
+ The footsteps of the sylphid fays,--
+ This is their hour of cheer.
+
+ List to the gentle patter
+ On each wee blade of grass,
+ As it is bent, and back again,
+ Whene'er the fairies pass.
+
+{313}
+
+ Upon the tips of grasses
+ They cross the meadows, lawn,
+ And laugh and dance and play and sing,
+ From twilight hour till dawn.
+
+ They light their myriad lanterns,
+ And hang them in the arch
+ Of blue that canopies o'erhead,
+ And by their light they march.
+
+ They sometimes miss a fairy,
+ And take a lantern down
+ To search for her, and mortals say;
+ "A fire-fly flits around."
+
+ On leaves they hang their diamonds,
+ Their pearls in every flower;
+ Their gauzy veils upon the grass,
+ They spread for fairy bower.
+
+ Their slender wings are hanging
+ On every shrub, across;
+ Their seats are dainty cushion-beds
+ Of green and springy moss.
+
+{314}
+
+ Their shrubbery of coral
+ Is gray and scarlet-tipped;
+ Their hair upon the maize is hung
+ Each Summer, when 'tis clipped.
+
+ The mushroom forms their table,
+ Their dishes, acorn cups;
+ The ant-hills are their barracks high;
+ Their cannon, "hemlock pops."
+
+ Their scarfs of plush are lying
+ On ripening grape and peach;
+ Their sea-shells 'neath the apple trees,
+ Each Spring bestrew their beach.
+
+ They paint the leaves in Autumn;
+ They make a tiny rink
+ Of every puddle, fen, and dike,
+ And skate from nave to brink.
+
+ They brown the nuts in forests,
+ The burrs they open wide;
+ They lure the feathers from the clouds.
+ And pile them up, to slide.
+
+{315}
+
+ They build along the way-side
+ Their fairy palisades,--
+ The "hoar-frost" some have christened it,--
+ And hold West Point parades.
+
+ They sketch upon the windows
+ Such pictures as no power
+ Of man can ever execute,
+ And on them pearl-dust shower.
+
+{316}
+
+ All these and myriad fancies
+ That never can be told,
+ My childhood days so new and sweet,
+ In memory infold.
+
+ But mother softly whispers,
+ "Tis not the Fays, my dears,
+ Tis old Dame Nature's song of songs,
+ The 'Music of the Spheres.'
+
+ "List ever for it, children,
+ Twill bring you close to God;
+ Each sound but echoes Him who made,
+ Each motion is His nod."
+
+
+* * * * *
+
+ "Waste not, want not," be your motto,--
+ Little things bring weal or woe;
+ Save the odds and ends, my children,
+ Some one wants them, if not you.
+
+
+{317}
+
+
+_LIZZIE AND THE ANGELS._
+
+
+ Little Lizzie, thoughtful, earnest,
+ Springing up at break of day,
+ Thinks she heard the angels whisper
+ Softly, as she knelt to pray.
+
+{318}
+
+ "Yes, they whispered to me, mamma,
+ And they told me lots of things,--
+ And they said, 'O Lizzie, Lizzie,
+ 'Tis your temper trouble brings!'
+
+ "Then they said: You, child, can never
+ Be a woman good and true,
+ If you let your fiery temper
+ And your own will govern you;
+ And they told me 'even Jesus
+ Said, 'Thy will, not mine, be done,'
+ And that if I grew up wilful,
+ All my life I can but mourn.
+
+ And they told me, too, dear mamma,
+ That if I were called to die,
+ I could not be glad in heaven,
+ For no heaven in me would lie.
+ Now, what shall I do, dear mamma,
+ That I may be good and true?
+ How shall I my temper govern,
+ And my wicked will subdue?"
+
+ "Lizzie, darling, if you listen,
+ You will hear a voice within, {319}
+ That will tell you every moment,
+ What is Right, and what is Sin.
+ But you must not disobey it,
+ Or it will grow faint and weak;
+ You must watch to catch its whispers,
+ Hurry when you hear it speak.
+
+{320}
+
+ "For if you should linger waiting,
+ There's another voice will say:
+ Never mind, nobody'll know it,
+ Even though you disobey.'
+ And this other voice, this Tempter,
+ Sure will lead you to the wrong,
+ While the voice of the good angel
+ Fills your life with cheer and song.
+
+ "In your play and in your working,
+ You the Golden Rule must heed;
+ Do by others as you'd have them
+ Do by you, if in their stead.
+ Better far to_ bear_ and _suffer_
+ Than to _do_ a wrong, my child;
+ Better give up every pleasure,
+ Than to be by sin beguiled.
+
+ "In your eating, in your drinking,
+ In your clothing, in your talk,
+ You can glorify the Father,
+ Or in wickedness can walk.
+ For your little body, Lizzie,
+ God has said, 'Keep holy, pure,' {321}
+ Tis His 'temple' He has lent you,
+ Keep its every gate secure,
+
+ "What you eat and drink makes muscles,
+ Bones and nerves, and brain, and thought;
+ And by food and drink improper,
+ Fearful evils may be wrought.
+ Much of meat and spice and candies,
+ Makes your blood impure, and then
+ All your body's in a jangle,
+ And your temper's wild again.
+
+ "And your clothes if tight or heavy,
+ Help to make your blood impure;
+ Help to make you weak and wicked,
+ Into evil ways to lure.
+ Foul air, too, your blood will poison
+ Sitting up too late at night;
+ All these things will make it harder
+ For you, child, to do the right.
+
+ "Bad companions also lead you
+ To the wrong, and tempt you sore
+ To defy the voice within you
+ Till it, grieved, will speak no more,-- {322}
+ Do not hesitate to tell them
+ You cannot their ways approve.
+ Do not yield to their enticements;
+ Tell them 'No!' with firmness, love.
+
+ "Do not ever let a single
+ Word unkind, nor coarse, impure,
+ Pass your lips; for these will lead you
+ Toward the bad, you may be sure.
+ Do not let a playmate tell you
+ Anything that must be kept
+ As a secret from your mother;--
+ Something's wrong, so don't accept.
+
+ "Always tell a thing precisely
+ As it is; don't try to make
+ It more fine and entertaining;
+ Tell the truth for Truth's dear sake.
+ Never lay a finger, darling,
+ On what is not quite your own,
+ Lest temptation overtake you,
+ And your honesty be gone.
+
+ "In the silence of your chamber,
+ When no human being's nigh, {323}
+ Don't forget that God is with you,
+ Watching with all seeing-eye;
+ Don't forget that He will know it
+ If you do a thing that's wrong;
+ Keep yourself so pure and perfect,
+ That your life shall be His song.
+
+ "Now, dear child, the blessed Jesus
+ Always, when you wish it, hears,
+ Giving help to those who ask it,
+ Lightening woes, and lessening fears.
+ Follow always His example;
+ Take His precepts for your guide;
+ Learn to trust Him, for He's walking
+ Ever loving at your side."
+
+
+{324}
+
+
+_CHILD-MEMORIES._
+
+
+ Was ever so sweet the clover,
+ Was ever so clear the brook,
+ As my child-days, over and over,
+ Found fresh in the dear home-nook?
+
+{325}
+
+ Was ever such grace of motion,
+ Or ever such trills of song.
+ As the birds in mid-air ocean,
+ Poured childhood's plays among?
+
+ Were ever so bright the noondays,
+ Were ever the skies so blue,
+ Or so soft the slanting moon-rays,
+ As stole my childhood through?
+
+ Was ever so dear a mother,
+ Or a child so sweet, I pray,
+ As my blue-eyed baby-brother,
+ In the time so far away?
+
+ Was ever so true boy-lover,--
+ O, ever such pictures bright,
+ As my child-days, over and over,
+ Reflect by memory's light!
+
+
+{326}
+
+
+_NELLY AND NED._
+
+
+ "I'M twelve years old to-day," says Ned,
+ "And wish I were twelve more, sir,--
+ And Nelly Warner's almost twelve,
+ So we'd be twenty-four, sir."
+
+ "'And what of that!' Why, Nelly 'n' I
+ Have always played together;
+ And then I draw her on my sled,
+ To school in stormy weather.
+
+ "And all the goodies that we get,
+ We share them half and half, sir;
+ And O, we have such lots of fun,
+ I'm sure 'twould make you laugh, sir!
+
+ "Now Nelly lives in Cottage Square,
+ While I live 'round the corner,
+ And all the boys would laugh and shout,
+ 'Ned Jarrett loves Nell Warner.'
+
+{327}
+
+{328}
+
+ "I didn't care for this, you know,
+ But O, I couldn't bear it
+ When they began to laugh at her,
+ And say, 'Nell loves Ned Jarrett!'
+
+ "And so I thought I'd have to fight,--
+ And though I was the smallest
+ Of all the party, I's so mad
+ I'd easy beat the tallest.
+
+ "But Nelly coaxed and comforted,
+ And said, 'Why would I do it,
+ When they had only told the truth,
+ And everybody knew it!'"
+
+
+{329}
+
+
+_THE CLAMBERERS._
+
+
+ All you babies
+ Perched in air,
+ Careful how you
+ Caper there!
+ Careful lest the
+ Little feet
+ Or the little
+ Hands so sweet,
+ Lose their hold
+ And babies fall,--
+ Careful, careful,
+ Babies all.
+
+
+{330}
+
+
+_THE NEW WHITE JATTET._
+
+
+ I never seen such naughty dirls
+ As Susy Jones and Ellen;
+ They laughed, O desht as hard's they tould
+ When I twipped up and fell in
+ The old toal-hole. And see, mamma,
+ I tore my new white jattet;
+ And when I twied, they laughed and laughed,
+ And said, "O, what a wattet!"
+ The bid dirls talled them most untind,
+ And said they surely knew it,
+ The teaching of the Dolden Wule,
+ And then how tould they do it!
+ I duess they'd twy if they was me,
+ I duess they'd mate a wattet,
+ If they should fall in a toal-hole,
+ And tear their new white jattet.
+
+
+{331}
+
+
+_REMEMBER THE POOR._
+
+
+ "SWEET, my darling, come and see
+ What mamma has brought for thee;
+ Garments soft and ribbons bright,
+ Hat and coat, a pretty sight;
+ Sweet, my child, what shall we do
+ With the old, now you've the new?"
+
+ "Why, mamma, this frock and frill,
+ These are good and pretty still.
+ But as they are quite too small,
+ Give them, please, to Lillie Ball
+ In the cottage by the hill,
+ She'll be glad, I know she will;
+ For mamma, they're very poor,
+ And 'tis cold to cross the moor
+ In their tattered garments few;
+ Mamma, may I give the new?"
+
+ "No, my child, and yet you may
+ Sometimes give new things away.
+ Keep your pennies, and they'll be
+ Dollars, by and by, two, three;
+ Thus you now and then may have
+ Something new and fresh to give."
+
+
+{332}
+
+
+_THE LITTLE STREET-SWEEPER._
+
+
+ Look at that little girl sweeping the crossing;
+ See how the mud her bare legs is embossing!
+ And her feet are so slippered with mud, that it seems
+ As though from the ground she grew up 'mongst the teams;
+ And why she's not run over surely's a wonder,
+ Standing there sweeping, the horses' feet under.
+ See her close curls and her bright, beaming eye;
+ Though fearless, the glance, you perceive, is half shy, {333}
+ As so lightly she swings her wet broom, and so true,--
+ Let us cross, and we'll give her a penny or two.
+
+ But wait, now a passer-by hands her a penny;
+ Just see her bright glance twinkle over to Benny,
+ The little hunchback sitting there on the curb-stone,
+ Close up to the lamp-post, that he may disturb none.
+ His crutches beside him a sorry tale tell;
+ But see, he's a basket of knick-nacks to sell;
+ And a lady has bought for her child a toy whip,
+ And now from her port-monaie gives him the scrip,
+ But refuses the change,--and with tears in his eyes,
+ He thanks her and blesses, with grateful surprise;--
+ And the glance the boy now flashes over to Jenny,
+ Is as bright as she gave him when she got the penny.
+ O, I've seen them so many times! always together,
+ Always happy and cheery, in bright or dull weather;
+ For though he makes the most when it's fair, as they show me,
+ Yet she does the best when it's muddy and stormy.
+
+ Watch, now, her quick smile of such pleased recognition:--
+ To win it I oft come this way on my mission.
+ But see, she draws back as I offer the penny, {334}
+ And modestly says, "Madam, please keep the money,
+ For you know 'tis a pleasure to me to be sweeping
+ The path for you, lady;" and, all the time keeping
+ Her broom just before us to brush the least speck,
+ The sweet smiles in her eyes her whole being bedeck.
+ So I keep it, for she has as good claim as I
+ To the right to do favors and none will deny
+ That "It is more blessed to give than receive,"
+ And her sweep is far more than my pennies to give.
+ But we'll stop and see Benny, and make it up there,
+ For in all that each gets they will both have a share.
+ A nice little bib for my baby at home,--
+ A patent tape-measure, a mother-pearl comb;
+ And Benny's pale face lightens up with a glow
+ Such as angels rejoice in;--now, Maud, we must go.
+ But to Benny: "I'm thinking to-night I may come
+ And bring my friend with me, to see your new home."
+ "O, if you will!" says the child with delight
+ Rippling over his face like a sunbeam--and quite
+ As joyously, Jenny: "O, madam, please do,
+ For we've something at home that we want to show you!"
+
+ So when 'tis near night-fall we take the short car {335}
+ That off through West Fourth Street goes winding afar,
+ And away to the Hudson, almost, we shall find
+ A lone-seeming tenement cuddled behind
+ Huge heaps of fresh lumber so piney and sweet,
+ While everything round there is charmingly neat.--
+ Yes, the children are home and as gay as a lark,
+ While the good mother greets us with pleasure;--but hark!
+ A baby-cry comes from the bedroom beyond,
+ And Jenny brings forth a sweet, sunny-haired blonde,
+ Saying: "This is the something we wanted to show you,
+ This two-years-old baby-girl--why, does she know you?
+ She holds out her hands to go to you so soon!"
+ "Ah! she feels we are friendly;--hear now her soft croon.
+ But how came she here, child?" "We found her just over
+ The lumber-yard fence, with a board for a cover,
+ Wrapped up in a blanket marked Bertha." "But why
+ Do you not to the charity mission apply?"
+ "O, we want her ourselves! And the good Lord, through you, {336}
+ Has given us this home, so what else should we do,
+ Than to keep what He sends? And we're sure He sent Berty,
+ In place of our baby that died, little Myrtie!"
+
+ And here these poor people, so poor they were starving
+ When I found them a few months ago, were now halving
+ Their food and their home with this waif and with Benny--
+ For he was an orphan child left by his granny,
+ Who died in an attic just over their room,
+ In the tumble-down house they before-time called home;
+ Though they've four of their own, and the eldest is Jenny,
+ The little street-sweep who would not take the penny,
+ Yet they say, "Benny seems quite as much to belong here,
+ And be one of our children, as if he were born here."
+
+ O, how many rich homes where no child is given,
+ Might be made, for poor orphans, an opening to Heaven! {337}
+ And how many, poorer, might seem to be rich,
+ With a benny or Bertha to fill up the niche
+ That is left 'neath the hundreds of home-roofs all over.
+ Which the Lord has designed some poor orphan shall cover;
+ For He makes His home where His children are moored,--
+ And brings in His wealth where they live by His word;
+ And the meal and the oil there shall never be spent;--
+ What we give to the poor, to the Lord we have lent.
+ A baby to feed, is a baby to love,
+ A child in the house, "a well-spring" from above,--
+ And never forsaken, and ne'er begging bread,
+ Shall be those who take care that His lambs are well fed.
+
+
+{338}
+
+
+_THE HERE, THERE AND EVERYWHERE FAMILY._
+
+
+ Z
+
+ I am always in a buzz,
+ Though I'm never in a fret,
+ But I'm ever with a zealot in his zeal;
+ I am in the zephyr-breath,
+ Yet with zest have often met
+ The zero mark that brings the ice-man weal.
+
+
+ Y
+
+ I've to do with the yoke, but not with the ox;
+ I help every priest in his prayer;
+ I am new every year, and in four months appear,
+ While I yield to the yeoman a share.
+
+
+ X
+
+ I live in a Lexicon,
+ I mark half a score;
+ I ride with a Mexican,
+ In Texas, for lore,
+
+
+{339}
+
+
+ W
+
+ I am in every wing, yet I'm not in a dove;
+ I wait in the swing to be tossed up above.
+ I live in the woods, and I perch on the wall;
+ I am in the wild waves, though I sail in a yawl.
+
+
+ V
+
+ I am mingled with your victuals, yet 'm never in your mouth;
+ I always lead the van and must forever stem the wave;
+ I grow in every gravel bed, East, West, or North, or South,
+ And although I'm with the living, you will find me in the grave.
+
+
+ U
+
+ I live in the urn, but not in the vase,
+ I always can run, but I never can race.
+ I tumble and jump, but I can't hop nor skip;
+ I hide in your mouth, but I ne'er touch your lip.
+
+
+ T
+
+ I'm doubled up in a patty-pan,
+ Yet I never saw a pie;
+ I hide in the boy's first pair of boots,
+ Nor pass his mittens by.
+
+
+{340}
+
+
+ S
+
+ I am always in sadness, yet never know grief;
+ Then, too, I'm in gladness, which gives me relief.
+ I know not the ocean, but swim in the sea,
+ And the stars and the sunshine were not, but for me.
+
+
+ R
+
+ I live at both ends of a river,
+ My home is the center of art;
+ I am found in both arrows and quiver
+ Yet I quietly rest in your heart.
+
+
+ Q
+
+ I lead the queen, yet never walk
+ Without you (u) at my heels;
+ I laugh at every question queer,
+ And joy in piggy's squeals.
+
+
+ P
+
+ I perch on every pepper-pod,
+ I peer in every place;
+ I prance with every palfrey gay,
+ Yet never run nor race.
+
+
+{341}
+
+
+ O
+
+ Listen, children, and you'll hear me in the cooing of the dove;
+ In the lowing of the kine and the crowing of the cocks;
+ I am in your joy and sorrow, and I come to you in love,
+ And you will find me safely hidden in the middle of your box.
+
+
+ N
+
+ I live in the moon, yet I visit the sun,
+ I've twice blest the noon, and I've twice kissed the nun;
+ I was in the beginning, yes, double and treble,
+ And wherever's an end I am always in the middle.
+
+
+ M
+
+ I, too, live in the moon, yet I ne'er saw the sun;
+ I ne'er blessed the noon, and I ne'er kissed a nun.
+ I'm one of the many, and in at each mess,
+ Though I've never a penny, I'm not in distress.
+
+
+ L
+
+ I sing in every lullaby,
+ I'm out in every squall;
+ I ring in every shilling piece,
+ And roll in every ball.
+
+
+{342}
+
+
+ K
+
+ I am baked in a cake, but I never see bread,
+ I can fork hay, and rake, but I can't lie in bed;
+ I can like, but not love; though no doe, I'm with the buck;
+ I'm in kite, but not in dove; and I'm always in luck.
+
+
+ J
+
+ I'm in a baby-jumper, and with joy I laugh and sing,
+ But I quickly find myself shut up in jail,
+ Where I pass my time in jokes, or perhaps in conjuring,
+ Till I lead the Judge, who says I'm "out on bail."
+
+
+ I
+
+ I live in an Inn, yet I never taste beer,
+ I never smoke, chew, or use snuff;
+ I am seen in high life, yet I'm true to my wife,
+ And now I have told you enough.
+
+
+ H
+
+ At the door of a hut I must stand, it is true,
+ Yet of the king's household I'm one;
+ I revel in heather all wet with the dew,
+ And yet I am never in fun.
+
+
+{343}
+
+
+ G
+
+ I grow in grace, yet gayety
+ Would have no place except for me;
+ I greet the gardener with a grin,
+ E'en though I lie the grave within.
+ I'm with the King, yet shun the Queen;
+ I walk in grey, ah! yes in green;
+ I gleam in gold, yet live in gloom,
+ And at a wedding kiss the groom.
+
+
+ F
+
+ I am in the farmer's field,
+ I am fresh in all his fruits;
+ I'm in all his forests wide,
+ But I'm not in his pursuits.
+
+
+ E
+
+ Twice told, I'm in Eternity,
+ And yet I live in time;
+ I eat and sleep in every place,
+ Yet soar in the sublime.
+
+
+ D
+
+ I darken your doors and your windows,
+ And if you are deaf, dumb, or blind,
+ You may know I am always quite ready,
+ Your duds or your dainties to find.
+
+
+{344}
+
+
+ C
+
+ Though I live in the ocean so blue,
+ Yet I never am seen in the sea;
+ I can cast a sheet-anchor, 't is true,
+ And captains depend upon me.
+
+
+ B
+
+ I grow in the bean,
+ And to beauty I lean,
+ And when buttercups bloom I am there;
+ I bend the boy's bow,
+ And the bugle I blow,
+ Till I wake the Kamtchatcadale bear.
+
+
+ A
+
+ I lead out the ape, and I'm seen in the glass;
+ I hide in the grape, and I'm found in the grass.
+ I was there in the garden when Adam was made,
+ Not to help them to sin, though I stood in their shade.
+ You can not have an apple, an orange, a pear,
+ But in each and in all, I must have my full share.
+ You can not eat nor speak, nay, nor hear, without me;
+ That I'm chief among my fellows, you all must agree.
+
+
+{345}
+
+
+_QUIRKS._
+
+
+ A little word of letters five
+ That means bound fast together;
+ Transpose but two, and you will find
+ A scattering yon and hither.
+
+ UNITE--UNTIE.
+
+
+* * * * *
+
+
+ And now a word of letters four
+ Five perfect words will make,
+ If you transpose and rightly place
+ 'Tis true and no mistake.
+
+ LEVI--LIVE--VILE--EVIL--VEIL.
+
+
+* * * * *
+
+
+ Now five are found,
+ With spring and bound
+ A twist or turn to take,
+ And ere we know,
+ All in a row,
+ Five other words they make.
+ The times are bad,
+ The items sad,
+ The mites must meet their fate;
+ To smite the rock
+ Emits a shock
+ That hurls us from the gate.
+
+ TIMES--ITEMS--MITES--SMITE--EMITS.
+
+
+{346}
+
+
+_SOMEBODY'S BOY._
+
+
+ List to the ring of the midnight song!
+ 'Tis somebody's boy;
+ The winds give to every wild echo a tongue.
+ Yes, somebody's boy;
+
+ The witch of the revel has waved her wand
+ Over somebody's boy;
+ And the spirit of evil has clasped the hand
+ Of somebody's boy.
+
+ Comes now a yell on the midnight air
+ From somebody's boy;
+ Reckless, defiant, and devil-may-care,
+ Is somebody's boy.
+
+ Foul is the bed, madly dark the dank cell,
+ Where somebody's boy
+ Is writhing in torture, the veriest hell,
+ Yet, somebody's boy.
+
+ Waiting and watching, a mother's eyes weep
+ For somebody's boy;
+ The vigil, dear Father, O help her to keep!
+ For somebody's boy.
+
+{347}
+
+ Throw round him, and over, thy Spirit to save,--
+ This somebody's boy,
+ Ere fiends for his lost soul shall hollow the grave
+ Of somebody's boy.
+
+ Fill with thy Spirit, too, our hearts we pray,
+ That somebody's boy
+ We may watch for, and snatch from the death-trodden way,
+ Yes, somebody's boy.
+
+
+{348}
+
+
+_THE LADDIE-AND-LASSIE BIRDS._
+
+
+ Come sit with me in the green-wood bower,
+ While I sing you a song of love;--
+ 'Tis the song of the birds
+ In the deep, wild woods,
+ 'Tis the song of the sweet ring-dove.
+
+ The laddie-bird says, "I have come to woo;"
+ And the lassie-bird, "Ah! coo, coo, coo, coo." {349}
+
+ The laddie-bird says, "With a hope to win,"--
+ And the lassie-bird, "Coo, coo, that is no sin."
+
+ The laddie-bird says, "Together we'll dwell,"
+ And the lassie-bird says, "In the Linden dell."
+
+ The laddie-bird says, "And build our nest,"
+ And the lassie-bird says, "In the tree to the West."
+
+ The laddie-bird says, "And raise our brood,"
+ And the lassie-bird says, "In the sweet solitude."
+
+ The laddie-bird says, "Till they're fit to fly,"
+ And the lassie-bird, "Yes, to the blue, blue sky."
+
+ The laddie-bird says, "Let us hie away;"--
+ And the lassie-bird, "Yes, and begin to-day.
+
+ The laddie-bird says, "I will take this moss,"--
+ And the lassie-bird says, "And I, this floss."
+
+{350}
+
+ The laddie-bird says, "And we'll love so true;"
+ And the lassie-bird, "Ah, yes, coo, coo, coo."
+
+ 'Tis the old-new song that the birds have sung,
+ Aye, the birds of every race,
+ Since the world was planned,
+ And came forth from the hand
+ Of the Maker, aglow with grace.
+
+ 'Tis the song they will sing till time is o'er,--
+ 'Tis the stream that from Paradise gushed; {351}
+ And the music that flows
+ When the love-light glows,
+ Will never, no, never be hushed.
+
+
+{352}
+
+
+
+Time
+
+Eternity.
+
+US
+
+
+[Footnote: "The great watchful I is over US through TIME and ETERNITY.]
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Mother Truth's Melodies, by Mrs. E. P. Miller
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MOTHER TRUTH'S MELODIES ***
+
+***** This file should be named 31388.txt or 31388.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+ https://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/3/8/31388/
+
+Produced by Don Kostuch
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
+https://gutenberg.org/license).
+
+
+Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
+paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works. See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+ the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+ you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is
+ owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+ has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+ Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments
+ must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+ prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+ returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+ sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+ address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+ the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+ you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+ does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+ License. You must require such a user to return or
+ destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+ and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+ Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+ money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+ electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+ of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+ distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org.
+
+
+Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
+https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at
+809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
+business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact
+information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
+page at https://pglaf.org
+
+For additional contact information:
+ Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+ Chief Executive and Director
+ gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+
+Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit https://pglaf.org
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including including checks, online payments and credit card
+donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+ https://www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
generated by cgit v1.2.3 (git 2.25.1) at 2026-03-15 17:10:53 +0000