diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:14:25 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:14:25 -0700 |
| commit | 1a8f8d60f8b39427173d84c3a4d7655d2118b7eb (patch) | |
| tree | a8c5e329b6c15cf6702c7d6ce71b7d590fe0101d | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 136-0.txt | 1819 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/136.txt | 2199 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/136.zip | bin | 0 -> 26048 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/old/child10.txt | 2031 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/old/child10.zip | bin | 0 -> 24382 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/old/child11.txt | 2114 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/old/child11.zip | bin | 0 -> 24213 bytes |
10 files changed, 8179 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/136-0.txt b/136-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6f2ccdf --- /dev/null +++ b/136-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1819 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 136 *** + +********************************************************************** +THIS EBOOK WAS ONE OF PROJECT GUTENBERG'S EARLY FILES PRODUCED AT A +TIME WHEN PROOFING METHODS AND TOOLS WERE NOT WELL DEVELOPED. THERE IS +AN IMPROVED EDITION OF THIS TITLE WHICH MAY BE VIEWED AT EBOOK (#28722) +********************************************************************** + + + + + + + + + + +A Child's Garden of Verses + +by + +Robert Louis Stevenson + + + + + To Alison Cunningham + + From Her Boy + + + For the long nights you lay awake + And watched for my unworthy sake: + For your most comfortable hand + That led me through the uneven land: + For all the story-books you read: + For all the pains you comforted: + + For all you pitied, all you bore, + In sad and happy days of yore:-- + My second Mother, my first Wife, + The angel of my infant life-- + From the sick child, now well and old, + Take, nurse, the little book you hold! + + And grant it, Heaven, that all who read + May find as dear a nurse at need, + And every child who lists my rhyme, + In the bright, fireside, nursery clime, + May hear it in as kind a voice + As made my childish days rejoice! + + R. L. S. + + + + + Contents + + To Alison Cunningham + + I Bed in Summer + II A Thought + III At the Sea-Side + IV Young Night-Thought + V Whole Duty of Children + VI Rain + VII Pirate Story + VIII Foreign Lands + IX Windy Nights + X Travel + XI Singing + XII Looking Forward + XIII A Good Play + XIV Where Go the Boats? + XV Auntie's Skirts + XVI The Land of Counterpane + XVII The Land of Nod + XVIII My Shadow + XIX System + XX A Good Boy + XXI Escape at Bedtime + XXII Marching Song + XXIII The Cow + XXIV The Happy Thought + XXV The Wind + XXVI Keepsake Mill + XXVII Good and Bad Children + XXVIII Foreign Children + XXIX The Sun Travels + XXX The Lamplighter + XXXI My Bed is a Boat + XXXII The Moon + XXXIII The Swing + XXXIV Time to Rise + XXXV Looking-Glass River + XXXVI Fairy Bread + XXXVII From a Railway Carriage + XXXVIII Winter-Time + XXXIX The Hayloft + XL Farewell to the Farm + XLI North-West Passage + 1. Good-Night + 2. Shadow March + 3. In Port + + + + + The Child Alone + + I The Unseen Playmate + II My Ship and I + III My Kingdom + IV Picture-Books in Winter + V My Treasures + VI Block City + VII The Land of Story-Books + VIII Armies in the Fire + IX The Little Land + + + + + Garden Days + + I Night and Day + II Nest Eggs + III The Flowers + IV Summer Sun + V The Dumb Soldier + VI Autumn Fires + VII The Gardener + VIII Historical Associations + + + Envoys + + I To Willie and Henrietta + II To My Mother + III To Auntie + IV To Minnie + V To My Name-Child + VI To Any Reader + + + + A Child's Garden of Verses + + + + I + Bed in Summer + + In winter I get up at night + And dress by yellow candle-light. + In summer quite the other way, + I have to go to bed by day. + + I have to go to bed and see + The birds still hopping on the tree, + Or hear the grown-up people's feet + Still going past me in the street. + + And does it not seem hard to you, + When all the sky is clear and blue, + And I should like so much to play, + To have to go to bed by day? + + II + A Thought + + It is very nice to think + The world is full of meat and drink, + With little children saying grace + In every Christian kind of place. + + + III + At the Sea-Side + + When I was down beside the sea + A wooden spade they gave to me + To dig the sandy shore. + + My holes were empty like a cup. + In every hole the sea came up, + Till it could come no more. + + + IV + Young Night-Thought + + All night long and every night, + When my mama puts out the light, + I see the people marching by, + As plain as day before my eye. + + Armies and emperor and kings, + All carrying different kinds of things, + And marching in so grand a way, + You never saw the like by day. + + So fine a show was never seen + At the great circus on the green; + For every kind of beast and man + Is marching in that caravan. + + As first they move a little slow, + But still the faster on they go, + And still beside me close I keep + Until we reach the town of Sleep. + + + V + Whole Duty of Children + + A child should always say what's true + And speak when he is spoken to, + And behave mannerly at table; + At least as far as he is able. + + + VI + Rain + + The rain is falling all around, + It falls on field and tree, + It rains on the umbrellas here, + And on the ships at sea. + + + VII + Pirate Story + + Three of us afloat in the meadow by the swing, + Three of us abroad in the basket on the lea. + Winds are in the air, they are blowing in the spring, + And waves are on the meadow like the waves there are at sea. + + Where shall we adventure, to-day that we're afloat, + Wary of the weather and steering by a star? + Shall it be to Africa, a-steering of the boat, + To Providence, or Babylon or off to Malabar? + + Hi! but here's a squadron a-rowing on the sea-- + Cattle on the meadow a-charging with a roar! + Quick, and we'll escape them, they're as mad as they can be, + The wicket is the harbour and the garden is the shore. + + + VIII + Foreign Lands + + Up into the cherry tree + Who should climb but little me? + I held the trunk with both my hands + And looked abroad in foreign lands. + + I saw the next door garden lie, + Adorned with flowers, before my eye, + And many pleasant places more + That I had never seen before. + + I saw the dimpling river pass + And be the sky's blue looking-glass; + The dusty roads go up and down + With people tramping in to town. + + If I could find a higher tree + Farther and farther I should see, + To where the grown-up river slips + Into the sea among the ships, + + To where the roads on either hand + Lead onward into fairy land, + Where all the children dine at five, + And all the playthings come alive. + + IX + Windy Nights + + Whenever the moon and stars are set, + Whenever the wind is high, + All night long in the dark and wet, + A man goes riding by. + Late in the night when the fires are out, + Why does he gallop and gallop about? + + Whenever the trees are crying aloud, + And ships are tossed at sea, + By, on the highway, low and loud, + By at the gallop goes he. + By at the gallop he goes, and then + By he comes back at the gallop again. + + + X + Travel + + I should like to rise and go + Where the golden apples grow;-- + Where below another sky + Parrot islands anchored lie, + And, watched by cockatoos and goats, + Lonely Crusoes building boats;-- + Where in sunshine reaching out + Eastern cities, miles about, + Are with mosque and minaret + Among sandy gardens set, + And the rich goods from near and far + Hang for sale in the bazaar;-- + Where the Great Wall round China goes, + And on one side the desert blows, + And with the voice and bell and drum, + Cities on the other hum;-- + Where are forests hot as fire, + Wide as England, tall as a spire, + Full of apes and cocoa-nuts + And the negro hunters' huts;-- + Where the knotty crocodile + Lies and blinks in the Nile, + And the red flamingo flies + Hunting fish before his eyes;-- + Where in jungles near and far, + Man-devouring tigers are, + Lying close and giving ear + Lest the hunt be drawing near, + Or a comer-by be seen + Swinging in the palanquin;-- + Where among the desert sands + Some deserted city stands, + All its children, sweep and prince, + Grown to manhood ages since, + Not a foot in street or house, + Not a stir of child or mouse, + And when kindly falls the night, + In all the town no spark of light. + There I'll come when I'm a man + With a camel caravan; + Light a fire in the gloom + Of some dusty dining room; + See the pictures on the walls, + Heroes, fights and festivals; + And in a corner find the toys + Of the old Egyptian boys. + + + XI + Singing + + Of speckled eggs the birdie sings + And nests among the trees; + The sailor sings of ropes and things + In ships upon the seas. + + The children sing in far Japan, + The children sing in Spain; + The organ with the organ man + Is singing in the rain. + + + XII + Looking Forward + + When I am grown to man's estate + I shall be very proud and great, + And tell the other girls and boys + Not to meddle with my toys. + + + XIII + A Good Play + + We built a ship upon the stairs + All made of the back-bedroom chairs, + And filled it full of sofa pillows + To go a-sailing on the billows. + + We took a saw and several nails, + And water in the nursery pails; + And Tom said, "Let us also take + An apple and a slice of cake;"-- + Which was enough for Tom and me + To go a-sailing on, till tea. + + We sailed along for days and days, + And had the very best of plays; + But Tom fell out and hurt his knee, + So there was no one left but me. + + XIV + Where Go the Boats? + + Dark brown is the river, + Golden is the sand. + It flows along for ever, + With trees on either hand. + + Green leaves a-floating, + Castles of the foam, + Boats of mine a-boating-- + Where will all come home? + + On goes the river + And out past the mill, + Away down the valley, + Away down the hill. + + Away down the river, + A hundred miles or more, + Other little children + Shall bring my boats ashore. + + + XV + Auntie's Skirts + + Whenever Auntie moves around, + Her dresses make a curious sound, + They trail behind her up the floor, + And trundle after through the door. + + + XVI + The Land of Counterpane + + When I was sick and lay a-bed, + I had two pillows at my head, + And all my toys beside me lay, + To keep me happy all the day. + + And sometimes for an hour or so + I watched my leaden soldiers go, + With different uniforms and drills, + Among the bed-clothes, through the hills; + + And sometimes sent my ships in fleets + All up and down among the sheets; + Or brought my trees and houses out, + And planted cities all about. + + I was the giant great and still + That sits upon the pillow-hill, + And sees before him, dale and plain, + The pleasant land of counterpane. + + + XVII + The Land of Nod + + From breakfast on through all the day + At home among my friends I stay, + But every night I go abroad + Afar into the land of Nod. + + All by myself I have to go, + With none to tell me what to do-- + All alone beside the streams + And up the mountain-sides of dreams. + + The strangest things are these for me, + Both things to eat and things to see, + And many frightening sights abroad + Till morning in the land of Nod. + + Try as I like to find the way, + I never can get back by day, + Nor can remember plain and clear + The curious music that I hear. + + + XVIII + My Shadow + + I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me, + And what can be the use of him is more than I can see. + He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head; + And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed. + + The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow-- + Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow; + For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball, + And he sometimes goes so little that there's none of him at all. + + He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play, + And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way. + He stays so close behind me, he's a coward you can see; + I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me! + + One morning, very early, before the sun was up, + I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup; + But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head, + Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed. + + + XIX + System + + Every night my prayers I say, + And get my dinner every day; + And every day that I've been good, + I get an orange after food. + + The child that is not clean and neat, + With lots of toys and things to eat, + He is a naughty child, I'm sure-- + Or else his dear papa is poor. + + + XX + A Good Boy + + I woke before the morning, I was happy all the day, + I never said an ugly word, but smiled and stuck to play. + + And now at last the sun is going down behind the wood, + And I am very happy, for I know that I've been good. + + My bed is waiting cool and fresh, with linen smooth and fair, + And I must be off to sleepsin-by, and not forget my prayer. + + I know that, till to-morrow I shall see the sun arise, + No ugly dream shall fright my mind, no ugly sight my eyes. + + But slumber hold me tightly till I waken in the dawn, + And hear the thrushes singing in the lilacs round the lawn. + + + XXI + Escape at Bedtime + + The lights from the parlour and kitchen shone out + Through the blinds and the windows and bars; + And high overhead and all moving about, + There were thousands of millions of stars. + There ne'er were such thousands of leaves on a tree, + Nor of people in church or the Park, + As the crowds of the stars that looked down upon me, + And that glittered and winked in the dark. + + The Dog, and the Plough, and the Hunter, and all, + And the star of the sailor, and Mars, + These shown in the sky, and the pail by the wall + Would be half full of water and stars. + They saw me at last, and they chased me with cries, + And they soon had me packed into bed; + But the glory kept shining and bright in my eyes, + And the stars going round in my head. + + + XXII + Marching Song + + Bring the comb and play upon it! + Marching, here we come! + Willie cocks his highland bonnet, + Johnnie beats the drum. + + Mary Jane commands the party, + Peter leads the rear; + Feet in time, alert and hearty, + Each a Grenadier! + + All in the most martial manner + Marching double-quick; + While the napkin, like a banner, + Waves upon the stick! + + Here's enough of fame and pillage, + Great commander Jane! + Now that we've been round the village, + Let's go home again. + + + XXIII + The Cow + + The friendly cow all red and white, + I love with all my heart: + She gives me cream with all her might, + To eat with apple-tart. + + She wanders lowing here and there, + And yet she cannot stray, + All in the pleasant open air, + The pleasant light of day; + + And blown by all the winds that pass + And wet with all the showers, + She walks among the meadow grass + And eats the meadow flowers. + + + XXIV + Happy Thought + + The world is so full of a number of things, + I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings. + + + XXV + The Wind + + I saw you toss the kites on high + And blow the birds about the sky; + And all around I heard you pass, + Like ladies' skirts across the grass-- + O wind, a-blowing all day long, + O wind, that sings so loud a song! + + I saw the different things you did, + But always you yourself you hid. + I felt you push, I heard you call, + I could not see yourself at all-- + O wind, a-blowing all day long, + O wind, that sings so loud a song! + + O you that are so strong and cold, + O blower, are you young or old? + Are you a beast of field and tree, + Or just a stronger child than me? + O wind, a-blowing all day long, + O wind, that sings so loud a song! + + + XXVI + Keepsake Mill + + Over the borders, a sin without pardon, + Breaking the branches and crawling below, + Out through the breach in the wall of the garden, + Down by the banks of the river we go. + + Here is a mill with the humming of thunder, + Here is the weir with the wonder of foam, + Here is the sluice with the race running under-- + Marvellous places, though handy to home! + + Sounds of the village grow stiller and stiller, + Stiller the note of the birds on the hill; + Dusty and dim are the eyes of the miller, + Deaf are his ears with the moil of the mill. + + Years may go by, and the wheel in the river + Wheel as it wheels for us, children, to-day, + Wheel and keep roaring and foaming for ever + Long after all of the boys are away. + + Home for the Indies and home from the ocean, + Heroes and soldiers we all will come home; + Still we shall find the old mill wheel in motion, + Turning and churning that river to foam. + + You with the bean that I gave when we quarrelled, + I with your marble of Saturday last, + Honoured and old and all gaily apparelled, + Here we shall meet and remember the past. + + + XXVII + Good and Bad Children + + Children, you are very little, + And your bones are very brittle; + If you would grow great and stately, + You must try to walk sedately. + + You must still be bright and quiet, + And content with simple diet; + And remain, through all bewild'ring, + Innocent and honest children. + + Happy hearts and happy faces, + Happy play in grassy places-- + That was how in ancient ages, + Children grew to kings and sages. + + But the unkind and the unruly, + And the sort who eat unduly, + They must never hope for glory-- + Theirs is quite a different story! + + Cruel children, crying babies, + All grow up as geese and gabies, + Hated, as their age increases, + By their nephews and their nieces. + + + XXVIII + Foreign Children + + Little Indian, Sioux, or Crow, + Little frosty Eskimo, + Little Turk or Japanee, + Oh! don't you wish that you were me? + + You have seen the scarlet trees + And the lions over seas; + You have eaten ostrich eggs, + And turned the turtles off their legs. + + Such a life is very fine, + But it's not so nice as mine: + You must often as you trod, + Have wearied NOT to be abroad. + + You have curious things to eat, + I am fed on proper meat; + You must dwell upon the foam, + But I am safe and live at home. + Little Indian, Sioux or Crow, + Little frosty Eskimo, + Little Turk or Japanee, + Oh! don't you wish that you were me? + + + XXIX + The Sun Travels + + The sun is not a-bed, when I + At night upon my pillow lie; + Still round the earth his way he takes, + And morning after morning makes. + + While here at home, in shining day, + We round the sunny garden play, + Each little Indian sleepy-head + Is being kissed and put to bed. + + And when at eve I rise from tea, + Day dawns beyond the Atlantic Sea; + And all the children in the west + Are getting up and being dressed. + + + XXX + The Lamplighter + + My tea is nearly ready and the sun has left the sky. + It's time to take the window to see Leerie going by; + For every night at teatime and before you take your seat, + With lantern and with ladder he comes posting up the street. + + Now Tom would be a driver and Maria go to sea, + And my papa's a banker and as rich as he can be; + But I, when I am stronger and can choose what I'm to do, + O Leerie, I'll go round at night and light the lamps with you! + + For we are very lucky, with a lamp before the door, + And Leerie stops to light it as he lights so many more; + And oh! before you hurry by with ladder and with light; + O Leerie, see a little child and nod to him to-night! + + + XXXI + My Bed is a Boat + + My bed is like a little boat; + Nurse helps me in when I embark; + She girds me in my sailor's coat + And starts me in the dark. + + At night I go on board and say + Good-night to all my friends on shore; + I shut my eyes and sail away + And see and hear no more. + + And sometimes things to bed I take, + As prudent sailors have to do; + Perhaps a slice of wedding-cake, + Perhaps a toy or two. + + All night across the dark we steer; + But when the day returns at last, + Safe in my room beside the pier, + I find my vessel fast. + + + XXXII + The Moon + + The moon has a face like the clock in the hall; + She shines on thieves on the garden wall, + On streets and fields and harbour quays, + And birdies asleep in the forks of the trees. + + The squalling cat and the squeaking mouse, + The howling dog by the door of the house, + The bat that lies in bed at noon, + All love to be out by the light of the moon. + + But all of the things that belong to the day + Cuddle to sleep to be out of her way; + And flowers and children close their eyes + Till up in the morning the sun shall arise. + + + XXXIII + The Swing + + How do you like to go up in a swing, + Up in the air so blue? + Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing + Ever a child can do! + + Up in the air and over the wall, + Till I can see so wide, + River and trees and cattle and all + Over the countryside-- + + Till I look down on the garden green, + Down on the roof so brown-- + Up in the air I go flying again, + Up in the air and down! + + + XXXIV + Time to Rise + + A birdie with a yellow bill + Hopped upon my window sill, + Cocked his shining eye and said: + "Ain't you 'shamed, you sleepy-head!" + + + XXXV + Looking-Glass River + + Smooth it glides upon its travel, + Here a wimple, there a gleam-- + O the clean gravel! + O the smooth stream! + + Sailing blossoms, silver fishes, + Paven pools as clear as air-- + How a child wishes + To live down there! + + We can see our colored faces + Floating on the shaken pool + Down in cool places, + Dim and very cool; + + Till a wind or water wrinkle, + Dipping marten, plumping trout, + Spreads in a twinkle + And blots all out. + + See the rings pursue each other; + All below grows black as night, + Just as if mother + Had blown out the light! + + Patience, children, just a minute-- + See the spreading circles die; + The stream and all in it + Will clear by-and-by. + + + XXXVI + Fairy Bread + + Come up here, O dusty feet! + Here is fairy bread to eat. + Here in my retiring room, + Children, you may dine + On the golden smell of broom + And the shade of pine; + And when you have eaten well, + Fairy stories hear and tell. + + + XXXVII + From a Railway Carriage + + Faster than fairies, faster than witches, + Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches; + And charging along like troops in a battle + All through the meadows the horses and cattle: + All of the sights of the hill and the plain + Fly as thick as driving rain; + And ever again, in the wink of an eye, + Painted stations whistle by. + + Here is a child who clambers and scrambles, + All by himself and gathering brambles; + Here is a tramp who stands and gazes; + And here is the green for stringing the daisies! + Here is a cart run away in the road + Lumping along with man and load; + And here is a mill, and there is a river: + Each a glimpse and gone forever! + + XXXVIII + Winter-Time + + Late lies the wintry sun a-bed, + A frosty, fiery sleepy-head; + Blinks but an hour or two; and then, + A blood-red orange, sets again. + + Before the stars have left the skies, + At morning in the dark I rise; + And shivering in my nakedness, + By the cold candle, bathe and dress. + + Close by the jolly fire I sit + To warm my frozen bones a bit; + Or with a reindeer-sled, explore + The colder countries round the door. + + When to go out, my nurse doth wrap + Me in my comforter and cap; + The cold wind burns my face, and blows + Its frosty pepper up my nose. + + Black are my steps on silver sod; + Thick blows my frosty breath abroad; + And tree and house, and hill and lake, + Are frosted like a wedding cake. + + + XXXIX + The Hayloft + + Through all the pleasant meadow-side + The grass grew shoulder-high, + Till the shining scythes went far and wide + And cut it down to dry. + + Those green and sweetly smelling crops + They led in waggons home; + And they piled them here in mountain tops + For mountaineers to roam. + + Here is Mount Clear, Mount Rusty-Nail, + Mount Eagle and Mount High;-- + The mice that in these mountains dwell, + No happier are than I! + + Oh, what a joy to clamber there, + Oh, what a place for play, + With the sweet, the dim, the dusty air, + The happy hills of hay! + + + XL + Farewell to the Farm + + The coach is at the door at last; + The eager children, mounting fast + And kissing hands, in chorus sing: + Good-bye, good-bye, to everything! + + To house and garden, field and lawn, + The meadow-gates we swang upon, + To pump and stable, tree and swing, + Good-bye, good-bye, to everything! + + And fare you well for evermore, + O ladder at the hayloft door, + O hayloft where the cobwebs cling, + Good-bye, good-bye, to everything! + + Crack goes the whip, and off we go; + The trees and houses smaller grow; + Last, round the woody turn we sing: + Good-bye, good-bye, to everything! + + + XLI + North-West Passage + + 1. Good-Night + + When the bright lamp is carried in, + The sunless hours again begin; + O'er all without, in field and lane, + The haunted night returns again. + + Now we behold the embers flee + About the firelit hearth; and see + Our faces painted as we pass, + Like pictures, on the window glass. + + Must we to bed indeed? Well then, + Let us arise and go like men, + And face with an undaunted tread + The long black passage up to bed. + + Farewell, O brother, sister, sire! + O pleasant party round the fire! + The songs you sing, the tales you tell, + Till far to-morrow, fare you well! + + + 2. Shadow March + + All around the house is the jet-black night; + It stares through the window-pane; + It crawls in the corners, hiding from the light, + And it moves with the moving flame. + + Now my little heart goes a beating like a drum, + With the breath of the Bogies in my hair; + And all around the candle the crooked shadows come, + And go marching along up the stair. + + The shadow of the balusters, the shadow of the lamp, + The shadow of the child that goes to bed-- + All the wicked shadows coming tramp, tramp, tramp, + With the black night overhead. + + + 3. In Port + + Last, to the chamber where I lie + My fearful footsteps patter nigh, + And come out from the cold and gloom + Into my warm and cheerful room. + + There, safe arrived, we turn about + To keep the coming shadows out, + And close the happy door at last + On all the perils that we past. + + Then, when mamma goes by to bed, + She shall come in with tip-toe tread, + And see me lying warm and fast + And in the land of Nod at last. + + + + + THE CHILD ALONE + + + I + The Unseen Playmate + + When children are playing alone on the green, + In comes the playmate that never was seen. + When children are happy and lonely and good, + The Friend of the Children comes out of the wood. + + Nobody heard him, and nobody saw, + His is a picture you never could draw, + But he's sure to be present, abroad or at home, + When children are happy and playing alone. + + He lies in the laurels, he runs on the grass, + He sings when you tinkle the musical glass; + Whene'er you are happy and cannot tell why, + The Friend of the Children is sure to be by! + + He loves to be little, he hates to be big, + 'Tis he that inhabits the caves that you dig; + 'Tis he when you play with your soldiers of tin + That sides with the Frenchmen and never can win. + + 'Tis he, when at night you go off to your bed, + Bids you go to sleep and not trouble your head; + For wherever they're lying, in cupboard or shelf, + 'Tis he will take care of your playthings himself! + + + II + My Ship and I + + O it's I that am the captain of a tidy little ship, + Of a ship that goes a sailing on the pond; + And my ship it keeps a-turning all around and all about; + But when I'm a little older, I shall find the secret out + How to send my vessel sailing on beyond. + + For I mean to grow as little as the dolly at the helm, + And the dolly I intend to come alive; + And with him beside to help me, it's a-sailing I shall go, + It's a-sailing on the water, when the jolly breezes blow + And the vessel goes a divie-divie-dive. + + O it's then you'll see me sailing through the rushes and the reeds, + And you'll hear the water singing at the prow; + For beside the dolly sailor, I'm to voyage and explore, + To land upon the island where no dolly was before, + And to fire the penny cannon in the bow. + + + III + My Kingdom + + Down by a shining water well + I found a very little dell, + No higher than my head. + The heather and the gorse about + In summer bloom were coming out, + Some yellow and some red. + + I called the little pool a sea; + The little hills were big to me; + For I am very small. + I made a boat, I made a town, + I searched the caverns up and down, + And named them one and all. + + And all about was mine, I said, + The little sparrows overhead, + The little minnows too. + This was the world and I was king; + For me the bees came by to sing, + For me the swallows flew. + + I played there were no deeper seas, + Nor any wider plains than these, + Nor other kings than me. + At last I heard my mother call + Out from the house at evenfall, + To call me home to tea. + + And I must rise and leave my dell, + And leave my dimpled water well, + And leave my heather blooms. + Alas! and as my home I neared, + How very big my nurse appeared. + How great and cool the rooms! + + + IV + Picture-Books in Winter + + Summer fading, winter comes-- + Frosty mornings, tingling thumbs, + Window robins, winter rooks, + And the picture story-books. + + Water now is turned to stone + Nurse and I can walk upon; + Still we find the flowing brooks + In the picture story-books. + + All the pretty things put by, + Wait upon the children's eye, + Sheep and shepherds, trees and crooks, + In the picture story-books. + + We may see how all things are + Seas and cities, near and far, + And the flying fairies' looks, + In the picture story-books. + + How am I to sing your praise, + Happy chimney-corner days, + Sitting safe in nursery nooks, + Reading picture story-books? + + + V + My Treasures + + These nuts, that I keep in the back of the nest, + Where all my tin soldiers are lying at rest, + Were gathered in Autumn by nursie and me + In a wood with a well by the side of the sea. + + This whistle we made (and how clearly it sounds!) + By the side of a field at the end of the grounds. + Of a branch of a plane, with a knife of my own, + It was nursie who made it, and nursie alone! + + The stone, with the white and the yellow and grey, + We discovered I cannot tell HOW far away; + And I carried it back although weary and cold, + For though father denies it, I'm sure it is gold. + + But of all my treasures the last is the king, + For there's very few children possess such a thing; + And that is a chisel, both handle and blade, + Which a man who was really a carpenter made. + + + VI + Block City + + What are you able to build with your blocks? + Castles and palaces, temples and docks. + Rain may keep raining, and others go roam, + But I can be happy and building at home. + + Let the sofa be mountains, the carpet be sea, + There I'll establish a city for me: + A kirk and a mill and a palace beside, + And a harbour as well where my vessels may ride. + + Great is the palace with pillar and wall, + A sort of a tower on the top of it all, + And steps coming down in an orderly way + To where my toy vessels lie safe in the bay. + + This one is sailing and that one is moored: + Hark to the song of the sailors aboard! + And see, on the steps of my palace, the kings + Coming and going with presents and things! + + Now I have done with it, down let it go! + All in a moment the town is laid low. + Block upon block lying scattered and free, + What is there left of my town by the sea? + + Yet as I saw it, I see it again, + The kirk and the palace, the ships and the men, + And as long as I live and where'er I may be, + I'll always remember my town by the sea. + + + VII + The Land of Story-Books + + At evening when the lamp is lit, + Around the fire my parents sit; + They sit at home and talk and sing, + And do not play at anything. + + Now, with my little gun, I crawl + All in the dark along the wall, + And follow round the forest track + Away behind the sofa back. + + There, in the night, where none can spy, + All in my hunter's camp I lie, + And play at books that I have read + Till it is time to go to bed. + + These are the hills, these are the woods, + These are my starry solitudes; + And there the river by whose brink + The roaring lions come to drink. + + I see the others far away + As if in firelit camp they lay, + And I, like to an Indian scout, + Around their party prowled about. + + So when my nurse comes in for me, + Home I return across the sea, + And go to bed with backward looks + At my dear land of Story-books. + + + VIII + Armies in the Fire + + The lamps now glitter down the street; + Faintly sound the falling feet; + And the blue even slowly falls + About the garden trees and walls. + + Now in the falling of the gloom + The red fire paints the empty room: + And warmly on the roof it looks, + And flickers on the back of books. + + Armies march by tower and spire + Of cities blazing, in the fire;-- + Till as I gaze with staring eyes, + The armies fade, the lustre dies. + + Then once again the glow returns; + Again the phantom city burns; + And down the red-hot valley, lo! + The phantom armies marching go! + + Blinking embers, tell me true + Where are those armies marching to, + And what the burning city is + That crumbles in your furnaces! + + + IX + The Little Land + + When at home alone I sit + And am very tired of it, + I have just to shut my eyes + To go sailing through the skies-- + To go sailing far away + To the pleasant Land of Play; + To the fairy land afar + Where the Little People are; + Where the clover-tops are trees, + And the rain-pools are the seas, + And the leaves, like little ships, + Sail about on tiny trips; + And above the Daisy tree + Through the grasses, + High o'erhead the Bumble Bee + Hums and passes. + + In that forest to and fro + I can wander, I can go; + See the spider and the fly, + And the ants go marching by, + Carrying parcels with their feet + Down the green and grassy street. + I can in the sorrel sit + Where the ladybird alit. + I can climb the jointed grass + And on high + See the greater swallows pass + In the sky, + And the round sun rolling by + Heeding no such things as I. + + Through that forest I can pass + Till, as in a looking-glass, + Humming fly and daisy tree + And my tiny self I see, + Painted very clear and neat + On the rain-pool at my feet. + Should a leaflet come to land + Drifting near to where I stand, + Straight I'll board that tiny boat + Round the rain-pool sea to float. + + Little thoughtful creatures sit + On the grassy coasts of it; + Little things with lovely eyes + See me sailing with surprise. + Some are clad in armour green-- + (These have sure to battle been!)-- + Some are pied with ev'ry hue, + Black and crimson, gold and blue; + Some have wings and swift are gone;-- + But they all look kindly on. + + When my eyes I once again + Open, and see all things plain: + High bare walls, great bare floor; + Great big knobs on drawer and door; + Great big people perched on chairs, + Stitching tucks and mending tears, + Each a hill that I could climb, + And talking nonsense all the time-- + O dear me, + That I could be + A sailor on a the rain-pool sea, + A climber in the clover tree, + And just come back a sleepy-head, + Late at night to go to bed. + + + + + Garden Days + + + I + Night and Day + + When the golden day is done, + Through the closing portal, + Child and garden, flower and sun, + Vanish all things mortal. + + As the building shadows fall + As the rays diminish, + Under evening's cloak they all + Roll away and vanish. + + Garden darkened, daisy shut, + Child in bed, they slumber-- + Glow-worm in the hallway rut, + Mice among the lumber. + + In the darkness houses shine, + Parents move the candles; + Till on all the night divine + Turns the bedroom handles. + + Till at last the day begins + In the east a-breaking, + In the hedges and the whins + Sleeping birds a-waking. + + In the darkness shapes of things, + Houses, trees and hedges, + Clearer grow; and sparrow's wings + Beat on window ledges. + + These shall wake the yawning maid; + She the door shall open-- + Finding dew on garden glade + And the morning broken. + + There my garden grows again + Green and rosy painted, + As at eve behind the pane + From my eyes it fainted. + + Just as it was shut away, + Toy-like, in the even, + Here I see it glow with day + Under glowing heaven. + + Every path and every plot, + Every blush of roses, + Every blue forget-me-not + Where the dew reposes, + + "Up!" they cry, "the day is come + On the smiling valleys: + We have beat the morning drum; + Playmate, join your allies!" + + + II + Nest Eggs + + Birds all the sunny day + Flutter and quarrel + Here in the arbour-like + Tent of the laurel. + + Here in the fork + The brown nest is seated; + Four little blue eggs + The mother keeps heated. + + While we stand watching her + Staring like gabies, + Safe in each egg are the + Bird's little babies. + + Soon the frail eggs they shall + Chip, and upspringing + Make all the April woods + Merry with singing. + + Younger than we are, + O children, and frailer, + Soon in the blue air they'll be, + Singer and sailor. + + We, so much older, + Taller and stronger, + We shall look down on the + Birdies no longer. + + They shall go flying + With musical speeches + High overhead in the + Tops of the beeches. + + In spite of our wisdom + And sensible talking, + We on our feet must go + Plodding and walking. + + III + The Flowers + + All the names I know from nurse: + Gardener's garters, Shepherd's purse, + Bachelor's buttons, Lady's smock, + And the Lady Hollyhock. + + Fairy places, fairy things, + Fairy woods where the wild bee wings, + Tiny trees for tiny dames-- + These must all be fairy names! + + Tiny woods below whose boughs + Shady fairies weave a house; + Tiny tree-tops, rose or thyme, + Where the braver fairies climb! + + Fair are grown-up people's trees, + But the fairest woods are these; + Where, if I were not so tall, + I should live for good and all. + + + IV + Summer Sun + + Great is the sun, and wide he goes + Through empty heaven with repose; + And in the blue and glowing days + More thick than rain he showers his rays. + + Though closer still the blinds we pull + To keep the shady parlour cool, + Yet he will find a chink or two + To slip his golden fingers through. + + The dusty attic spider-clad + He, through the keyhole, maketh glad; + And through the broken edge of tiles + Into the laddered hay-loft smiles. + + Meantime his golden face around + He bares to all the garden ground, + And sheds a warm and glittering look + Among the ivy's inmost nook. + + Above the hills, along the blue, + Round the bright air with footing true, + To please the child, to paint the rose, + The gardener of the World, he goes. + + + V + The Dumb Soldier + When the grass was closely mown, + Walking on the lawn alone, + In the turf a hole I found, + And hid a soldier underground. + + Spring and daisies came apace; + Grasses hide my hiding place; + Grasses run like a green sea + O'er the lawn up to my knee. + + Under grass alone he lies, + Looking up with leaden eyes, + Scarlet coat and pointed gun, + To the stars and to the sun. + + When the grass is ripe like grain, + When the scythe is stoned again, + When the lawn is shaven clear, + Then my hole shall reappear. + + I shall find him, never fear, + I shall find my grenadier; + But for all that's gone and come, + I shall find my soldier dumb. + + He has lived, a little thing, + In the grassy woods of spring; + Done, if he could tell me true, + Just as I should like to do. + + He has seen the starry hours + And the springing of the flowers; + And the fairy things that pass + In the forests of the grass. + + In the silence he has heard + Talking bee and ladybird, + And the butterfly has flown + O'er him as he lay alone. + + Not a word will he disclose, + Not a word of all he knows. + I must lay him on the shelf, + And make up the tale myself. + + + VI + Autumn Fires + + In the other gardens + And all up the vale, + From the autumn bonfires + See the smoke trail! + + Pleasant summer over + And all the summer flowers, + The red fire blazes, + The grey smoke towers. + + Sing a song of seasons! + Something bright in all! + Flowers in the summer, + Fires in the fall! + + + VII + The Gardener + + The gardener does not love to talk. + He makes me keep the gravel walk; + And when he puts his tools away, + He locks the door and takes the key. + + Away behind the currant row, + Where no one else but cook may go, + Far in the plots, I see him dig, + Old and serious, brown and big. + + He digs the flowers, green, red, and blue, + Nor wishes to be spoken to. + He digs the flowers and cuts the hay, + And never seems to want to play. + + Silly gardener! summer goes, + And winter comes with pinching toes, + When in the garden bare and brown + You must lay your barrow down. + + Well now, and while the summer stays, + To profit by these garden days + O how much wiser you would be + To play at Indian wars with me! + + + VIII + Historical Associations + + Dear Uncle Jim, this garden ground + That now you smoke your pipe around, + Has seen immortal actions done + And valiant battles lost and won. + + Here we had best on tip-toe tread, + While I for safety march ahead, + For this is that enchanted ground + Where all who loiter slumber sound. + + Here is the sea, here is the sand, + Here is simple Shepherd's Land, + Here are the fairy hollyhocks, + And there are Ali Baba's rocks. + + But yonder, see! apart and high, + Frozen Siberia lies; where I, + With Robert Bruce and William Tell, + Was bound by an enchanter's spell. + + + + + ENVOYS + + + I + To Willie and Henrietta + + If two may read aright + These rhymes of old delight + And house and garden play, + You two, my cousins, and you only, may. + + You in a garden green + With me were king and queen, + Were hunter, soldier, tar, + And all the thousand things that children are. + + Now in the elders' seat + We rest with quiet feet, + And from the window-bay + We watch the children, our successors, play. + + "Time was," the golden head + Irrevocably said; + But time which one can bind, + While flowing fast away, leaves love behind. + + + II + To My Mother + + You too, my mother, read my rhymes + For love of unforgotten times, + And you may chance to hear once more + The little feet along the floor. + + + III + To Auntie + + "Chief of our aunts"--not only I, + But all your dozen of nurselings cry-- + "What did the other children do? + And what were childhood, wanting you?" + + + IV + To Minnie + The red room with the giant bed + Where none but elders laid their head; + The little room where you and I + Did for awhile together lie + And, simple suitor, I your hand + In decent marriage did demand; + The great day nursery, best of all, + With pictures pasted on the wall + And leaves upon the blind-- + A pleasant room wherein to wake + And hear the leafy garden shake + And rustle in the wind-- + And pleasant there to lie in bed + And see the pictures overhead-- + The wars about Sebastopol, + The grinning guns along the wall, + The daring escalade, + The plunging ships, the bleating sheep, + The happy children ankle-deep + And laughing as they wade: + All these are vanished clean away, + And the old manse is changed to-day; + It wears an altered face + And shields a stranger race. + The river, on from mill to mill, + Flows past our childhood's garden still; + But ah! we children never more + Shall watch it from the water-door! + Below the yew--it still is there-- + Our phantom voices haunt the air + As we were still at play, + And I can hear them call and say: + "How far is it to Babylon?" + + Ah, far enough, my dear, + Far, far enough from here-- + Yet you have farther gone! + "Can I get there by candlelight?" + So goes the old refrain. + I do not know--perchance you might-- + But only, children, hear it right, + Ah, never to return again! + The eternal dawn, beyond a doubt, + Shall break on hill and plain, + And put all stars and candles out + Ere we be young again. + + To you in distant India, these + I send across the seas, + Nor count it far across. + For which of us forgets + The Indian cabinets, + The bones of antelope, the wings of albatross, + The pied and painted birds and beans, + The junks and bangles, beads and screens, + The gods and sacred bells, + And the loud-humming, twisted shells! + The level of the parlour floor + Was honest, homely, Scottish shore; + But when we climbed upon a chair, + Behold the gorgeous East was there! + Be this a fable; and behold + Me in the parlour as of old, + And Minnie just above me set + In the quaint Indian cabinet! + Smiling and kind, you grace a shelf + Too high for me to reach myself. + Reach down a hand, my dear, and take + These rhymes for old acquaintance' sake! + + + + V + To My Name-Child + + 1 + + Some day soon this rhyming volume, if you learn with proper speed, + Little Louis Sanchez, will be given you to read. + Then you shall discover, that your name was printed down + By the English printers, long before, in London town. + + In the great and busy city where the East and West are met, + All the little letters did the English printer set; + While you thought of nothing, and were still too young to play, + Foreign people thought of you in places far away. + + Ay, and when you slept, a baby, over all the English lands + Other little children took the volume in their hands; + Other children questioned, in their homes across the seas: + Who was little Louis, won't you tell us, mother, please? + + + 2 + + Now that you have spelt your lesson, lay it down and go and play, + Seeking shells and seaweed on the sands of Monterey, + Watching all the mighty whalebones, lying buried by the breeze, + Tiny sandy-pipers, and the huge Pacific seas. + + And remember in your playing, as the sea-fog rolls to you, + Long ere you could read it, how I told you what to do; + And that while you thought of no one, nearly half the world away + Some one thought of Louis on the beach of Monterey! + + + VI + To Any Reader + + As from the house your mother sees + You playing round the garden trees, + So you may see, if you will look + Through the windows of this book, + Another child, far, far away, + And in another garden, play. + But do not think you can at all, + By knocking on the window, call + That child to hear you. He intent + Is all on his play-business bent. + He does not hear, he will not look, + Nor yet be lured out of this book. + For, long ago, the truth to say, + He has grown up and gone away, + And it is but a child of air + That lingers in the garden there. + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Child's Garden of Verses, by +Robert Louis Stevenson + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 136 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f70b2c7 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #136 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/136) diff --git a/old/136.txt b/old/136.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4754e52 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/136.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2199 @@ +Project Gutenberg's A Child's Garden of Verses, by Robert Louis Stevenson + +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: A Child's Garden of Verses + +Author: Robert Louis Stevenson + +Release Date: May 17, 2008 [EBook #136] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A CHILD'S GARDEN OF VERSES *** + + + + + +********************************************************************** +THIS EBOOK WAS ONE OF PROJECT GUTENBERG'S EARLY FILES PRODUCED AT A +TIME WHEN PROOFING METHODS AND TOOLS WERE NOT WELL DEVELOPED. THERE IS +AN IMPROVED EDITION OF THIS TITLE WHICH MAY BE VIEWED AT EBOOK (#28722) +********************************************************************** + + + + + + + + + + +A Child's Garden of Verses + +by + +Robert Louis Stevenson + + + + + To Alison Cunningham + + From Her Boy + + + For the long nights you lay awake + And watched for my unworthy sake: + For your most comfortable hand + That led me through the uneven land: + For all the story-books you read: + For all the pains you comforted: + + For all you pitied, all you bore, + In sad and happy days of yore:-- + My second Mother, my first Wife, + The angel of my infant life-- + From the sick child, now well and old, + Take, nurse, the little book you hold! + + And grant it, Heaven, that all who read + May find as dear a nurse at need, + And every child who lists my rhyme, + In the bright, fireside, nursery clime, + May hear it in as kind a voice + As made my childish days rejoice! + + R. L. S. + + + + + Contents + + To Alison Cunningham + + I Bed in Summer + II A Thought + III At the Sea-Side + IV Young Night-Thought + V Whole Duty of Children + VI Rain + VII Pirate Story + VIII Foreign Lands + IX Windy Nights + X Travel + XI Singing + XII Looking Forward + XIII A Good Play + XIV Where Go the Boats? + XV Auntie's Skirts + XVI The Land of Counterpane + XVII The Land of Nod + XVIII My Shadow + XIX System + XX A Good Boy + XXI Escape at Bedtime + XXII Marching Song + XXIII The Cow + XXIV The Happy Thought + XXV The Wind + XXVI Keepsake Mill + XXVII Good and Bad Children + XXVIII Foreign Children + XXIX The Sun Travels + XXX The Lamplighter + XXXI My Bed is a Boat + XXXII The Moon + XXXIII The Swing + XXXIV Time to Rise + XXXV Looking-Glass River + XXXVI Fairy Bread + XXXVII From a Railway Carriage + XXXVIII Winter-Time + XXXIX The Hayloft + XL Farewell to the Farm + XLI North-West Passage + 1. Good-Night + 2. Shadow March + 3. In Port + + + + + The Child Alone + + I The Unseen Playmate + II My Ship and I + III My Kingdom + IV Picture-Books in Winter + V My Treasures + VI Block City + VII The Land of Story-Books + VIII Armies in the Fire + IX The Little Land + + + + + Garden Days + + I Night and Day + II Nest Eggs + III The Flowers + IV Summer Sun + V The Dumb Soldier + VI Autumn Fires + VII The Gardener + VIII Historical Associations + + + Envoys + + I To Willie and Henrietta + II To My Mother + III To Auntie + IV To Minnie + V To My Name-Child + VI To Any Reader + + + + A Child's Garden of Verses + + + + I + Bed in Summer + + In winter I get up at night + And dress by yellow candle-light. + In summer quite the other way, + I have to go to bed by day. + + I have to go to bed and see + The birds still hopping on the tree, + Or hear the grown-up people's feet + Still going past me in the street. + + And does it not seem hard to you, + When all the sky is clear and blue, + And I should like so much to play, + To have to go to bed by day? + + II + A Thought + + It is very nice to think + The world is full of meat and drink, + With little children saying grace + In every Christian kind of place. + + + III + At the Sea-Side + + When I was down beside the sea + A wooden spade they gave to me + To dig the sandy shore. + + My holes were empty like a cup. + In every hole the sea came up, + Till it could come no more. + + + IV + Young Night-Thought + + All night long and every night, + When my mama puts out the light, + I see the people marching by, + As plain as day before my eye. + + Armies and emperor and kings, + All carrying different kinds of things, + And marching in so grand a way, + You never saw the like by day. + + So fine a show was never seen + At the great circus on the green; + For every kind of beast and man + Is marching in that caravan. + + As first they move a little slow, + But still the faster on they go, + And still beside me close I keep + Until we reach the town of Sleep. + + + V + Whole Duty of Children + + A child should always say what's true + And speak when he is spoken to, + And behave mannerly at table; + At least as far as he is able. + + + VI + Rain + + The rain is falling all around, + It falls on field and tree, + It rains on the umbrellas here, + And on the ships at sea. + + + VII + Pirate Story + + Three of us afloat in the meadow by the swing, + Three of us abroad in the basket on the lea. + Winds are in the air, they are blowing in the spring, + And waves are on the meadow like the waves there are at sea. + + Where shall we adventure, to-day that we're afloat, + Wary of the weather and steering by a star? + Shall it be to Africa, a-steering of the boat, + To Providence, or Babylon or off to Malabar? + + Hi! but here's a squadron a-rowing on the sea-- + Cattle on the meadow a-charging with a roar! + Quick, and we'll escape them, they're as mad as they can be, + The wicket is the harbour and the garden is the shore. + + + VIII + Foreign Lands + + Up into the cherry tree + Who should climb but little me? + I held the trunk with both my hands + And looked abroad in foreign lands. + + I saw the next door garden lie, + Adorned with flowers, before my eye, + And many pleasant places more + That I had never seen before. + + I saw the dimpling river pass + And be the sky's blue looking-glass; + The dusty roads go up and down + With people tramping in to town. + + If I could find a higher tree + Farther and farther I should see, + To where the grown-up river slips + Into the sea among the ships, + + To where the roads on either hand + Lead onward into fairy land, + Where all the children dine at five, + And all the playthings come alive. + + IX + Windy Nights + + Whenever the moon and stars are set, + Whenever the wind is high, + All night long in the dark and wet, + A man goes riding by. + Late in the night when the fires are out, + Why does he gallop and gallop about? + + Whenever the trees are crying aloud, + And ships are tossed at sea, + By, on the highway, low and loud, + By at the gallop goes he. + By at the gallop he goes, and then + By he comes back at the gallop again. + + + X + Travel + + I should like to rise and go + Where the golden apples grow;-- + Where below another sky + Parrot islands anchored lie, + And, watched by cockatoos and goats, + Lonely Crusoes building boats;-- + Where in sunshine reaching out + Eastern cities, miles about, + Are with mosque and minaret + Among sandy gardens set, + And the rich goods from near and far + Hang for sale in the bazaar;-- + Where the Great Wall round China goes, + And on one side the desert blows, + And with the voice and bell and drum, + Cities on the other hum;-- + Where are forests hot as fire, + Wide as England, tall as a spire, + Full of apes and cocoa-nuts + And the negro hunters' huts;-- + Where the knotty crocodile + Lies and blinks in the Nile, + And the red flamingo flies + Hunting fish before his eyes;-- + Where in jungles near and far, + Man-devouring tigers are, + Lying close and giving ear + Lest the hunt be drawing near, + Or a comer-by be seen + Swinging in the palanquin;-- + Where among the desert sands + Some deserted city stands, + All its children, sweep and prince, + Grown to manhood ages since, + Not a foot in street or house, + Not a stir of child or mouse, + And when kindly falls the night, + In all the town no spark of light. + There I'll come when I'm a man + With a camel caravan; + Light a fire in the gloom + Of some dusty dining room; + See the pictures on the walls, + Heroes, fights and festivals; + And in a corner find the toys + Of the old Egyptian boys. + + + XI + Singing + + Of speckled eggs the birdie sings + And nests among the trees; + The sailor sings of ropes and things + In ships upon the seas. + + The children sing in far Japan, + The children sing in Spain; + The organ with the organ man + Is singing in the rain. + + + XII + Looking Forward + + When I am grown to man's estate + I shall be very proud and great, + And tell the other girls and boys + Not to meddle with my toys. + + + XIII + A Good Play + + We built a ship upon the stairs + All made of the back-bedroom chairs, + And filled it full of sofa pillows + To go a-sailing on the billows. + + We took a saw and several nails, + And water in the nursery pails; + And Tom said, "Let us also take + An apple and a slice of cake;"-- + Which was enough for Tom and me + To go a-sailing on, till tea. + + We sailed along for days and days, + And had the very best of plays; + But Tom fell out and hurt his knee, + So there was no one left but me. + + XIV + Where Go the Boats? + + Dark brown is the river, + Golden is the sand. + It flows along for ever, + With trees on either hand. + + Green leaves a-floating, + Castles of the foam, + Boats of mine a-boating-- + Where will all come home? + + On goes the river + And out past the mill, + Away down the valley, + Away down the hill. + + Away down the river, + A hundred miles or more, + Other little children + Shall bring my boats ashore. + + + XV + Auntie's Skirts + + Whenever Auntie moves around, + Her dresses make a curious sound, + They trail behind her up the floor, + And trundle after through the door. + + + XVI + The Land of Counterpane + + When I was sick and lay a-bed, + I had two pillows at my head, + And all my toys beside me lay, + To keep me happy all the day. + + And sometimes for an hour or so + I watched my leaden soldiers go, + With different uniforms and drills, + Among the bed-clothes, through the hills; + + And sometimes sent my ships in fleets + All up and down among the sheets; + Or brought my trees and houses out, + And planted cities all about. + + I was the giant great and still + That sits upon the pillow-hill, + And sees before him, dale and plain, + The pleasant land of counterpane. + + + XVII + The Land of Nod + + From breakfast on through all the day + At home among my friends I stay, + But every night I go abroad + Afar into the land of Nod. + + All by myself I have to go, + With none to tell me what to do-- + All alone beside the streams + And up the mountain-sides of dreams. + + The strangest things are these for me, + Both things to eat and things to see, + And many frightening sights abroad + Till morning in the land of Nod. + + Try as I like to find the way, + I never can get back by day, + Nor can remember plain and clear + The curious music that I hear. + + + XVIII + My Shadow + + I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me, + And what can be the use of him is more than I can see. + He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head; + And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed. + + The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow-- + Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow; + For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball, + And he sometimes goes so little that there's none of him at all. + + He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play, + And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way. + He stays so close behind me, he's a coward you can see; + I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me! + + One morning, very early, before the sun was up, + I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup; + But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head, + Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed. + + + XIX + System + + Every night my prayers I say, + And get my dinner every day; + And every day that I've been good, + I get an orange after food. + + The child that is not clean and neat, + With lots of toys and things to eat, + He is a naughty child, I'm sure-- + Or else his dear papa is poor. + + + XX + A Good Boy + + I woke before the morning, I was happy all the day, + I never said an ugly word, but smiled and stuck to play. + + And now at last the sun is going down behind the wood, + And I am very happy, for I know that I've been good. + + My bed is waiting cool and fresh, with linen smooth and fair, + And I must be off to sleepsin-by, and not forget my prayer. + + I know that, till to-morrow I shall see the sun arise, + No ugly dream shall fright my mind, no ugly sight my eyes. + + But slumber hold me tightly till I waken in the dawn, + And hear the thrushes singing in the lilacs round the lawn. + + + XXI + Escape at Bedtime + + The lights from the parlour and kitchen shone out + Through the blinds and the windows and bars; + And high overhead and all moving about, + There were thousands of millions of stars. + There ne'er were such thousands of leaves on a tree, + Nor of people in church or the Park, + As the crowds of the stars that looked down upon me, + And that glittered and winked in the dark. + + The Dog, and the Plough, and the Hunter, and all, + And the star of the sailor, and Mars, + These shown in the sky, and the pail by the wall + Would be half full of water and stars. + They saw me at last, and they chased me with cries, + And they soon had me packed into bed; + But the glory kept shining and bright in my eyes, + And the stars going round in my head. + + + XXII + Marching Song + + Bring the comb and play upon it! + Marching, here we come! + Willie cocks his highland bonnet, + Johnnie beats the drum. + + Mary Jane commands the party, + Peter leads the rear; + Feet in time, alert and hearty, + Each a Grenadier! + + All in the most martial manner + Marching double-quick; + While the napkin, like a banner, + Waves upon the stick! + + Here's enough of fame and pillage, + Great commander Jane! + Now that we've been round the village, + Let's go home again. + + + XXIII + The Cow + + The friendly cow all red and white, + I love with all my heart: + She gives me cream with all her might, + To eat with apple-tart. + + She wanders lowing here and there, + And yet she cannot stray, + All in the pleasant open air, + The pleasant light of day; + + And blown by all the winds that pass + And wet with all the showers, + She walks among the meadow grass + And eats the meadow flowers. + + + XXIV + Happy Thought + + The world is so full of a number of things, + I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings. + + + XXV + The Wind + + I saw you toss the kites on high + And blow the birds about the sky; + And all around I heard you pass, + Like ladies' skirts across the grass-- + O wind, a-blowing all day long, + O wind, that sings so loud a song! + + I saw the different things you did, + But always you yourself you hid. + I felt you push, I heard you call, + I could not see yourself at all-- + O wind, a-blowing all day long, + O wind, that sings so loud a song! + + O you that are so strong and cold, + O blower, are you young or old? + Are you a beast of field and tree, + Or just a stronger child than me? + O wind, a-blowing all day long, + O wind, that sings so loud a song! + + + XXVI + Keepsake Mill + + Over the borders, a sin without pardon, + Breaking the branches and crawling below, + Out through the breach in the wall of the garden, + Down by the banks of the river we go. + + Here is a mill with the humming of thunder, + Here is the weir with the wonder of foam, + Here is the sluice with the race running under-- + Marvellous places, though handy to home! + + Sounds of the village grow stiller and stiller, + Stiller the note of the birds on the hill; + Dusty and dim are the eyes of the miller, + Deaf are his ears with the moil of the mill. + + Years may go by, and the wheel in the river + Wheel as it wheels for us, children, to-day, + Wheel and keep roaring and foaming for ever + Long after all of the boys are away. + + Home for the Indies and home from the ocean, + Heroes and soldiers we all will come home; + Still we shall find the old mill wheel in motion, + Turning and churning that river to foam. + + You with the bean that I gave when we quarrelled, + I with your marble of Saturday last, + Honoured and old and all gaily apparelled, + Here we shall meet and remember the past. + + + XXVII + Good and Bad Children + + Children, you are very little, + And your bones are very brittle; + If you would grow great and stately, + You must try to walk sedately. + + You must still be bright and quiet, + And content with simple diet; + And remain, through all bewild'ring, + Innocent and honest children. + + Happy hearts and happy faces, + Happy play in grassy places-- + That was how in ancient ages, + Children grew to kings and sages. + + But the unkind and the unruly, + And the sort who eat unduly, + They must never hope for glory-- + Theirs is quite a different story! + + Cruel children, crying babies, + All grow up as geese and gabies, + Hated, as their age increases, + By their nephews and their nieces. + + + XXVIII + Foreign Children + + Little Indian, Sioux, or Crow, + Little frosty Eskimo, + Little Turk or Japanee, + Oh! don't you wish that you were me? + + You have seen the scarlet trees + And the lions over seas; + You have eaten ostrich eggs, + And turned the turtles off their legs. + + Such a life is very fine, + But it's not so nice as mine: + You must often as you trod, + Have wearied NOT to be abroad. + + You have curious things to eat, + I am fed on proper meat; + You must dwell upon the foam, + But I am safe and live at home. + Little Indian, Sioux or Crow, + Little frosty Eskimo, + Little Turk or Japanee, + Oh! don't you wish that you were me? + + + XXIX + The Sun Travels + + The sun is not a-bed, when I + At night upon my pillow lie; + Still round the earth his way he takes, + And morning after morning makes. + + While here at home, in shining day, + We round the sunny garden play, + Each little Indian sleepy-head + Is being kissed and put to bed. + + And when at eve I rise from tea, + Day dawns beyond the Atlantic Sea; + And all the children in the west + Are getting up and being dressed. + + + XXX + The Lamplighter + + My tea is nearly ready and the sun has left the sky. + It's time to take the window to see Leerie going by; + For every night at teatime and before you take your seat, + With lantern and with ladder he comes posting up the street. + + Now Tom would be a driver and Maria go to sea, + And my papa's a banker and as rich as he can be; + But I, when I am stronger and can choose what I'm to do, + O Leerie, I'll go round at night and light the lamps with you! + + For we are very lucky, with a lamp before the door, + And Leerie stops to light it as he lights so many more; + And oh! before you hurry by with ladder and with light; + O Leerie, see a little child and nod to him to-night! + + + XXXI + My Bed is a Boat + + My bed is like a little boat; + Nurse helps me in when I embark; + She girds me in my sailor's coat + And starts me in the dark. + + At night I go on board and say + Good-night to all my friends on shore; + I shut my eyes and sail away + And see and hear no more. + + And sometimes things to bed I take, + As prudent sailors have to do; + Perhaps a slice of wedding-cake, + Perhaps a toy or two. + + All night across the dark we steer; + But when the day returns at last, + Safe in my room beside the pier, + I find my vessel fast. + + + XXXII + The Moon + + The moon has a face like the clock in the hall; + She shines on thieves on the garden wall, + On streets and fields and harbour quays, + And birdies asleep in the forks of the trees. + + The squalling cat and the squeaking mouse, + The howling dog by the door of the house, + The bat that lies in bed at noon, + All love to be out by the light of the moon. + + But all of the things that belong to the day + Cuddle to sleep to be out of her way; + And flowers and children close their eyes + Till up in the morning the sun shall arise. + + + XXXIII + The Swing + + How do you like to go up in a swing, + Up in the air so blue? + Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing + Ever a child can do! + + Up in the air and over the wall, + Till I can see so wide, + River and trees and cattle and all + Over the countryside-- + + Till I look down on the garden green, + Down on the roof so brown-- + Up in the air I go flying again, + Up in the air and down! + + + XXXIV + Time to Rise + + A birdie with a yellow bill + Hopped upon my window sill, + Cocked his shining eye and said: + "Ain't you 'shamed, you sleepy-head!" + + + XXXV + Looking-Glass River + + Smooth it glides upon its travel, + Here a wimple, there a gleam-- + O the clean gravel! + O the smooth stream! + + Sailing blossoms, silver fishes, + Paven pools as clear as air-- + How a child wishes + To live down there! + + We can see our colored faces + Floating on the shaken pool + Down in cool places, + Dim and very cool; + + Till a wind or water wrinkle, + Dipping marten, plumping trout, + Spreads in a twinkle + And blots all out. + + See the rings pursue each other; + All below grows black as night, + Just as if mother + Had blown out the light! + + Patience, children, just a minute-- + See the spreading circles die; + The stream and all in it + Will clear by-and-by. + + + XXXVI + Fairy Bread + + Come up here, O dusty feet! + Here is fairy bread to eat. + Here in my retiring room, + Children, you may dine + On the golden smell of broom + And the shade of pine; + And when you have eaten well, + Fairy stories hear and tell. + + + XXXVII + From a Railway Carriage + + Faster than fairies, faster than witches, + Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches; + And charging along like troops in a battle + All through the meadows the horses and cattle: + All of the sights of the hill and the plain + Fly as thick as driving rain; + And ever again, in the wink of an eye, + Painted stations whistle by. + + Here is a child who clambers and scrambles, + All by himself and gathering brambles; + Here is a tramp who stands and gazes; + And here is the green for stringing the daisies! + Here is a cart run away in the road + Lumping along with man and load; + And here is a mill, and there is a river: + Each a glimpse and gone forever! + + XXXVIII + Winter-Time + + Late lies the wintry sun a-bed, + A frosty, fiery sleepy-head; + Blinks but an hour or two; and then, + A blood-red orange, sets again. + + Before the stars have left the skies, + At morning in the dark I rise; + And shivering in my nakedness, + By the cold candle, bathe and dress. + + Close by the jolly fire I sit + To warm my frozen bones a bit; + Or with a reindeer-sled, explore + The colder countries round the door. + + When to go out, my nurse doth wrap + Me in my comforter and cap; + The cold wind burns my face, and blows + Its frosty pepper up my nose. + + Black are my steps on silver sod; + Thick blows my frosty breath abroad; + And tree and house, and hill and lake, + Are frosted like a wedding cake. + + + XXXIX + The Hayloft + + Through all the pleasant meadow-side + The grass grew shoulder-high, + Till the shining scythes went far and wide + And cut it down to dry. + + Those green and sweetly smelling crops + They led in waggons home; + And they piled them here in mountain tops + For mountaineers to roam. + + Here is Mount Clear, Mount Rusty-Nail, + Mount Eagle and Mount High;-- + The mice that in these mountains dwell, + No happier are than I! + + Oh, what a joy to clamber there, + Oh, what a place for play, + With the sweet, the dim, the dusty air, + The happy hills of hay! + + + XL + Farewell to the Farm + + The coach is at the door at last; + The eager children, mounting fast + And kissing hands, in chorus sing: + Good-bye, good-bye, to everything! + + To house and garden, field and lawn, + The meadow-gates we swang upon, + To pump and stable, tree and swing, + Good-bye, good-bye, to everything! + + And fare you well for evermore, + O ladder at the hayloft door, + O hayloft where the cobwebs cling, + Good-bye, good-bye, to everything! + + Crack goes the whip, and off we go; + The trees and houses smaller grow; + Last, round the woody turn we sing: + Good-bye, good-bye, to everything! + + + XLI + North-West Passage + + 1. Good-Night + + When the bright lamp is carried in, + The sunless hours again begin; + O'er all without, in field and lane, + The haunted night returns again. + + Now we behold the embers flee + About the firelit hearth; and see + Our faces painted as we pass, + Like pictures, on the window glass. + + Must we to bed indeed? Well then, + Let us arise and go like men, + And face with an undaunted tread + The long black passage up to bed. + + Farewell, O brother, sister, sire! + O pleasant party round the fire! + The songs you sing, the tales you tell, + Till far to-morrow, fare you well! + + + 2. Shadow March + + All around the house is the jet-black night; + It stares through the window-pane; + It crawls in the corners, hiding from the light, + And it moves with the moving flame. + + Now my little heart goes a beating like a drum, + With the breath of the Bogies in my hair; + And all around the candle the crooked shadows come, + And go marching along up the stair. + + The shadow of the balusters, the shadow of the lamp, + The shadow of the child that goes to bed-- + All the wicked shadows coming tramp, tramp, tramp, + With the black night overhead. + + + 3. In Port + + Last, to the chamber where I lie + My fearful footsteps patter nigh, + And come out from the cold and gloom + Into my warm and cheerful room. + + There, safe arrived, we turn about + To keep the coming shadows out, + And close the happy door at last + On all the perils that we past. + + Then, when mamma goes by to bed, + She shall come in with tip-toe tread, + And see me lying warm and fast + And in the land of Nod at last. + + + + + THE CHILD ALONE + + + I + The Unseen Playmate + + When children are playing alone on the green, + In comes the playmate that never was seen. + When children are happy and lonely and good, + The Friend of the Children comes out of the wood. + + Nobody heard him, and nobody saw, + His is a picture you never could draw, + But he's sure to be present, abroad or at home, + When children are happy and playing alone. + + He lies in the laurels, he runs on the grass, + He sings when you tinkle the musical glass; + Whene'er you are happy and cannot tell why, + The Friend of the Children is sure to be by! + + He loves to be little, he hates to be big, + 'Tis he that inhabits the caves that you dig; + 'Tis he when you play with your soldiers of tin + That sides with the Frenchmen and never can win. + + 'Tis he, when at night you go off to your bed, + Bids you go to sleep and not trouble your head; + For wherever they're lying, in cupboard or shelf, + 'Tis he will take care of your playthings himself! + + + II + My Ship and I + + O it's I that am the captain of a tidy little ship, + Of a ship that goes a sailing on the pond; + And my ship it keeps a-turning all around and all about; + But when I'm a little older, I shall find the secret out + How to send my vessel sailing on beyond. + + For I mean to grow as little as the dolly at the helm, + And the dolly I intend to come alive; + And with him beside to help me, it's a-sailing I shall go, + It's a-sailing on the water, when the jolly breezes blow + And the vessel goes a divie-divie-dive. + + O it's then you'll see me sailing through the rushes and the reeds, + And you'll hear the water singing at the prow; + For beside the dolly sailor, I'm to voyage and explore, + To land upon the island where no dolly was before, + And to fire the penny cannon in the bow. + + + III + My Kingdom + + Down by a shining water well + I found a very little dell, + No higher than my head. + The heather and the gorse about + In summer bloom were coming out, + Some yellow and some red. + + I called the little pool a sea; + The little hills were big to me; + For I am very small. + I made a boat, I made a town, + I searched the caverns up and down, + And named them one and all. + + And all about was mine, I said, + The little sparrows overhead, + The little minnows too. + This was the world and I was king; + For me the bees came by to sing, + For me the swallows flew. + + I played there were no deeper seas, + Nor any wider plains than these, + Nor other kings than me. + At last I heard my mother call + Out from the house at evenfall, + To call me home to tea. + + And I must rise and leave my dell, + And leave my dimpled water well, + And leave my heather blooms. + Alas! and as my home I neared, + How very big my nurse appeared. + How great and cool the rooms! + + + IV + Picture-Books in Winter + + Summer fading, winter comes-- + Frosty mornings, tingling thumbs, + Window robins, winter rooks, + And the picture story-books. + + Water now is turned to stone + Nurse and I can walk upon; + Still we find the flowing brooks + In the picture story-books. + + All the pretty things put by, + Wait upon the children's eye, + Sheep and shepherds, trees and crooks, + In the picture story-books. + + We may see how all things are + Seas and cities, near and far, + And the flying fairies' looks, + In the picture story-books. + + How am I to sing your praise, + Happy chimney-corner days, + Sitting safe in nursery nooks, + Reading picture story-books? + + + V + My Treasures + + These nuts, that I keep in the back of the nest, + Where all my tin soldiers are lying at rest, + Were gathered in Autumn by nursie and me + In a wood with a well by the side of the sea. + + This whistle we made (and how clearly it sounds!) + By the side of a field at the end of the grounds. + Of a branch of a plane, with a knife of my own, + It was nursie who made it, and nursie alone! + + The stone, with the white and the yellow and grey, + We discovered I cannot tell HOW far away; + And I carried it back although weary and cold, + For though father denies it, I'm sure it is gold. + + But of all my treasures the last is the king, + For there's very few children possess such a thing; + And that is a chisel, both handle and blade, + Which a man who was really a carpenter made. + + + VI + Block City + + What are you able to build with your blocks? + Castles and palaces, temples and docks. + Rain may keep raining, and others go roam, + But I can be happy and building at home. + + Let the sofa be mountains, the carpet be sea, + There I'll establish a city for me: + A kirk and a mill and a palace beside, + And a harbour as well where my vessels may ride. + + Great is the palace with pillar and wall, + A sort of a tower on the top of it all, + And steps coming down in an orderly way + To where my toy vessels lie safe in the bay. + + This one is sailing and that one is moored: + Hark to the song of the sailors aboard! + And see, on the steps of my palace, the kings + Coming and going with presents and things! + + Now I have done with it, down let it go! + All in a moment the town is laid low. + Block upon block lying scattered and free, + What is there left of my town by the sea? + + Yet as I saw it, I see it again, + The kirk and the palace, the ships and the men, + And as long as I live and where'er I may be, + I'll always remember my town by the sea. + + + VII + The Land of Story-Books + + At evening when the lamp is lit, + Around the fire my parents sit; + They sit at home and talk and sing, + And do not play at anything. + + Now, with my little gun, I crawl + All in the dark along the wall, + And follow round the forest track + Away behind the sofa back. + + There, in the night, where none can spy, + All in my hunter's camp I lie, + And play at books that I have read + Till it is time to go to bed. + + These are the hills, these are the woods, + These are my starry solitudes; + And there the river by whose brink + The roaring lions come to drink. + + I see the others far away + As if in firelit camp they lay, + And I, like to an Indian scout, + Around their party prowled about. + + So when my nurse comes in for me, + Home I return across the sea, + And go to bed with backward looks + At my dear land of Story-books. + + + VIII + Armies in the Fire + + The lamps now glitter down the street; + Faintly sound the falling feet; + And the blue even slowly falls + About the garden trees and walls. + + Now in the falling of the gloom + The red fire paints the empty room: + And warmly on the roof it looks, + And flickers on the back of books. + + Armies march by tower and spire + Of cities blazing, in the fire;-- + Till as I gaze with staring eyes, + The armies fade, the lustre dies. + + Then once again the glow returns; + Again the phantom city burns; + And down the red-hot valley, lo! + The phantom armies marching go! + + Blinking embers, tell me true + Where are those armies marching to, + And what the burning city is + That crumbles in your furnaces! + + + IX + The Little Land + + When at home alone I sit + And am very tired of it, + I have just to shut my eyes + To go sailing through the skies-- + To go sailing far away + To the pleasant Land of Play; + To the fairy land afar + Where the Little People are; + Where the clover-tops are trees, + And the rain-pools are the seas, + And the leaves, like little ships, + Sail about on tiny trips; + And above the Daisy tree + Through the grasses, + High o'erhead the Bumble Bee + Hums and passes. + + In that forest to and fro + I can wander, I can go; + See the spider and the fly, + And the ants go marching by, + Carrying parcels with their feet + Down the green and grassy street. + I can in the sorrel sit + Where the ladybird alit. + I can climb the jointed grass + And on high + See the greater swallows pass + In the sky, + And the round sun rolling by + Heeding no such things as I. + + Through that forest I can pass + Till, as in a looking-glass, + Humming fly and daisy tree + And my tiny self I see, + Painted very clear and neat + On the rain-pool at my feet. + Should a leaflet come to land + Drifting near to where I stand, + Straight I'll board that tiny boat + Round the rain-pool sea to float. + + Little thoughtful creatures sit + On the grassy coasts of it; + Little things with lovely eyes + See me sailing with surprise. + Some are clad in armour green-- + (These have sure to battle been!)-- + Some are pied with ev'ry hue, + Black and crimson, gold and blue; + Some have wings and swift are gone;-- + But they all look kindly on. + + When my eyes I once again + Open, and see all things plain: + High bare walls, great bare floor; + Great big knobs on drawer and door; + Great big people perched on chairs, + Stitching tucks and mending tears, + Each a hill that I could climb, + And talking nonsense all the time-- + O dear me, + That I could be + A sailor on a the rain-pool sea, + A climber in the clover tree, + And just come back a sleepy-head, + Late at night to go to bed. + + + + + Garden Days + + + I + Night and Day + + When the golden day is done, + Through the closing portal, + Child and garden, flower and sun, + Vanish all things mortal. + + As the building shadows fall + As the rays diminish, + Under evening's cloak they all + Roll away and vanish. + + Garden darkened, daisy shut, + Child in bed, they slumber-- + Glow-worm in the hallway rut, + Mice among the lumber. + + In the darkness houses shine, + Parents move the candles; + Till on all the night divine + Turns the bedroom handles. + + Till at last the day begins + In the east a-breaking, + In the hedges and the whins + Sleeping birds a-waking. + + In the darkness shapes of things, + Houses, trees and hedges, + Clearer grow; and sparrow's wings + Beat on window ledges. + + These shall wake the yawning maid; + She the door shall open-- + Finding dew on garden glade + And the morning broken. + + There my garden grows again + Green and rosy painted, + As at eve behind the pane + From my eyes it fainted. + + Just as it was shut away, + Toy-like, in the even, + Here I see it glow with day + Under glowing heaven. + + Every path and every plot, + Every blush of roses, + Every blue forget-me-not + Where the dew reposes, + + "Up!" they cry, "the day is come + On the smiling valleys: + We have beat the morning drum; + Playmate, join your allies!" + + + II + Nest Eggs + + Birds all the sunny day + Flutter and quarrel + Here in the arbour-like + Tent of the laurel. + + Here in the fork + The brown nest is seated; + Four little blue eggs + The mother keeps heated. + + While we stand watching her + Staring like gabies, + Safe in each egg are the + Bird's little babies. + + Soon the frail eggs they shall + Chip, and upspringing + Make all the April woods + Merry with singing. + + Younger than we are, + O children, and frailer, + Soon in the blue air they'll be, + Singer and sailor. + + We, so much older, + Taller and stronger, + We shall look down on the + Birdies no longer. + + They shall go flying + With musical speeches + High overhead in the + Tops of the beeches. + + In spite of our wisdom + And sensible talking, + We on our feet must go + Plodding and walking. + + III + The Flowers + + All the names I know from nurse: + Gardener's garters, Shepherd's purse, + Bachelor's buttons, Lady's smock, + And the Lady Hollyhock. + + Fairy places, fairy things, + Fairy woods where the wild bee wings, + Tiny trees for tiny dames-- + These must all be fairy names! + + Tiny woods below whose boughs + Shady fairies weave a house; + Tiny tree-tops, rose or thyme, + Where the braver fairies climb! + + Fair are grown-up people's trees, + But the fairest woods are these; + Where, if I were not so tall, + I should live for good and all. + + + IV + Summer Sun + + Great is the sun, and wide he goes + Through empty heaven with repose; + And in the blue and glowing days + More thick than rain he showers his rays. + + Though closer still the blinds we pull + To keep the shady parlour cool, + Yet he will find a chink or two + To slip his golden fingers through. + + The dusty attic spider-clad + He, through the keyhole, maketh glad; + And through the broken edge of tiles + Into the laddered hay-loft smiles. + + Meantime his golden face around + He bares to all the garden ground, + And sheds a warm and glittering look + Among the ivy's inmost nook. + + Above the hills, along the blue, + Round the bright air with footing true, + To please the child, to paint the rose, + The gardener of the World, he goes. + + + V + The Dumb Soldier + When the grass was closely mown, + Walking on the lawn alone, + In the turf a hole I found, + And hid a soldier underground. + + Spring and daisies came apace; + Grasses hide my hiding place; + Grasses run like a green sea + O'er the lawn up to my knee. + + Under grass alone he lies, + Looking up with leaden eyes, + Scarlet coat and pointed gun, + To the stars and to the sun. + + When the grass is ripe like grain, + When the scythe is stoned again, + When the lawn is shaven clear, + Then my hole shall reappear. + + I shall find him, never fear, + I shall find my grenadier; + But for all that's gone and come, + I shall find my soldier dumb. + + He has lived, a little thing, + In the grassy woods of spring; + Done, if he could tell me true, + Just as I should like to do. + + He has seen the starry hours + And the springing of the flowers; + And the fairy things that pass + In the forests of the grass. + + In the silence he has heard + Talking bee and ladybird, + And the butterfly has flown + O'er him as he lay alone. + + Not a word will he disclose, + Not a word of all he knows. + I must lay him on the shelf, + And make up the tale myself. + + + VI + Autumn Fires + + In the other gardens + And all up the vale, + From the autumn bonfires + See the smoke trail! + + Pleasant summer over + And all the summer flowers, + The red fire blazes, + The grey smoke towers. + + Sing a song of seasons! + Something bright in all! + Flowers in the summer, + Fires in the fall! + + + VII + The Gardener + + The gardener does not love to talk. + He makes me keep the gravel walk; + And when he puts his tools away, + He locks the door and takes the key. + + Away behind the currant row, + Where no one else but cook may go, + Far in the plots, I see him dig, + Old and serious, brown and big. + + He digs the flowers, green, red, and blue, + Nor wishes to be spoken to. + He digs the flowers and cuts the hay, + And never seems to want to play. + + Silly gardener! summer goes, + And winter comes with pinching toes, + When in the garden bare and brown + You must lay your barrow down. + + Well now, and while the summer stays, + To profit by these garden days + O how much wiser you would be + To play at Indian wars with me! + + + VIII + Historical Associations + + Dear Uncle Jim, this garden ground + That now you smoke your pipe around, + Has seen immortal actions done + And valiant battles lost and won. + + Here we had best on tip-toe tread, + While I for safety march ahead, + For this is that enchanted ground + Where all who loiter slumber sound. + + Here is the sea, here is the sand, + Here is simple Shepherd's Land, + Here are the fairy hollyhocks, + And there are Ali Baba's rocks. + + But yonder, see! apart and high, + Frozen Siberia lies; where I, + With Robert Bruce and William Tell, + Was bound by an enchanter's spell. + + + + + ENVOYS + + + I + To Willie and Henrietta + + If two may read aright + These rhymes of old delight + And house and garden play, + You two, my cousins, and you only, may. + + You in a garden green + With me were king and queen, + Were hunter, soldier, tar, + And all the thousand things that children are. + + Now in the elders' seat + We rest with quiet feet, + And from the window-bay + We watch the children, our successors, play. + + "Time was," the golden head + Irrevocably said; + But time which one can bind, + While flowing fast away, leaves love behind. + + + II + To My Mother + + You too, my mother, read my rhymes + For love of unforgotten times, + And you may chance to hear once more + The little feet along the floor. + + + III + To Auntie + + "Chief of our aunts"--not only I, + But all your dozen of nurselings cry-- + "What did the other children do? + And what were childhood, wanting you?" + + + IV + To Minnie + The red room with the giant bed + Where none but elders laid their head; + The little room where you and I + Did for awhile together lie + And, simple suitor, I your hand + In decent marriage did demand; + The great day nursery, best of all, + With pictures pasted on the wall + And leaves upon the blind-- + A pleasant room wherein to wake + And hear the leafy garden shake + And rustle in the wind-- + And pleasant there to lie in bed + And see the pictures overhead-- + The wars about Sebastopol, + The grinning guns along the wall, + The daring escalade, + The plunging ships, the bleating sheep, + The happy children ankle-deep + And laughing as they wade: + All these are vanished clean away, + And the old manse is changed to-day; + It wears an altered face + And shields a stranger race. + The river, on from mill to mill, + Flows past our childhood's garden still; + But ah! we children never more + Shall watch it from the water-door! + Below the yew--it still is there-- + Our phantom voices haunt the air + As we were still at play, + And I can hear them call and say: + "How far is it to Babylon?" + + Ah, far enough, my dear, + Far, far enough from here-- + Yet you have farther gone! + "Can I get there by candlelight?" + So goes the old refrain. + I do not know--perchance you might-- + But only, children, hear it right, + Ah, never to return again! + The eternal dawn, beyond a doubt, + Shall break on hill and plain, + And put all stars and candles out + Ere we be young again. + + To you in distant India, these + I send across the seas, + Nor count it far across. + For which of us forgets + The Indian cabinets, + The bones of antelope, the wings of albatross, + The pied and painted birds and beans, + The junks and bangles, beads and screens, + The gods and sacred bells, + And the loud-humming, twisted shells! + The level of the parlour floor + Was honest, homely, Scottish shore; + But when we climbed upon a chair, + Behold the gorgeous East was there! + Be this a fable; and behold + Me in the parlour as of old, + And Minnie just above me set + In the quaint Indian cabinet! + Smiling and kind, you grace a shelf + Too high for me to reach myself. + Reach down a hand, my dear, and take + These rhymes for old acquaintance' sake! + + + + V + To My Name-Child + + 1 + + Some day soon this rhyming volume, if you learn with proper speed, + Little Louis Sanchez, will be given you to read. + Then you shall discover, that your name was printed down + By the English printers, long before, in London town. + + In the great and busy city where the East and West are met, + All the little letters did the English printer set; + While you thought of nothing, and were still too young to play, + Foreign people thought of you in places far away. + + Ay, and when you slept, a baby, over all the English lands + Other little children took the volume in their hands; + Other children questioned, in their homes across the seas: + Who was little Louis, won't you tell us, mother, please? + + + 2 + + Now that you have spelt your lesson, lay it down and go and play, + Seeking shells and seaweed on the sands of Monterey, + Watching all the mighty whalebones, lying buried by the breeze, + Tiny sandy-pipers, and the huge Pacific seas. + + And remember in your playing, as the sea-fog rolls to you, + Long ere you could read it, how I told you what to do; + And that while you thought of no one, nearly half the world away + Some one thought of Louis on the beach of Monterey! + + + VI + To Any Reader + + As from the house your mother sees + You playing round the garden trees, + So you may see, if you will look + Through the windows of this book, + Another child, far, far away, + And in another garden, play. + But do not think you can at all, + By knocking on the window, call + That child to hear you. He intent + Is all on his play-business bent. + He does not hear, he will not look, + Nor yet be lured out of this book. + For, long ago, the truth to say, + He has grown up and gone away, + And it is but a child of air + That lingers in the garden there. + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Child's Garden of Verses, by +Robert Louis Stevenson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A CHILD'S GARDEN OF VERSES *** + +***** This file should be named 136.txt or 136.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/136/ + + + +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, is 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. diff --git a/old/136.zip b/old/136.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fd95fc7 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/136.zip diff --git a/old/old/child10.txt b/old/old/child10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ac3e905 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/child10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2031 @@ +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. We need your donations. + + +A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson + +June, 1994 [Etext #136] + + +"This etext was prepared to celebrate the birthday of my wife, +Kristine Sadler Porter, who loves literature almost as much +as I love her. - Tony Porter" + +This Project Gutenberg Etext is being released on May 27th, +as requested. + + +***The Project Gutenberg Etext of A Child's Garden of Verses*** +******This file should be named child10.txt or child10.zip***** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, child11.txt. +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, child10a.txt. + + +We are now trying to release all our books one month in advance +of the official release dates, for time for better editing. We +have this as a goal to accomplish by the end of the year but we +cannot guarantee to stay that far ahead every month after that. + +Please note: neither this list nor its contents are final till +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. To be sure you have an +up to date first edition [xxxxx10x.xxx] please check file sizes +in the first week of the next month. Since our ftp program has +a bug in it that scrambles the date [tried to fix and failed] a +look at the file size will have to do, but we will try to see a +new copy has at least one byte more or less. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +fifty hours is one conservative estimate for how long it we take +to get any etext selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. This +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If our value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $4 +million dollars per hour this year as we release some eight text +files per month: thus upping our productivity from $2 million. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion Etext +Files by the December 31, 2001. [10,000 x 100,000,000=Trillion] +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is 10% of the expected number of computer users by the end +of the year 2001. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +All donations should be made to "Project Gutenberg/IBC", and are +tax deductible to the extent allowable by law ("IBC" is Illinois +Benedictine College). (Subscriptions to our paper newsletter go +to IBC, too) + +For these and other matters, please mail to: + +Project Gutenberg +P. O. Box 2782 +Champaign, IL 61825 + +When all other email fails try our Michael S. Hart, Executive +Director: +hart@vmd.cso.uiuc.edu (internet) hart@uiucvmd (bitnet) + +We would prefer to send you this information by email +(Internet, Bitnet, Compuserve, ATTMAIL or MCImail). + +****** +If you have an FTP program (or emulator), please +FTP directly to the Project Gutenberg archives: +[Mac users, do NOT point and click. . .type] + +ftp mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu +login: anonymous +password: your@login +cd etext/etext91 +or cd etext92 +or cd etext93 [for new books] [now also in cd etext/etext93] +or cd etext/articles [get suggest gut for more information] +dir [to see files] +get or mget [to get files. . .set bin for zip files] +GET 0INDEX.GUT +for a list of books +and +GET NEW GUT for general information +and +MGET GUT* for newsletters. + +**Information prepared by the Project Gutenberg legal advisor** +(Three Pages) + + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you can distribute copies of this etext if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this etext on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG- +tm etexts, is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor +Michael S. Hart through the Project Gutenberg Association at +Illinois Benedictine College (the "Project"). Among other +things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this etext +under the Project's "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's etexts and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] the Project (and any other party you may receive this +etext from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold the Project, its directors, +officers, members and agents harmless from all liability, cost +and expense, including legal fees, that arise directly or +indirectly from any of the following that you do or cause: +[1] distribution of this etext, [2] alteration, modification, +or addition to the etext, or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + etext or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this etext in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word pro- + cessing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The etext may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the etext (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Project of 20% of the + net profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Association / Illinois + Benedictine College" within the 60 days following each + date you prepare (or were legally required to prepare) + your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax return. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions in money, time, +scanning machines, OCR software, public domain etexts, royalty +free copyright licenses, and every other sort of contribution +you can think of. Money should be paid to "Project Gutenberg +Association / Illinois Benedictine College". + +This "Small Print!" by Charles B. Kramer, Attorney +Internet (72600.2026@compuserve.com); TEL: (212-254-5093) +*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +A Child's Garden of Verses + +by + +Robert Louis Stevenson + + +To Alison Cunningham +From Her Boy + +For the long nights you lay awake +And watched for my unworthy sake: +For your most comfortable hand +That led me through the uneven land: +For all the story-books you read: +For all the pains you comforted: + +For all you pitied, all you bore, +In sad and happy days of yore:-- +My second Mother, my first Wife, +The angel of my infant life-- +From the sick child, now well and old, +Take, nurse, the little book you hold! + +And grant it, Heaven, that all who read +May find as dear a nurse at need, +And every child who lists my rhyme, +In the bright, fireside, nursery clime, +May hear it in as kind a voice +As made my childish days rejoice! + + R. L. S. + + + Contents + +To Alison Cunningham + + I Bed in Summer + II A Thought + III At the Sea-side + IV Young Night-Thought + V Whole Duty of Children + VI Rain + VII Pirate Story + VIII Foreign Lands + IX Windy Nights + X Travel + XI Singing + XII Looking Forward + XIII A Good Play + XIV Where Go the Boats? + XV Auntie's Skirts + XVI The Land of Counterpane + XVII The Land of Nod + XVIII My Shadow + XIX System + XX A Good Boy + XXI Escape at Bedtime + XXII Marching Song + XXIII The Cow + XXIV The Happy Thought + XXV The Wind + XXVI Keepsake Mill + XXVII Good and Bad Children + XXVIII Foreign Children + XXIX The Sun Travels + XXX The Lamplighter + XXXI My Bed is a Boat + XXXII The Moon + XXXIII The Swing + XXXIV Time to Rise + XXXV Looking-glass River + XXXVI Fairy Bread + XXXVII From a Railway Carriage +XXXVIII Winter-time + XXXIX The Hayloft + XL Farewell to the Farm + XLI North-west Passage + 1. Good-Night + 2. Shadow March + 3. In Port + + + The Child Alone + + I The Unseen Playmate + II My Ship and I + III My Kingdom + IV Picture-books in Winter + V My Treasures + VI Block City + VII The Land of Story-books +VIII Armies in the Fire + IX The Little Land + + + Garden Days + + I Night and Day + II Nest Eggs + III The Flowers + IV Summer Sun + V The Dumb Soldier + VI Autumn Fires + VII The Gardener +VIII Historical Associations + + + Envoys + + I To Willie and Henrietta + II To My Mother +III To Auntie + IV To Minnie + V To My Name-Child + VI To Any Reader + + + + A Child's Garden of Verses + + + + I + Bed in Summer + +In winter I get up at night +And dress by yellow candle-light. +In summer quite the other way, +I have to go to bed by day. + +I have to go to bed and see +The birds still hopping on the tree, +Or hear the grown-up people's feet +Still going past me in the street. + +And does it not seem hard to you, +When all the sky is clear and blue, +And I should like so much to play, +To have to go to bed by day? + + II + A Thought + +It is very nice to think +The world is full of meat and drink, +With little children saying grace +In every Christian kind of place. + + + III + At the Sea-side + +When I was down beside the sea +A wooden spade they gave to me + To dig the sandy shore. + +My holes were empty like a cup. +In every hole the sea came up, + Till it could come no more. + + + IV + Young Night-Thought + +All night long and every night, +When my mama puts out the light, +I see the people marching by, +As plain as day before my eye. + +Armies and emperor and kings, +All carrying different kinds of things, +And marching in so grand a way, +You never saw the like by day. + +So fine a show was never seen +At the great circus on the green; +For every kind of beast and man +Is marching in that caravan. + +As first they move a little slow, +But still the faster on they go, +And still beside me close I keep +Until we reach the town of Sleep. + + + V + Whole Duty of Children + +A child should always say what's true +And speak when he is spoken to, +And behave mannerly at table; +At least as far as he is able. + + + VI + Rain + +The rain is falling all around, + It falls on field and tree, +It rains on the umbrellas here, + And on the ships at sea. + + + VII + Pirate Story + +Three of us afloat in the meadow by the swing, + Three of us abroad in the basket on the lea. +Winds are in the air, they are blowing in the spring, + And waves are on the meadow like the waves there are at sea. + +Where shall we adventure, to-day that we're afloat, + Wary of the weather and steering by a star? +Shall it be to Africa, a-steering of the boat, + To Providence, or Babylon or off to Malabar? + +Hi! but here's a squadron a-rowing on the sea-- + Cattle on the meadow a-charging with a roar! +Quick, and we'll escape them, they're as mad as they can be, + The wicket is the harbour and the garden is the shore. + + + VIII + Foreign Lands + +Up into the cherry tree +Who should climb but little me? +I held the trunk with both my hands +And looked abroad in foreign lands. + +I saw the next door garden lie, +Adorned with flowers, before my eye, +And many pleasant places more +That I had never seen before. + +I saw the dimpling river pass +And be the sky's blue looking-glass; +The dusty roads go up and down +With people tramping in to town. + +If I could find a higher tree +Farther and farther I should see, +To where the grown-up river slips +Into the sea among the ships, + +To where the road on either hand +Lead onward into fairy land, +Where all the children dine at five, +And all the playthings come alive. + + IX + Windy Nights + +Whenever the moon and stars are set, + Whenever the wind is high, +All night long in the dark and wet, + A man goes riding by. +Late in the night when the fires are out, +Why does he gallop and gallop about? + +Whenever the trees are crying aloud, + And ships are tossed at sea, +By, on the highway, low and loud, + By at the gallop goes he. +By at the gallop he goes, and then +By he comes back at the gallop again. + + + X + Travel + +I should like to rise and go +Where the golden apples grow;-- +Where below another sky +Parrot islands anchored lie, +And, watched by cockatoos and goats, +Lonely Crusoes building boats;-- +Where in sunshine reaching out +Eastern cities, miles about, +Are with mosque and minaret +Among sandy gardens set, +And the rich goods from near and far +Hang for sale in the bazaar;-- +Where the Great Wall round China goes, +And on one side the desert blows, +And with the voice and bell and drum, +Cities on the other hum;-- +Where are forests hot as fire, +Wide as England, tall as a spire, +Full of apes and cocoa-nuts +And the negro hunters' huts;-- +Where the knotty crocodile +Lies and blinks in the Nile, +And the red flamingo flies +Hunting fish before his eyes;-- +Where in jungles near and far, +Man-devouring tigers are, +Lying close and giving ear +Lest the hunt be drawing near, +Or a comer-by be seen +Swinging in the palanquin;-- +Where among the desert sands +Some deserted city stands, +All its children, sweep and prince, +Grown to manhood ages since, +Not a foot in street or house, +Not a stir of child or mouse, +And when kindly falls the night, +In all the town no spark of light. +There I'll come when I'm a man +With a camel caravan; +Light a fire in the gloom +Of some dusty dining-room; +See the pictures on the walls, +Heroes fights and festivals; +And in a corner find the toys +Of the old Egyptian boys. + + + XI + Singing + +Of speckled eggs the birdie sings + And nests among the trees; +The sailor sings of ropes and things + In ships upon the seas. + +The children sing in far Japan, + The children sing in Spain; +The organ with the organ man + Is singing in the rain. + + + XII + Looking Forward + +When I am grown to man's estate +I shall be very proud and great, +And tell the other girls and boys +Not to meddle with my toys. + + + XIII + A Good Play + +We built a ship upon the stairs +All made of the back-bedroom chairs, +And filled it full of soft pillows +To go a-sailing on the billows. + +We took a saw and several nails, +And water in the nursery pails; +And Tom said, "Let us also take +An apple and a slice of cake;"-- +Which was enough for Tom and me +To go a-sailing on, till tea. + +We sailed along for days and days, +And had the very best of plays; +But Tom fell out and hurt his knee, +So there was no one left but me. + + XIV + Where Go the Boats? + +Dark brown is the river, + Golden is the sand. +It flows along for ever, + With trees on either hand. + +Green leaves a-floating, + Castles of the foam, +Boats of mine a-boating-- + Where will all come home? + +On goes the river + And out past the mill, +Away down the valley, + Away down the hill. + +Away down the river, + A hundred miles or more, +Other little children + Shall bring my boats ashore. + + + XV + Auntie's Skirts + +Whenever Auntie moves around, +Her dresses make a curious sound, +They trail behind her up the floor, +And trundle after through the door. + + + XVI + The Land of Counterpane + +When I was sick and lay a-bed, +I had two pillows at my head, +And all my toys beside me lay, +To keep me happy all the day. + +And sometimes for an hour or so +I watched my leaden soldiers go, +With different uniforms and drills, +Among the bed-clothes, through the hills; + +And sometimes sent my ships in fleets +All up and down among the sheets; +Or brought my trees and houses out, +And planted cities all about. + +I was the giant great and still +That sits upon the pillow-hill, +And sees before him, dale and plain, +The pleasant land of counterpane. + + + XVII + The Land of Nod + +From breakfast on through all the day +At home among my friends I stay, +But every night I go abroad +Afar into the land of Nod. + +All by myself I have to go, +With none to tell me what to do-- +All alone beside the streams +And up the mountain-sides of dreams. + +The strangest things are these for me, +Both things to eat and things to see, +And many frightening sights abroad +Till morning in the land of Nod. + +Try as I like to find the way, +I never can get back by day, +Nor can remember plain and clear +The curious music that I hear. + + + XVIII + My Shadow + +I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me, +And what can be the use of him is more than I can see. +He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head; +And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed. + +The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow-- +Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow; +For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball, +And he sometimes goes so little that there's none of him at all. + +He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play, +And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way. +He stays so close behind me, he's a coward you can see; +I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me! + +One morning, very early, before the sun was up, +I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup; +But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head, +Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed. + + + XIX + System + +Every night my prayers I say, +And get my dinner every day; +And every day that I've been good, +I get an orange after food. + +The child that is not clean and neat, +With lots of toys and things to eat, +He is a naughty child, I'm sure-- +Or else his dear papa is poor. + + + XX + A Good Boy + +I woke before the morning, I was happy all the day, +I never said an ugly word, but smiled and stuck to play. + +And now at last the sun is going down behind the wood, +And I am very happy, for I know that I've been good. + +My bed is waiting cool and fresh, with linen smooth and fair, +And I must be off to sleepsin-by, and not forget my prayer. + +I know that, till to-morrow I shall see the sun arise, +No ugly dream shall fright my mind, no ugly sight my eyes. + +But slumber hold me tightly till I waken in the dawn, +And hear the thrushes singing in the lilacs round the lawn. + + + XXI + Escape at Bedtime + +The lights from the parlour and kitchen shone out + Through the blinds and the windows and bars; +And high overhead and all moving about, + There were thousands of millions of stars. +There ne'er were such thousands of leaves on a tree, + Nor of people in church or the Park, +As the crowds of the stars that looked down upon me, + And that glittered and winked in the dark. + +The Dog, and the Plough, and the Hunter, and all, + And the star of the sailor, and Mars, +These shown in the sky, and the pail by the wall + Would be half full of water and stars. +They saw me at last, and they chased me with cries, + And they soon had me packed into bed; +But the glory kept shining and bright in my eyes, + And the stars going round in my head. + + + XXII + Marching Song + +Bring the comb and play upon it! + Marching, here we come! +Willie cocks his highland bonnet, + Johnnie beats the drum. + +Mary Jane commands the party, + Peter leads the rear; +Feet in time, alert and hearty, + Each a Grenadier! + +All in the most martial manner + Marching double-quick; +While the napkin, like a banner, + Waves upon the stick! + +Here's enough of fame and pillage, + Great commander Jane! +Now that we've been round the village, + Let's go home again. + + + XXIII + The Cow + +The friendly cow all red and white, + I love with all my heart: +She gives me cream with all her might, + To eat with apple-tart. + +She wanders lowing here and there, + And yet she cannot stray, +All in the pleasant open air, + The pleasant light of day; + +And blown by all the winds that pass + And wet with all the showers, +She walks among the meadow grass + And eats the meadow flowers. + + + XXIV + Happy Thought + +The world is so full of a number of things, + I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings. + + + XXV + The Wind + +I saw you toss the kites on high +And blow the birds about the sky; +And all around I heard you pass, +Like ladies' skirts across the grass-- + O wind, a-blowing all day long, + O wind, that sings so loud a song! + +I saw the different things you did, +But always you yourself you hid. +I felt you push, I heard you call, +I could not see yourself at all-- + O wind, a-blowing all day long, + O wind, that sings so loud a song! + +O you that are so strong and cold, +O blower, are you young or old? +Are you a beast of field and tree, +Or just a stronger child than me? + O wind, a-blowing all day long, + O wind, that sings so loud a song! + + + XXVI + Keepsake Mill + +Over the borders, a sin without pardon, + Breaking the branches and crawling below, +Out through the breach in the wall of the garden, + Down by the banks of the river we go. + +Here is a mill with the humming of thunder, + Here is the weir with the wonder of foam, +Here is the sluice with the race running under-- + Marvellous places, though handy to home! + +Sounds of the village grow stiller and stiller, + Stiller the note of the birds on the hill; +Dusty and dim are the eyes of the miller, + Deaf are his ears with the moil of the mill. + +Years may go by, and the wheel in the river + Wheel as it wheels for us, children, to-day, +Wheel and keep roaring and foaming for ever + Long after all of the boys are away. + +Home for the Indies and home from the ocean, + Heroes and soldiers we all will come home; +Still we shall find the old mill wheel in motion, + Turning and churning that river to foam. + +You with the bean that I gave when we quarrelled, + I with your marble of Saturday last, +Honoured and old and all gaily apparelled, + Here we shall meet and remember the past. + + + XXVII + Good and Bad Children + +Children, you are very little, +And your bones are very brittle; +If you would grow great and stately, +You must try to walk sedately. + +You must still be bright and quiet, +And content with simple diet; +And remain, through all bewild'ring, +Innocent and honest children. + +Happy hearts and happy faces, +Happy play in grassy places-- +That was how in ancient ages, +Children grew to kings and sages. + +But the unkind and the unruly, +And the sort who eat unduly, +They must never hope for glory-- +Theirs is quite a different story! + +Cruel children, crying babies, +All grow up as geese and gabies, +Hated, as their age increases, +By their nephews and their nieces. + + + XXVIII + Foreign Children + +Little Indian, Sioux, or Crow, +Little frosty Eskimo, +Little Turk or Japanee, +Oh! don't you wish that you were me? + +You have seen the scarlet trees +And the lions over seas; +You have eaten ostrich eggs, +And turned the turtle off their legs. + +Such a life is very fine, +But it's not so nice as mine: +You must often as you trod, +Have wearied NOT to be abroad. + +You have curious things to eat, +I am fed on proper meat; +You must dwell upon the foam, +But I am safe and live at home. + Little Indian, Sioux or Crow, + Little frosty Eskimo, + Little Turk or Japanee, +Oh! don't you wish that you were me? + + + XXIX + The Sun Travels + +The sun is not a-bed, when I +At night upon my pillow lie; +Still round the earth his way he takes, +And morning after morning makes. + +While here at home, in shining day, +We round the sunny garden play, +Each little Indian sleepy-head +Is being kissed and put to bed. + +And when at eve I rise form tea, +Day dawns beyond the Atlantic Sea; +And all the children in the west +Are getting up and being dressed. + + + XXX + The Lamplighter + +My tea is nearly ready and the sun has left the sky. +It's time to take the window to see Leerie going by; +For every night at teatime and before you take your seat, +With lantern and with ladder he comes posting up the street. + +Now Tom would be a driver and Maria go to sea, +And my papa's a banker and as rich as he can be; +But I, when I am stronger and can choose what I'm to do, +O Leerie, I'll go round at night and light the lamps with you! + +For we are very lucky, with a lamp before the door, +And Leerie stops to light it as he lights so many more; +And oh! before you hurry by with ladder and with light; +O Leerie, see a little child and nod to him to-night! + + + XXXI + My Bed is a Boat + +My bed is like a little boat; + Nurse helps me in when I embark; +She girds me in my sailor's coat + And starts me in the dark. + +At night I go on board and say + Good-night to all my friends on shore; +I shut my eyes and sail away + And see and hear no more. + +And sometimes things to bed I take, + As prudent sailors have to do; +Perhaps a slice of wedding-cake, + Perhaps a toy or two. + +All night across the dark we steer; + But when the day returns at last, +Safe in my room beside the pier, + I find my vessel fast. + + + XXXII + The Moon +The moon has a face like the clock in the hall; +She shines on thieves on the garden wall, +On streets and fields and harbour quays, +And birdies asleep in the forks of the trees. + +The squalling cat and the squeaking mouse, +The howling dog by the door of the house, +The bat that lies in bed at noon, +All love to be out by the light of the moon. + +But all of the things that belong to the day +Cuddle to sleep to be out of her way; +And flowers and children close their eyes +Till up in the morning the sun shall arise. + + + XXXIII + The Swing + +How do you like to go up in a swing, + Up in the air so blue? +Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing + Ever a child can do! + +Up in the air and over the wall, + Till I can see so wide, +River and trees and cattle and all + Over the countryside-- + +Till I look down on the garden green, + Down on the roof so brown-- +Up in the air I go flying again, + Up in the air and down! + + + XXXIV + Time to Rise + +A birdie with a yellow bill +Hopped upon my window sill, +Cocked his shining eye and said: +"Ain't you 'shamed, you sleepy-head!" + + + XXXV + Looking-glass River + +Smooth it glides upon its travel, + Here a wimple, there a gleam-- + O the clean gravel! + O the smooth stream! + +Sailing blossoms, silver fishes, + Pave pools as clear as air-- + How a child wishes + To live down there! + +We can see our colored faces + Floating on the shaken pool + Down in cool places, + Dim and very cool; + +Till a wind or water wrinkle, + Dipping marten, plumping trout, + Spreads in a twinkle + And blots all out. + +See the rings pursue each other; + All below grows black as night, + Just as if mother + Had blown out the light! + +Patience, children, just a minute-- + See the spreading circles die; + The stream and all in it + Will clear by-and-by. + + + XXXVI + Fairy Bread + +Come up here, O dusty feet! + Here is fairy bread to eat. +Here in my retiring room, +Children, you may dine +On the golden smell of broom + And the shade of pine; +And when you have eaten well, +Fairy stories hear and tell. + + + XXXVII + From a Railway Carriage + +Faster than fairies, faster than witches, +Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches; +And charging along like troops in a battle +All through the meadows the horses and cattle: +All of the sights of the hill and the plain +Fly as thick as driving rain; +And ever again, in the wink of an eye, +Painted stations whistle by. +Here is a child who clambers and scrambles, +All by himself and gathering brambles; +Here is a tramp who stands and gazes; +And here is the green for stringing the daisies! +Here is a cart runaway in the road +Lumping along with man and load; +And here is a mill, and there is a river: +Each a glimpse and gone forever! + + XXXVIII + Winter-time + +Late lies the wintry sun a-bed, +A frosty, fiery sleepy-head; +Blinks but an hour or two; and then, +A blood-red orange, sets again. + +Before the stars have left the skies, +At morning in the dark I rise; +And shivering in my nakedness, +By the cold candle, bathe and dress. + +Close by the jolly fire I sit +To warm my frozen bones a bit; +Or with a reindeer-sled, explore +The colder countries round the door. + +When to go out, my nurse doth wrap +Me in my comforter and cap; +The cold wind burns my face, and blows +Its frosty pepper up my nose. + +Black are my steps on silver sod; +Thick blows my frosty breath abroad; +And tree and house, and hill and lake, +Are frosted like a wedding cake. + + + XXXIX + The Hayloft + +Through all the pleasant meadow-side + The grass grew shoulder-high, +Till the shining scythes went far and wide + And cut it down to dry. + +Those green and sweetly smelling crops + They led the waggons home; +And they piled them here in mountain tops + For mountaineers to roam. + +Here is Mount Clear, Mount Rusty-Nail, + Mount Eagle and Mount High;-- +The mice that in these mountains dwell, + No happier are than I! + +Oh, what a joy to clamber there, + Oh, what a place for play, +With the sweet, the dim, the dusty air, + The happy hills of hay! + + + XL + Farewell to the Farm +The coach is at the door at last; +The eager children, mounting fast +And kissing hands, in chorus sing: +Good-bye, good-bye, to everything! + +To house and garden, field and lawn, +The meadow-gates we swang upon, +To pump and stable, tree and swing, +Good-bye, good-bye, to everything! + +And fare you well for evermore, +O ladder at the hayloft door, +O hayloft where the cobwebs cling, +Good-bye, good-bye, to everything! + +Crack goes the whip, and off we go; +The trees and houses smaller grow; +Last, round the woody turn we sing: +Good-bye, good-bye, to everything! + + + XLI + North-west Passage + + 1. Good-night + +Then the bright lamp is carried in, +The sunless hours again begin; +O'er all without, in field and lane, +The haunted night returns again. + +Now we behold the embers flee +About the firelit hearth; and see +Our faces painted as we pass, +Like pictures, on the window glass. + +Must we to bed indeed? Well then, +Let us arise and go like men, +And face with an undaunted tread +The long black passage up to bed. + +Farewell, O brother, sister, sire! +O pleasant party round the fire! +The songs you sing, the tales you tell, +Till far to-morrow, fare you well! + + + 2. Shadow March + +All around the house is the jet-black night; + It stares through the window-pane; +It crawls in the corners, hiding from the light, + And it moves with the moving flame. + +Now my little heart goes a beating like a drum, + With the breath of the Bogies in my hair; +And all around the candle and the crooked shadows come, + And go marching along up the stair. + +The shadow of the balusters, the shadow of the lamp, + The shadow of the child that goes to bed-- +All the wicked shadows coming tramp, tramp, tramp, + With the black night overhead. + + + 3. In Port + +Last, to the chamber where I lie +My fearful footsteps patter nigh, +And come out from the cold and gloom +Into my warm and cheerful room. + +There, safe arrived, we turn about +To keep the coming shadows out, +And close the happy door at last +On all the perils that we past. + +Then, when mamma goes by to bed, +She shall come in with tip-toe tread, +And see me lying warm and fast +And in the land of Nod at last. + + + + + THE CHILD ALONE + + + I + The Unseen Playmate + +When children are playing alone on the green, +In comes the playmate that never was seen. +When children are happy and lonely and good, +The Friend of the Children comes out of the wood. + +Nobody heard him, and nobody saw, +His is a picture you never could draw, +But he's sure to be present, abroad or at home, +When children are happy and playing alone. + +He lies in the laurels, he runs on the grass, +He sings when you tinkle the musical glass; +Whene'er you are happy and cannot tell why, +The Friend of the Children is sure to be by! + +He loves to be little, he hates to be big, +'T is he that inhabits the caves that you dig; +'T is he when you play with your soldiers of tin +That sides with the Frenchmen and never can win. + +'T is he, when at night you go off to your bed, +Bids you go to sleep and not trouble your head; +For wherever they're lying, in cupboard or shelf, +'T is he will take care of your playthings himself! + + + II + My Ship and I + +O it's I that am the captain of a tidy little ship, + Of a ship that goes a sailing on the pond; +And my ship it keeps a-turning all around and all about; +But when I'm a little older, I shall find the secret out + How to send my vessel sailing on beyond. + +For I mean to grow a little as the dolly at the helm, + And the dolly I intend to come alive; +And with him beside to help me, it's a-sailing I shall go, +It's a-sailing on the water, when the jolly breezes blow + And the vessel goes a dive-dive-dive. + +O it's then you'll see me sailing through the rushes and the reeds, + And you'll hear the water singing at the prow; +For beside the dolly sailor, I'm to voyage and explore, +To land upon the island where no dolly was before, + And to fire the penny cannon in the bow. + + + III + My Kingdom + +Down by a shining water well +I found a very little dell, + No higher than my head. +The heather and the gorse about +In summer bloom were coming out, + Some yellow and some red. + +I called the little pool a sea; +The little hills were big to me; + For I am very small. +I made a boat, I made a town, +I searched the caverns up and down, + And named them one and all. + +And all about was mine, I said, +The little sparrows overhead, + The little minnows too. +This was the world and I was king; +For me the bees came by to sing, + For me the swallows flew. + +I played there were no deeper seas, +Nor any wider plains than these, + Nor other kings than me. +At last I heard my mother call +Out from the house at evenfall, + To call me home to tea. + +And I must rise and leave my dell, +And leave my dimpled water well, + And leave my heather blooms. +Alas! and as my home I neared, +How very big my nurse appeared. + How great and cool the rooms! + + + IV + Picture-books in Winter + +Summer fading, winter comes-- +Frosty mornings, tingling thumbs, +Window robins, winter rooks, +And the picture story-books. + +Water now is turned to stone +Nurse and I can walk upon; +Still we find the flowing brooks +In the picture story-books. + +All the pretty things put by, +Wait upon the children's eye, +Sheep and shepherds, trees and crooks, +In the picture story-books. + +We may see how all things are +Seas and cities, near and far, +And the flying fairies' looks, +In the picture story-books. + +How am I to sing your praise, +Happy chimney-corner days, +Sitting safe in nursery nooks, +Reading picture story-books? + + + V + My Treasures + +These nuts, that I keep in the back of the nest, +Where all my tin soldiers are lying at rest, +Were gathered in Autumn by nursie and me +In a wood with a well by the side of the sea. + +This whistle we made (and how clearly it sounds!) +By the side of a field at the end of the grounds. +Of a branch of a plane, with a knife of my own, +It was nursie who made it, and nursie alone! + +The stone, with the white and the yellow and grey, +We discovered I cannot tell HOW far away; +And I carried it back although weary and cold, +For though father denies it, I'm sure it is gold. + +But of all my treasures the last is the king, +For there's very few children possess such a thing; +And that is a chisel, both handle and blade, +Which a man who was really a carpenter made. + + + VI + Block City + +What are you able to build with your blocks? +Castles and palaces, temples and docks. +Rain may keep raining, and others go roam, +But I can be happy and building at home. + +Let the sofa be mountains, the carpet be sea, +There I'll establish a city for me: +A kirk and a mill and a palace beside, +And a harbour as well where my vessels may ride. + +Great is the palace with pillar and wall, +A sort of a tower on the top of it all, +And steps coming down in an orderly way +To where my toy vessels lie safe in the bay. + +This one is sailing and that one is moored: +Hark to the song of the sailors aboard! +And see, on the steps of my palace, the kings +Coming and going with presents and things! + +Yet as I saw it, I see it again, +The kirk and the palace, the ships and the men, +And as long as I live and where'er I may be, +I'll always remember my town by the sea. + + + VII + The Land of Story-books + +At evening when the lamp is lit, +Around the fire my parents sit; +They sit at home and talk and sing, +And do not play at anything. + +Now, with my little gun, I crawl +All in the dark along the wall, +And follow round the forest track +Away behind the sofa back. + +There, in the night, where none can spy, +All in my hunter's camp I lie, +And play at books that I have read +Till it is time to go to bed. + +These are the hills, these are the woods, +These are my starry solitudes; +And there the river by whose brink +The roaring lions come to drink. + +I see the others far away +As if in firelit camp they lay, +And I, like to an Indian scout, +Around their party prowled about. + +So when my nurse comes in for me, +Home I return across the sea, +And go to bed with backward looks +At my dear land of Story-books. + + + VIII + Armies in the Fire + +The lamps now glitter down the street; +Faintly sound the falling feet; +And the blue even slowly falls +About the garden trees and walls. + +Now in the falling of the gloom +The red fire paints the empty room: +And warmly on the roof it looks, +And flickers on the back of books. + +Armies march by tower and spire +Of cities blazing, in the fire;-- +Till as I gaze with staring eyes, +The armies fall, the lustre dies. + +Then once again the glow returns; +Again the phantom city burns; +And down the red-hot valley, lo! +The phantom armies marching go! + +Blinking embers, tell me true +Where are those armies marching to, +And what the burning city is +That crumbles in your furnaces! + + + IX + The Little Land + +When at home alone I sit +And am very tired of it, +I have just to shut my eyes +To go sailing through the skies-- +To go sailing far away +To the pleasant Land of Play; +To the fairy land afar +Where the Little People are; +Where the clover-tops are trees, +And the rain-pools are the seas, +And the leaves, like little ships, +Sail about on tiny trips; +And above the Daisy tree + Through the grasses, +High o'erhead the Bumble Bee + Hums and passes. + +In that forest to and fro +I can wander, I can go; +See the spider and the fly, +And the ants go marching by, +Carrying parcels with their feet +Down the green and grassy street. +I can in the sorrel sit +Where the ladybird alit. +I can climb the jointed grass + And on high +See the greater swallows pass + In the sky, +And the round sun rolling by +Heeding no such things as I. + +Through that forest I can pass +Till, as in a looking-glass, +Humming fly and daisy tree +And my tiny self I see, +Painted very clear and neat +On the rain-pool at my feet. +Should a leaflet come to land +Drifting near to where I stand, +Straight I'll board that tiny boat +Round the rain-pool sea to float. + +Little thoughtful creatures sit +On the grassy coasts of it; +Little things with lovely eyes +See me sailing with surprise. +Some are clad in armour green-- +(These have sure to battle been!)-- +Some are pied with ev'ry hue, +Black and crimson, gold and blue; +Some have wings and swift are gone;-- +But they all look kindly on. + + When my eyes I once again + Open, and see all things plain: +High bare walls, great bare floor; +Great big knobs on drawer and door; +Great big people perched on chairs, +Stitching tucks and mending tears, +Each a hill that I could climb, +And talking nonsense all the time-- + O dear me, + That I could be +A sailor on a the rain-pool sea, +A climber in the clover tree, +And just come back a sleepy-head, +Late at night to go to bed. + + + + + Garden Days + + + I + Night and Day + +When the golden day is done, + Through the closing portal, +Child and garden, Flower and sun, + Vanish all things mortal. + +As the blinding shadows fall + As the rays diminish, +Under evening's cloak they all + Roll away and vanish. + +Garden darkened, daisy shut, + Child in bed, they slumber-- +Glow-worm in the hallway rut, + Mice among the lumber. + +In the darkness houses shine, + Parents move the candles; +Till on all the night divine + Turns the bedroom handles. + +Till at last the day begins + In the east a-breaking, +In the hedges and the whins + Sleeping birds a-waking. + +In the darkness shapes of things, + Houses, trees and hedges, +Clearer grow; and sparrow's wings + Beat on window ledges. + +These shall wake the yawning maid; + She the door shall open-- +Finding dew on garden glade + And the morning broken. + +There my garden grows again + Green and rosy painted, +As at eve behind the pane + From my eyes it fainted. + +Just as it was shut away, + Toy-like, in the even, +Here I see it glow with day + Under glowing heaven. + +Every path and every plot, + Every blush of roses, +Every blue forget-me-not + Where the dew reposes, + +"Up!" they cry, "the day is come + On the smiling valleys: +We have beat the morning drum; + Playmate, join your allies!" + + + II + Nest Eggs + +Birds all the summer day + Flutter and quarrel +Here in the arbour-like + Tent of the laurel. + +Here in the fork + The brown nest is seated; +For little blue eggs + The mother keeps heated. + +While we stand watching her + Staring like gabies, +Safe in each egg are the + Bird's little babies. + +Soon the frail eggs they shall + Chip, and upspringing +Make all the April woods + Merry with singing. + +Younger than we are, + O children, and frailer, +Soon in the blue air they'll be, + Singer and sailor. + +We, so much older, + Taller and stronger, +We shall look down on the + Birdies no longer. + +They shall go flying + With musical speeches +High overhead in the + Tops of the beeches. + +In spite of our wisdom + And sensible talking, +We on our feet must go + Plodding and walking. + + III + The Flowers + +All the names I know from nurse: +Gardener's garters, Shepherd's purse, +Bachelor's buttons, Lady's smock, +And the Lady Hollyhock. + +Fairy places, fairy things, +Fairy woods where the wild bee wings, +Tiny trees for tiny dames-- +These must all be fairy names! + +Tiny woods below whose boughs +Shady fairies weave a house; +Tiny tree-tops, rose or thyme, +Where the braver fairies climb! + +Fair are grown-up people's trees, +But the fairest woods are these; +Where, if I were not so tall, +I should live for good and all. + + + IV + Summer Sun + +Great is the sun, and wide he goes +Through empty heaven with repose; +And in the blue and glowing days +More thick than rain he showers his rays. + +Though closer still the blinds we pull +To keep the shady parlour cool, +Yet he will find a chink or two +To slip his golden fingers through. + +The dusty attic spider-clad +He, through the keyhole, maketh glad; +And through the broken edge of tiles +Into the laddered hay-loft smiles. + +Meantime his golden face around +He bares to all the garden ground, +And sheds a warm and glittering look +Among the ivy's inmost nook. + +Above the hills, along the blue, +Round the bright air with footing true, +To please the child, to paint the rose, +The gardener of the World, he goes. + + + V + The Dumb Soldier +When the grass was closely mown, +Walking on the lawn alone, +In the turf a hole I found, +And hid a soldier underground. + +Spring and daisies came apace; +Grasses hid my hiding place; +Grasses run like a green sea +O'er the lawn up to my knee. + +Under grass alone he lies, +Looking up with leaden eyes, +Scarlet coat and pointed gun, +To the stars and to the sun. + +When the grass is ripe like grain, +When the scythe is stoned again, +When the lawn is shaven clear, +The my hole shall reappear. + +I shall find him, never fear, +I shall find my grenadier; +But for all that's gone and come, +I shall find my soldier dumb. + +He has lived, a little thing, +In the grassy woods of spring; +Done, if he could tell me true, +Just as I should like to do. + +He has seen the starry hours +And the springing of the flowers; +And the fairy things that pass +In the forests of the grass. + +In the silence he has heard +Talking bee and ladybird, +And the butterfly has flown +O'er him as he lay alone. + +Not a word will he disclose, +Not a word of all he knows. +I must lay him on the shelf, +And make up the tale myself. + + + VI + Autumn Fires + +In the other gardens + And all up the vale, +From the autumn bonfires + See the smoke trail! + +Pleasant summer over + And all the summer flowers, +The red fire blazes, + The grey smoke towers. + +Sing a song of seasons! + Something bright in all! +Flowers in the summer, + Fires in the fall! + + + VII + The Gardener + +The gardener does not love to talk. +He makes me keep the gravel walk; +And when he puts his tools away, +He locks the door and takes the key. + +Away behind the currant row, +Where no one else but cook may go, +Far in the plots, I see him dig, +Old and serious, brown and big. + +He digs the flowers, green, red, and blue, +Nor wishes to be spoken to. +He digs the flowers and cuts the hay, +And never seems to want to play. + +Silly gardener! summer goes, +And winter comes with pinching toes, +When in the garden bare and brown +You must lay your barrow down. + +Well now, and while the summer stays, +To profit by these garden days +O how much wiser you would be +To play at Indian wars with me! + + + VIII + Historical Associations + +Dear Uncle Jim. this garden ground +That now you smoke your pipe around, +has seen immortal actions done +And valiant battles lost and won. + +Here we had best on tip-toe tread, +While I for safety march ahead, +For this is that enchanted ground +Where all who loiter slumber sound. + +Here is the sea, here is the sand, +Here is the simple Shepherd's Land, +Here are the fairy hollyhocks, +And there are Ali Baba's rocks. +But yonder, see! apart and high, +Frozen Siberia lies; where I, +With Robert Bruce William Tell, +Was bound by an enchanter's spell. + + + + + ENVOYS + + + I + To Willie and Henrietta + + If two may read aright + These rhymes of old delight + And house and garden play, +You too, my cousins, and you only, may. + + You in a garden green + With me were king and queen, + Were hunter, soldier, tar, +And all the thousand things that children are. + + Now in the elders' seat + We rest with quiet feet, + And from the window-bay +We watch the children, our successors, play. + + "Time was," the golden head + Irrevocably said; + But time which one can bind, +While flowing fast away, leaves love behind. + + + II + To My Mother + +You too, my mother, read my rhymes +For love of unforgotten times, +And you may chance to hear once more +The little feet along the floor. + + + III + To Auntie + +"Chief of our aunts"--not only I, +But all your dozen of nurselings cry-- +"What did the other children do? +And what were childhood, wanting you?" + + + IV + To Minnie +The red room with the giant bed +Where none but elders laid their head; +The little room where you and I +Did for awhile together lie +And, simple, suitor, I your hand +In decent marriage did demand; +The great day nursery, best of all, +With pictures pasted on the wall +And leaves upon the blind-- +A pleasant room wherein to wake +And hear the leafy garden shake +And rustle in the wind-- +And pleasant there to lie in bed +And see the pictures overhead-- +The wars about Sebastopol, +The grinning guns along the wall, +The daring escalade, +The plunging ships, the bleating sheep, +The happy children ankle-deep +And laughing as they wade: +All these are vanished clean away, +And the old manse is changed to-day; +It wears an altered face +And shields a stranger race. +The river, on from mill to mill, +Flows past our childhood's garden still; +But ah! we children never more +Shall watch it from the water-door! +Below the yew--it still is there-- +Our phantom voices haunt the air +As we were still at play, +And I can hear them call and say: +"How far is it to Babylon?" + +Ah, far enough, my dear, +Far, far enough from here-- +Smiling and kind, you grace a shelf +Too high for me to reach myself. +Reach down a hand, my dear, and take +These rhymes for old acquaintance' sake! +Yet you have farther gone! +"Can I get there by candlelight?" +So goes the old refrain. +I do not know--perchance you might-- +But only, children, hear it right, +Ah, never to return again! +The eternal dawn, beyond a doubt, +Shall break on hill and plain, +And put all stars and candles out +Ere we be young again. + +To you in distant India, these +I send across the seas, +Nor count it far across. +For which of us forget +The Indian cabinets, +The bones of antelope, the wings of albatross, +The pied and painted birds and beans, +The junks and bangles, beads and screens, +The gods and sacred bells, +And the load-humming, twisted shells! +The level of the parlour floor +Was honest, homely, Scottish shore; +But when we climbed upon a chair, +Behold the gorgeous East was there! +Be this a fable; and behold +Me in the parlour as of old, +And Minnie just above me set +In the quaint Indian cabinet! + + + V + To My Name-child + + 1 + +Some day soon this rhyming volume, if you learn with proper speed, +Little Louis Sanchez, will be given you to read. +Then you shall discover, that your name was printed down +By the English printers, long before, in London town. + +In the great and busy city where the East and West are met, +All the little letters did the English printer set; +While you thought of nothing, and were still too young to play, +Foreign people thought of you in places far away. + +Ay, and when you slept, a baby, over all the English lands +Other little children took the volume in their hands; +Other children questioned, in their homes across the seas: +Who was little Louis, won't you tell us, mother, please? + + + 2 + +Now that you have spelt your lesson, lay it down and go and play, +Seeking shells and seaweed on the sands of Monterey, +Watching all the mighty whalebones, lying buried by the breeze, +Tiny sandpipers, and the huge Pacific seas. + +And remember in your playing, as the sea-fog rolls to you, +Long ere you could read it, how I told you what to do; +And that while you thought of no one, nearly half the world away +Some one thought of Louis on the beach of Monterey! + + + VI + To Any Reader + +As from the house your mother sees +You playing round the garden trees, +So you may see, if you will look +Through the windows of this book, +Another child, far, far away, +And in another garden, play. +But do not think you can at all, +By knocking on the window, call +That child to hear you. He intent +Is all on his play-business bent. +He does not hear, he will not look, +Nor yet be lured out of this book. +For, long ago, the truth to say, +He has grown up and gone away, +And it is but a child of air +That lingers in the garden there. + + + + +**End of the Project Gutenberg Etext of A Child's Garden of Verses** + + diff --git a/old/old/child10.zip b/old/old/child10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..926fc12 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/child10.zip diff --git a/old/old/child11.txt b/old/old/child11.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2acfe12 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/child11.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2114 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of A Child's Garden of Verses +by Robert Louis Stevenson +(#3 in our series by Robert Louis Stevenson) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. The words +are carefully chosen to provide users with the information they +need about what they can legally do with the texts. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. We need your donations. + +Presently, contributions are only being solicited from people in: +Texas, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota, +Iowa, Indiana, and Vermont. As the requirements for other states +are met, additions to this list will be made and fund raising will +begin in the additional states. These donations should be made to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655 + + +Title: A Child's Garden of Verses + +Author: Robert Louis Stevenson + +Release Date: June, 1994 [Etext #136] +[Yes, we are about one year ahead of schedule] + +Edition: 11 + +Language: English + +The Project Gutenberg Etext of A Child's Garden of Verses +by Robert Louis Stevenson +******This file should be named child11.txt or child11.zip****** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, child12.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, child11a.txt + +Project Gutenberg Etexts are usually created from multiple editions, +all of which are in the Public Domain in the United States, unless a +copyright notice is included. Therefore, we usually do NOT keep any +of these books in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our books one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to send us error messages even years after +the official publication date. + +Please note: neither this list nor its contents are final till +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our sites at: +http://gutenberg.net +http://promo.net/pg + + +Those of you who want to download any Etext before announcement +can surf to them as follows, and just download by date; this is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext02 +or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext02 + +Or /etext01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any etext selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. This +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If our value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour this year as we release fifty new Etext +files per month, or 500 more Etexts in 2000 for a total of 3000+ +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +should reach over 300 billion Etexts given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion Etext +Files by December 31, 2001. [10,000 x 100,000,000 = 1 Trillion] +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +At our revised rates of production, we will reach only one-third +of that goal by the end of 2001, or about 3,333 Etexts unless we +manage to get some real funding. + +Something is needed to create a future for Project Gutenberg for +the next 100 years. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +Presently, contributions are only being solicited from people in: +Texas, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota, +Iowa, Indiana, and Vermont. As the requirements for other states +are met, additions to this list will be made and fund raising will +begin in the additional states. + +All donations should be made to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation and will be tax deductible to the extent +permitted by law. + +Mail to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Avenue +Oxford, MS 38655 [USA] + +We are working with the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation to build more stable support and ensure the +future of Project Gutenberg. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information at: + +http://www.gutenberg.net/donation.html + + +*** + +You can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +hart@pobox.com forwards to hart@prairienet.org and archive.org +if your mail bounces from archive.org, I will still see it, if +it bounces from prairienet.org, better resend later on. . . . + +We would prefer to send you this information by email. + + +Example command-line FTP session: + +ftp ftp.ibiblio.org +login: anonymous +password: your@login +cd pub/docs/books/gutenberg +cd etext90 through etext99 or etext00 through etext02, etc. +dir [to see files] +get or mget [to get files. . .set bin for zip files] +GET GUTINDEX.?? [to get a year's listing of books, e.g., GUTINDEX.99] +GET GUTINDEX.ALL [to get a listing of ALL books] + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you can distribute copies of this etext if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this etext on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etexts, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this etext +under the Project's "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's etexts and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] the Project (and any other party you may receive this +etext from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold the Project, its directors, +officers, members and agents harmless from all liability, cost +and expense, including legal fees, that arise directly or +indirectly from any of the following that you do or cause: +[1] distribution of this etext, [2] alteration, modification, +or addition to the etext, or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + etext or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this etext in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The etext may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the etext (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Project of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain etexts, and royalty free copyright licenses. +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.07.00*END* + + + + + + + + + +A Child's Garden of Verses + +by + +Robert Louis Stevenson + + +To Alison Cunningham +From Her Boy + +For the long nights you lay awake +And watched for my unworthy sake: +For your most comfortable hand +That led me through the uneven land: +For all the story-books you read: +For all the pains you comforted: + +For all you pitied, all you bore, +In sad and happy days of yore:-- +My second Mother, my first Wife, +The angel of my infant life-- +From the sick child, now well and old, +Take, nurse, the little book you hold! + +And grant it, Heaven, that all who read +May find as dear a nurse at need, +And every child who lists my rhyme, +In the bright, fireside, nursery clime, +May hear it in as kind a voice +As made my childish days rejoice! + + R. L. S. + + + Contents + +To Alison Cunningham + + I Bed in Summer + II A Thought + III At the Sea-Side + IV Young Night-Thought + V Whole Duty of Children + VI Rain + VII Pirate Story + VIII Foreign Lands + IX Windy Nights + X Travel + XI Singing + XII Looking Forward + XIII A Good Play + XIV Where Go the Boats? + XV Auntie's Skirts + XVI The Land of Counterpane + XVII The Land of Nod + XVIII My Shadow + XIX System + XX A Good Boy + XXI Escape at Bedtime + XXII Marching Song + XXIII The Cow + XXIV The Happy Thought + XXV The Wind + XXVI Keepsake Mill + XXVII Good and Bad Children +XXVIII Foreign Children + XXIX The Sun Travels + XXX The Lamplighter + XXXI My Bed is a Boat + XXXII The Moon +XXXIII The Swing + XXXIV Time to Rise + XXXV Looking-Glass River + XXXVI Fairy Bread +XXXVII From a Railway Carriage +XXXVIII Winter-Time + XXXIX The Hayloft + XL Farewell to the Farm + XLI North-West Passage + 1. Good-Night + 2. Shadow March + 3. In Port + + + The Child Alone + + I The Unseen Playmate + II My Ship and I +III My Kingdom + IV Picture-Books in Winter + V My Treasures + VI Block City +VII The Land of Story-Books +VIII Armies in the Fire + IX The Little Land + + + Garden Days + + I Night and Day + II Nest Eggs +III The Flowers + IV Summer Sun + V The Dumb Soldier + VI Autumn Fires +VII The Gardener +VIII Historical Associations + + + Envoys + + I To Willie and Henrietta +II To My Mother +III To Auntie +IV To Minnie + V To My Name-Child +VI To Any Reader + + + + A Child's Garden of Verses + + + + I + Bed in Summer + +In winter I get up at night +And dress by yellow candle-light. +In summer quite the other way, +I have to go to bed by day. + +I have to go to bed and see +The birds still hopping on the tree, +Or hear the grown-up people's feet +Still going past me in the street. + +And does it not seem hard to you, +When all the sky is clear and blue, +And I should like so much to play, +To have to go to bed by day? + + II + A Thought + +It is very nice to think +The world is full of meat and drink, +With little children saying grace +In every Christian kind of place. + + + III + At the Sea-Side + +When I was down beside the sea +A wooden spade they gave to me + To dig the sandy shore. + +My holes were empty like a cup. +In every hole the sea came up, + Till it could come no more. + + + IV + Young Night-Thought + +All night long and every night, +When my mama puts out the light, +I see the people marching by, +As plain as day before my eye. + +Armies and emperor and kings, +All carrying different kinds of things, +And marching in so grand a way, +You never saw the like by day. + +So fine a show was never seen +At the great circus on the green; +For every kind of beast and man +Is marching in that caravan. + +As first they move a little slow, +But still the faster on they go, +And still beside me close I keep +Until we reach the town of Sleep. + + + V + Whole Duty of Children + +A child should always say what's true +And speak when he is spoken to, +And behave mannerly at table; +At least as far as he is able. + + + VI + Rain + +The rain is falling all around, + It falls on field and tree, +It rains on the umbrellas here, + And on the ships at sea. + + + VII + Pirate Story + +Three of us afloat in the meadow by the swing, + Three of us abroad in the basket on the lea. +Winds are in the air, they are blowing in the spring, + And waves are on the meadow like the waves there are at sea. + +Where shall we adventure, to-day that we're afloat, + Wary of the weather and steering by a star? +Shall it be to Africa, a-steering of the boat, + To Providence, or Babylon or off to Malabar? + +Hi! but here's a squadron a-rowing on the sea-- + Cattle on the meadow a-charging with a roar! +Quick, and we'll escape them, they're as mad as they can be, + The wicket is the harbour and the garden is the shore. + + + VIII + Foreign Lands + +Up into the cherry tree +Who should climb but little me? +I held the trunk with both my hands +And looked abroad in foreign lands. + +I saw the next door garden lie, +Adorned with flowers, before my eye, +And many pleasant places more +That I had never seen before. + +I saw the dimpling river pass +And be the sky's blue looking-glass; +The dusty roads go up and down +With people tramping in to town. + +If I could find a higher tree +Farther and farther I should see, +To where the grown-up river slips +Into the sea among the ships, + +To where the roads on either hand +Lead onward into fairy land, +Where all the children dine at five, +And all the playthings come alive. + + IX + Windy Nights + +Whenever the moon and stars are set, + Whenever the wind is high, +All night long in the dark and wet, + A man goes riding by. +Late in the night when the fires are out, +Why does he gallop and gallop about? + +Whenever the trees are crying aloud, + And ships are tossed at sea, +By, on the highway, low and loud, + By at the gallop goes he. +By at the gallop he goes, and then +By he comes back at the gallop again. + + + X + Travel + +I should like to rise and go +Where the golden apples grow;-- +Where below another sky +Parrot islands anchored lie, +And, watched by cockatoos and goats, +Lonely Crusoes building boats;-- +Where in sunshine reaching out +Eastern cities, miles about, +Are with mosque and minaret +Among sandy gardens set, +And the rich goods from near and far +Hang for sale in the bazaar;-- +Where the Great Wall round China goes, +And on one side the desert blows, +And with the voice and bell and drum, +Cities on the other hum;-- +Where are forests hot as fire, +Wide as England, tall as a spire, +Full of apes and cocoa-nuts +And the negro hunters' huts;-- +Where the knotty crocodile +Lies and blinks in the Nile, +And the red flamingo flies +Hunting fish before his eyes;-- +Where in jungles near and far, +Man-devouring tigers are, +Lying close and giving ear +Lest the hunt be drawing near, +Or a comer-by be seen +Swinging in the palanquin;-- +Where among the desert sands +Some deserted city stands, +All its children, sweep and prince, +Grown to manhood ages since, +Not a foot in street or house, +Not a stir of child or mouse, +And when kindly falls the night, +In all the town no spark of light. +There I'll come when I'm a man +With a camel caravan; +Light a fire in the gloom +Of some dusty dining room; +See the pictures on the walls, +Heroes, fights and festivals; +And in a corner find the toys +Of the old Egyptian boys. + + + XI + Singing + +Of speckled eggs the birdie sings + And nests among the trees; +The sailor sings of ropes and things + In ships upon the seas. + +The children sing in far Japan, + The children sing in Spain; +The organ with the organ man + Is singing in the rain. + + + XII + Looking Forward + +When I am grown to man's estate +I shall be very proud and great, +And tell the other girls and boys +Not to meddle with my toys. + + + XIII + A Good Play + +We built a ship upon the stairs +All made of the back-bedroom chairs, +And filled it full of sofa pillows +To go a-sailing on the billows. + +We took a saw and several nails, +And water in the nursery pails; +And Tom said, "Let us also take +An apple and a slice of cake;"-- +Which was enough for Tom and me +To go a-sailing on, till tea. + +We sailed along for days and days, +And had the very best of plays; +But Tom fell out and hurt his knee, +So there was no one left but me. + + XIV + Where Go the Boats? + +Dark brown is the river, + Golden is the sand. +It flows along for ever, + With trees on either hand. + +Green leaves a-floating, + Castles of the foam, +Boats of mine a-boating-- + Where will all come home? + +On goes the river + And out past the mill, +Away down the valley, + Away down the hill. + +Away down the river, + A hundred miles or more, +Other little children + Shall bring my boats ashore. + + + XV + Auntie's Skirts + +Whenever Auntie moves around, +Her dresses make a curious sound, +They trail behind her up the floor, +And trundle after through the door. + + + XVI + The Land of Counterpane + +When I was sick and lay a-bed, +I had two pillows at my head, +And all my toys beside me lay, +To keep me happy all the day. + +And sometimes for an hour or so +I watched my leaden soldiers go, +With different uniforms and drills, +Among the bed-clothes, through the hills; + +And sometimes sent my ships in fleets +All up and down among the sheets; +Or brought my trees and houses out, +And planted cities all about. + +I was the giant great and still +That sits upon the pillow-hill, +And sees before him, dale and plain, +The pleasant land of counterpane. + + + XVII + The Land of Nod + +From breakfast on through all the day +At home among my friends I stay, +But every night I go abroad +Afar into the land of Nod. + +All by myself I have to go, +With none to tell me what to do-- +All alone beside the streams +And up the mountain-sides of dreams. + +The strangest things are these for me, +Both things to eat and things to see, +And many frightening sights abroad +Till morning in the land of Nod. + +Try as I like to find the way, +I never can get back by day, +Nor can remember plain and clear +The curious music that I hear. + + + XVIII + My Shadow + +I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me, +And what can be the use of him is more than I can see. +He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head; +And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed. + +The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow-- +Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow; +For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball, +And he sometimes goes so little that there's none of him at all. + +He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play, +And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way. +He stays so close behind me, he's a coward you can see; +I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me! + +One morning, very early, before the sun was up, +I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup; +But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head, +Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed. + + + XIX + System + +Every night my prayers I say, +And get my dinner every day; +And every day that I've been good, +I get an orange after food. + +The child that is not clean and neat, +With lots of toys and things to eat, +He is a naughty child, I'm sure-- +Or else his dear papa is poor. + + + XX + A Good Boy + +I woke before the morning, I was happy all the day, +I never said an ugly word, but smiled and stuck to play. + +And now at last the sun is going down behind the wood, +And I am very happy, for I know that I've been good. + +My bed is waiting cool and fresh, with linen smooth and fair, +And I must be off to sleepsin-by, and not forget my prayer. + +I know that, till to-morrow I shall see the sun arise, +No ugly dream shall fright my mind, no ugly sight my eyes. + +But slumber hold me tightly till I waken in the dawn, +And hear the thrushes singing in the lilacs round the lawn. + + + XXI + Escape at Bedtime + +The lights from the parlour and kitchen shone out + Through the blinds and the windows and bars; +And high overhead and all moving about, + There were thousands of millions of stars. +There ne'er were such thousands of leaves on a tree, + Nor of people in church or the Park, +As the crowds of the stars that looked down upon me, + And that glittered and winked in the dark. + +The Dog, and the Plough, and the Hunter, and all, + And the star of the sailor, and Mars, +These shown in the sky, and the pail by the wall + Would be half full of water and stars. +They saw me at last, and they chased me with cries, + And they soon had me packed into bed; +But the glory kept shining and bright in my eyes, + And the stars going round in my head. + + + XXII + Marching Song + +Bring the comb and play upon it! + Marching, here we come! +Willie cocks his highland bonnet, + Johnnie beats the drum. + +Mary Jane commands the party, + Peter leads the rear; +Feet in time, alert and hearty, + Each a Grenadier! + +All in the most martial manner + Marching double-quick; +While the napkin, like a banner, + Waves upon the stick! + +Here's enough of fame and pillage, + Great commander Jane! +Now that we've been round the village, + Let's go home again. + + + XXIII + The Cow + +The friendly cow all red and white, + I love with all my heart: +She gives me cream with all her might, + To eat with apple-tart. + +She wanders lowing here and there, + And yet she cannot stray, +All in the pleasant open air, + The pleasant light of day; + +And blown by all the winds that pass + And wet with all the showers, +She walks among the meadow grass + And eats the meadow flowers. + + + XXIV + Happy Thought + +The world is so full of a number of things, + I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings. + + + XXV + The Wind + +I saw you toss the kites on high +And blow the birds about the sky; +And all around I heard you pass, +Like ladies' skirts across the grass-- + O wind, a-blowing all day long, + O wind, that sings so loud a song! + +I saw the different things you did, +But always you yourself you hid. +I felt you push, I heard you call, +I could not see yourself at all-- + O wind, a-blowing all day long, + O wind, that sings so loud a song! + +O you that are so strong and cold, +O blower, are you young or old? +Are you a beast of field and tree, +Or just a stronger child than me? + O wind, a-blowing all day long, + O wind, that sings so loud a song! + + + XXVI + Keepsake Mill + +Over the borders, a sin without pardon, + Breaking the branches and crawling below, +Out through the breach in the wall of the garden, + Down by the banks of the river we go. + +Here is a mill with the humming of thunder, + Here is the weir with the wonder of foam, +Here is the sluice with the race running under-- + Marvellous places, though handy to home! + +Sounds of the village grow stiller and stiller, + Stiller the note of the birds on the hill; +Dusty and dim are the eyes of the miller, + Deaf are his ears with the moil of the mill. + +Years may go by, and the wheel in the river + Wheel as it wheels for us, children, to-day, +Wheel and keep roaring and foaming for ever + Long after all of the boys are away. + +Home for the Indies and home from the ocean, + Heroes and soldiers we all will come home; +Still we shall find the old mill wheel in motion, + Turning and churning that river to foam. + +You with the bean that I gave when we quarrelled, + I with your marble of Saturday last, +Honoured and old and all gaily apparelled, + Here we shall meet and remember the past. + + + XXVII + Good and Bad Children + +Children, you are very little, +And your bones are very brittle; +If you would grow great and stately, +You must try to walk sedately. + +You must still be bright and quiet, +And content with simple diet; +And remain, through all bewild'ring, +Innocent and honest children. + +Happy hearts and happy faces, +Happy play in grassy places-- +That was how in ancient ages, +Children grew to kings and sages. + +But the unkind and the unruly, +And the sort who eat unduly, +They must never hope for glory-- +Theirs is quite a different story! + +Cruel children, crying babies, +All grow up as geese and gabies, +Hated, as their age increases, +By their nephews and their nieces. + + + XXVIII + Foreign Children + +Little Indian, Sioux, or Crow, +Little frosty Eskimo, +Little Turk or Japanee, +Oh! don't you wish that you were me? + +You have seen the scarlet trees +And the lions over seas; +You have eaten ostrich eggs, +And turned the turtles off their legs. + +Such a life is very fine, +But it's not so nice as mine: +You must often as you trod, +Have wearied NOT to be abroad. + +You have curious things to eat, +I am fed on proper meat; +You must dwell upon the foam, +But I am safe and live at home. + Little Indian, Sioux or Crow, + Little frosty Eskimo, + Little Turk or Japanee, +Oh! don't you wish that you were me? + + + XXIX + The Sun Travels + +The sun is not a-bed, when I +At night upon my pillow lie; +Still round the earth his way he takes, +And morning after morning makes. + +While here at home, in shining day, +We round the sunny garden play, +Each little Indian sleepy-head +Is being kissed and put to bed. + +And when at eve I rise from tea, +Day dawns beyond the Atlantic Sea; +And all the children in the west +Are getting up and being dressed. + + + XXX + The Lamplighter + +My tea is nearly ready and the sun has left the sky. +It's time to take the window to see Leerie going by; +For every night at teatime and before you take your seat, +With lantern and with ladder he comes posting up the street. + +Now Tom would be a driver and Maria go to sea, +And my papa's a banker and as rich as he can be; +But I, when I am stronger and can choose what I'm to do, +O Leerie, I'll go round at night and light the lamps with you! + +For we are very lucky, with a lamp before the door, +And Leerie stops to light it as he lights so many more; +And oh! before you hurry by with ladder and with light; +O Leerie, see a little child and nod to him to-night! + + + XXXI + My Bed is a Boat + +My bed is like a little boat; + Nurse helps me in when I embark; +She girds me in my sailor's coat + And starts me in the dark. + +At night I go on board and say + Good-night to all my friends on shore; +I shut my eyes and sail away + And see and hear no more. + +And sometimes things to bed I take, + As prudent sailors have to do; +Perhaps a slice of wedding-cake, + Perhaps a toy or two. + +All night across the dark we steer; + But when the day returns at last, +Safe in my room beside the pier, + I find my vessel fast. + + + XXXII + The Moon + +The moon has a face like the clock in the hall; +She shines on thieves on the garden wall, +On streets and fields and harbour quays, +And birdies asleep in the forks of the trees. + +The squalling cat and the squeaking mouse, +The howling dog by the door of the house, +The bat that lies in bed at noon, +All love to be out by the light of the moon. + +But all of the things that belong to the day +Cuddle to sleep to be out of her way; +And flowers and children close their eyes +Till up in the morning the sun shall arise. + + + XXXIII + The Swing + +How do you like to go up in a swing, + Up in the air so blue? +Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing + Ever a child can do! + +Up in the air and over the wall, + Till I can see so wide, +River and trees and cattle and all + Over the countryside-- + +Till I look down on the garden green, + Down on the roof so brown-- +Up in the air I go flying again, + Up in the air and down! + + + XXXIV + Time to Rise + +A birdie with a yellow bill +Hopped upon my window sill, +Cocked his shining eye and said: +"Ain't you 'shamed, you sleepy-head!" + + + XXXV + Looking-Glass River + +Smooth it glides upon its travel, + Here a wimple, there a gleam-- + O the clean gravel! + O the smooth stream! + +Sailing blossoms, silver fishes, + Paven pools as clear as air-- + How a child wishes + To live down there! + +We can see our colored faces + Floating on the shaken pool + Down in cool places, + Dim and very cool; + +Till a wind or water wrinkle, + Dipping marten, plumping trout, + Spreads in a twinkle + And blots all out. + +See the rings pursue each other; + All below grows black as night, + Just as if mother + Had blown out the light! + +Patience, children, just a minute-- + See the spreading circles die; + The stream and all in it + Will clear by-and-by. + + + XXXVI + Fairy Bread + +Come up here, O dusty feet! + Here is fairy bread to eat. +Here in my retiring room, +Children, you may dine +On the golden smell of broom + And the shade of pine; +And when you have eaten well, +Fairy stories hear and tell. + + + XXXVII + From a Railway Carriage + +Faster than fairies, faster than witches, +Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches; +And charging along like troops in a battle +All through the meadows the horses and cattle: +All of the sights of the hill and the plain +Fly as thick as driving rain; +And ever again, in the wink of an eye, +Painted stations whistle by. + +Here is a child who clambers and scrambles, +All by himself and gathering brambles; +Here is a tramp who stands and gazes; +And here is the green for stringing the daisies! +Here is a cart run away in the road +Lumping along with man and load; +And here is a mill, and there is a river: +Each a glimpse and gone forever! + + XXXVIII + Winter-Time + +Late lies the wintry sun a-bed, +A frosty, fiery sleepy-head; +Blinks but an hour or two; and then, +A blood-red orange, sets again. + +Before the stars have left the skies, +At morning in the dark I rise; +And shivering in my nakedness, +By the cold candle, bathe and dress. + +Close by the jolly fire I sit +To warm my frozen bones a bit; +Or with a reindeer-sled, explore +The colder countries round the door. + +When to go out, my nurse doth wrap +Me in my comforter and cap; +The cold wind burns my face, and blows +Its frosty pepper up my nose. + +Black are my steps on silver sod; +Thick blows my frosty breath abroad; +And tree and house, and hill and lake, +Are frosted like a wedding cake. + + + XXXIX + The Hayloft + +Through all the pleasant meadow-side + The grass grew shoulder-high, +Till the shining scythes went far and wide + And cut it down to dry. + +Those green and sweetly smelling crops + They led in waggons home; +And they piled them here in mountain tops + For mountaineers to roam. + +Here is Mount Clear, Mount Rusty-Nail, + Mount Eagle and Mount High;-- +The mice that in these mountains dwell, + No happier are than I! + +Oh, what a joy to clamber there, + Oh, what a place for play, +With the sweet, the dim, the dusty air, + The happy hills of hay! + + + XL + Farewell to the Farm + +The coach is at the door at last; +The eager children, mounting fast +And kissing hands, in chorus sing: +Good-bye, good-bye, to everything! + +To house and garden, field and lawn, +The meadow-gates we swang upon, +To pump and stable, tree and swing, +Good-bye, good-bye, to everything! + +And fare you well for evermore, +O ladder at the hayloft door, +O hayloft where the cobwebs cling, +Good-bye, good-bye, to everything! + +Crack goes the whip, and off we go; +The trees and houses smaller grow; +Last, round the woody turn we sing: +Good-bye, good-bye, to everything! + + + XLI + North-West Passage + + 1. Good-Night + +When the bright lamp is carried in, +The sunless hours again begin; +O'er all without, in field and lane, +The haunted night returns again. + +Now we behold the embers flee +About the firelit hearth; and see +Our faces painted as we pass, +Like pictures, on the window glass. + +Must we to bed indeed? Well then, +Let us arise and go like men, +And face with an undaunted tread +The long black passage up to bed. + +Farewell, O brother, sister, sire! +O pleasant party round the fire! +The songs you sing, the tales you tell, +Till far to-morrow, fare you well! + + + 2. Shadow March + +All around the house is the jet-black night; + It stares through the window-pane; +It crawls in the corners, hiding from the light, + And it moves with the moving flame. + +Now my little heart goes a beating like a drum, + With the breath of the Bogies in my hair; +And all around the candle the crooked shadows come, + And go marching along up the stair. + +The shadow of the balusters, the shadow of the lamp, + The shadow of the child that goes to bed-- +All the wicked shadows coming tramp, tramp, tramp, + With the black night overhead. + + + 3. In Port + +Last, to the chamber where I lie +My fearful footsteps patter nigh, +And come out from the cold and gloom +Into my warm and cheerful room. + +There, safe arrived, we turn about +To keep the coming shadows out, +And close the happy door at last +On all the perils that we past. + +Then, when mamma goes by to bed, +She shall come in with tip-toe tread, +And see me lying warm and fast +And in the land of Nod at last. + + + + + THE CHILD ALONE + + + I + The Unseen Playmate + +When children are playing alone on the green, +In comes the playmate that never was seen. +When children are happy and lonely and good, +The Friend of the Children comes out of the wood. + +Nobody heard him, and nobody saw, +His is a picture you never could draw, +But he's sure to be present, abroad or at home, +When children are happy and playing alone. + +He lies in the laurels, he runs on the grass, +He sings when you tinkle the musical glass; +Whene'er you are happy and cannot tell why, +The Friend of the Children is sure to be by! + +He loves to be little, he hates to be big, +'Tis he that inhabits the caves that you dig; +'Tis he when you play with your soldiers of tin +That sides with the Frenchmen and never can win. + +'Tis he, when at night you go off to your bed, +Bids you go to sleep and not trouble your head; +For wherever they're lying, in cupboard or shelf, +'Tis he will take care of your playthings himself! + + + II + My Ship and I + +O it's I that am the captain of a tidy little ship, + Of a ship that goes a sailing on the pond; +And my ship it keeps a-turning all around and all about; +But when I'm a little older, I shall find the secret out + How to send my vessel sailing on beyond. + +For I mean to grow as little as the dolly at the helm, + And the dolly I intend to come alive; +And with him beside to help me, it's a-sailing I shall go, +It's a-sailing on the water, when the jolly breezes blow + And the vessel goes a divie-divie-dive. + +O it's then you'll see me sailing through the rushes and the reeds, + And you'll hear the water singing at the prow; +For beside the dolly sailor, I'm to voyage and explore, +To land upon the island where no dolly was before, + And to fire the penny cannon in the bow. + + + III + My Kingdom + +Down by a shining water well +I found a very little dell, + No higher than my head. +The heather and the gorse about +In summer bloom were coming out, + Some yellow and some red. + +I called the little pool a sea; +The little hills were big to me; + For I am very small. +I made a boat, I made a town, +I searched the caverns up and down, + And named them one and all. + +And all about was mine, I said, +The little sparrows overhead, + The little minnows too. +This was the world and I was king; +For me the bees came by to sing, + For me the swallows flew. + +I played there were no deeper seas, +Nor any wider plains than these, + Nor other kings than me. +At last I heard my mother call +Out from the house at evenfall, + To call me home to tea. + +And I must rise and leave my dell, +And leave my dimpled water well, + And leave my heather blooms. +Alas! and as my home I neared, +How very big my nurse appeared. + How great and cool the rooms! + + + IV + Picture-Books in Winter + +Summer fading, winter comes-- +Frosty mornings, tingling thumbs, +Window robins, winter rooks, +And the picture story-books. + +Water now is turned to stone +Nurse and I can walk upon; +Still we find the flowing brooks +In the picture story-books. + +All the pretty things put by, +Wait upon the children's eye, +Sheep and shepherds, trees and crooks, +In the picture story-books. + +We may see how all things are +Seas and cities, near and far, +And the flying fairies' looks, +In the picture story-books. + +How am I to sing your praise, +Happy chimney-corner days, +Sitting safe in nursery nooks, +Reading picture story-books? + + + V + My Treasures + +These nuts, that I keep in the back of the nest, +Where all my tin soldiers are lying at rest, +Were gathered in Autumn by nursie and me +In a wood with a well by the side of the sea. + +This whistle we made (and how clearly it sounds!) +By the side of a field at the end of the grounds. +Of a branch of a plane, with a knife of my own, +It was nursie who made it, and nursie alone! + +The stone, with the white and the yellow and grey, +We discovered I cannot tell HOW far away; +And I carried it back although weary and cold, +For though father denies it, I'm sure it is gold. + +But of all my treasures the last is the king, +For there's very few children possess such a thing; +And that is a chisel, both handle and blade, +Which a man who was really a carpenter made. + + + VI + Block City + +What are you able to build with your blocks? +Castles and palaces, temples and docks. +Rain may keep raining, and others go roam, +But I can be happy and building at home. + +Let the sofa be mountains, the carpet be sea, +There I'll establish a city for me: +A kirk and a mill and a palace beside, +And a harbour as well where my vessels may ride. + +Great is the palace with pillar and wall, +A sort of a tower on the top of it all, +And steps coming down in an orderly way +To where my toy vessels lie safe in the bay. + +This one is sailing and that one is moored: +Hark to the song of the sailors aboard! +And see, on the steps of my palace, the kings +Coming and going with presents and things! + +Now I have done with it, down let it go! +All in a moment the town is laid low. +Block upon block lying scattered and free, +What is there left of my town by the sea? + +Yet as I saw it, I see it again, +The kirk and the palace, the ships and the men, +And as long as I live and where'er I may be, +I'll always remember my town by the sea. + + + VII + The Land of Story-Books + +At evening when the lamp is lit, +Around the fire my parents sit; +They sit at home and talk and sing, +And do not play at anything. + +Now, with my little gun, I crawl +All in the dark along the wall, +And follow round the forest track +Away behind the sofa back. + +There, in the night, where none can spy, +All in my hunter's camp I lie, +And play at books that I have read +Till it is time to go to bed. + +These are the hills, these are the woods, +These are my starry solitudes; +And there the river by whose brink +The roaring lions come to drink. + +I see the others far away +As if in firelit camp they lay, +And I, like to an Indian scout, +Around their party prowled about. + +So when my nurse comes in for me, +Home I return across the sea, +And go to bed with backward looks +At my dear land of Story-books. + + + VIII + Armies in the Fire + +The lamps now glitter down the street; +Faintly sound the falling feet; +And the blue even slowly falls +About the garden trees and walls. + +Now in the falling of the gloom +The red fire paints the empty room: +And warmly on the roof it looks, +And flickers on the back of books. + +Armies march by tower and spire +Of cities blazing, in the fire;-- +Till as I gaze with staring eyes, +The armies fade, the lustre dies. + +Then once again the glow returns; +Again the phantom city burns; +And down the red-hot valley, lo! +The phantom armies marching go! + +Blinking embers, tell me true +Where are those armies marching to, +And what the burning city is +That crumbles in your furnaces! + + + IX + The Little Land + +When at home alone I sit +And am very tired of it, +I have just to shut my eyes +To go sailing through the skies-- +To go sailing far away +To the pleasant Land of Play; +To the fairy land afar +Where the Little People are; +Where the clover-tops are trees, +And the rain-pools are the seas, +And the leaves, like little ships, +Sail about on tiny trips; +And above the Daisy tree + Through the grasses, +High o'erhead the Bumble Bee + Hums and passes. + +In that forest to and fro +I can wander, I can go; +See the spider and the fly, +And the ants go marching by, +Carrying parcels with their feet +Down the green and grassy street. +I can in the sorrel sit +Where the ladybird alit. +I can climb the jointed grass + And on high +See the greater swallows pass + In the sky, +And the round sun rolling by +Heeding no such things as I. + +Through that forest I can pass +Till, as in a looking-glass, +Humming fly and daisy tree +And my tiny self I see, +Painted very clear and neat +On the rain-pool at my feet. +Should a leaflet come to land +Drifting near to where I stand, +Straight I'll board that tiny boat +Round the rain-pool sea to float. + +Little thoughtful creatures sit +On the grassy coasts of it; +Little things with lovely eyes +See me sailing with surprise. +Some are clad in armour green-- +(These have sure to battle been!)-- +Some are pied with ev'ry hue, +Black and crimson, gold and blue; +Some have wings and swift are gone;-- +But they all look kindly on. + +When my eyes I once again +Open, and see all things plain: +High bare walls, great bare floor; +Great big knobs on drawer and door; +Great big people perched on chairs, +Stitching tucks and mending tears, +Each a hill that I could climb, +And talking nonsense all the time-- + O dear me, + That I could be +A sailor on a the rain-pool sea, +A climber in the clover tree, +And just come back a sleepy-head, +Late at night to go to bed. + + + + + Garden Days + + + I + Night and Day + +When the golden day is done, + Through the closing portal, +Child and garden, flower and sun, + Vanish all things mortal. + +As the building shadows fall + As the rays diminish, +Under evening's cloak they all + Roll away and vanish. + +Garden darkened, daisy shut, + Child in bed, they slumber-- +Glow-worm in the hallway rut, + Mice among the lumber. + +In the darkness houses shine, + Parents move the candles; +Till on all the night divine + Turns the bedroom handles. + +Till at last the day begins + In the east a-breaking, +In the hedges and the whins + Sleeping birds a-waking. + +In the darkness shapes of things, + Houses, trees and hedges, +Clearer grow; and sparrow's wings + Beat on window ledges. + +These shall wake the yawning maid; + She the door shall open-- +Finding dew on garden glade + And the morning broken. + +There my garden grows again + Green and rosy painted, +As at eve behind the pane + From my eyes it fainted. + +Just as it was shut away, + Toy-like, in the even, +Here I see it glow with day + Under glowing heaven. + +Every path and every plot, + Every blush of roses, +Every blue forget-me-not + Where the dew reposes, + +"Up!" they cry, "the day is come + On the smiling valleys: +We have beat the morning drum; + Playmate, join your allies!" + + + II + Nest Eggs + +Birds all the sunny day + Flutter and quarrel +Here in the arbour-like + Tent of the laurel. + +Here in the fork + The brown nest is seated; +Four little blue eggs + The mother keeps heated. + +While we stand watching her + Staring like gabies, +Safe in each egg are the + Bird's little babies. + +Soon the frail eggs they shall + Chip, and upspringing +Make all the April woods + Merry with singing. + +Younger than we are, + O children, and frailer, +Soon in the blue air they'll be, + Singer and sailor. + +We, so much older, + Taller and stronger, +We shall look down on the + Birdies no longer. + +They shall go flying + With musical speeches +High overhead in the + Tops of the beeches. + +In spite of our wisdom + And sensible talking, +We on our feet must go + Plodding and walking. + + III + The Flowers + +All the names I know from nurse: +Gardener's garters, Shepherd's purse, +Bachelor's buttons, Lady's smock, +And the Lady Hollyhock. + +Fairy places, fairy things, +Fairy woods where the wild bee wings, +Tiny trees for tiny dames-- +These must all be fairy names! + +Tiny woods below whose boughs +Shady fairies weave a house; +Tiny tree-tops, rose or thyme, +Where the braver fairies climb! + +Fair are grown-up people's trees, +But the fairest woods are these; +Where, if I were not so tall, +I should live for good and all. + + + IV + Summer Sun + +Great is the sun, and wide he goes +Through empty heaven with repose; +And in the blue and glowing days +More thick than rain he showers his rays. + +Though closer still the blinds we pull +To keep the shady parlour cool, +Yet he will find a chink or two +To slip his golden fingers through. + +The dusty attic spider-clad +He, through the keyhole, maketh glad; +And through the broken edge of tiles +Into the laddered hay-loft smiles. + +Meantime his golden face around +He bares to all the garden ground, +And sheds a warm and glittering look +Among the ivy's inmost nook. + +Above the hills, along the blue, +Round the bright air with footing true, +To please the child, to paint the rose, +The gardener of the World, he goes. + + + V + The Dumb Soldier +When the grass was closely mown, +Walking on the lawn alone, +In the turf a hole I found, +And hid a soldier underground. + +Spring and daisies came apace; +Grasses hide my hiding place; +Grasses run like a green sea +O'er the lawn up to my knee. + +Under grass alone he lies, +Looking up with leaden eyes, +Scarlet coat and pointed gun, +To the stars and to the sun. + +When the grass is ripe like grain, +When the scythe is stoned again, +When the lawn is shaven clear, +Then my hole shall reappear. + +I shall find him, never fear, +I shall find my grenadier; +But for all that's gone and come, +I shall find my soldier dumb. + +He has lived, a little thing, +In the grassy woods of spring; +Done, if he could tell me true, +Just as I should like to do. + +He has seen the starry hours +And the springing of the flowers; +And the fairy things that pass +In the forests of the grass. + +In the silence he has heard +Talking bee and ladybird, +And the butterfly has flown +O'er him as he lay alone. + +Not a word will he disclose, +Not a word of all he knows. +I must lay him on the shelf, +And make up the tale myself. + + + VI + Autumn Fires + +In the other gardens + And all up the vale, +From the autumn bonfires + See the smoke trail! + +Pleasant summer over + And all the summer flowers, +The red fire blazes, + The grey smoke towers. + +Sing a song of seasons! + Something bright in all! +Flowers in the summer, + Fires in the fall! + + + VII + The Gardener + +The gardener does not love to talk. +He makes me keep the gravel walk; +And when he puts his tools away, +He locks the door and takes the key. + +Away behind the currant row, +Where no one else but cook may go, +Far in the plots, I see him dig, +Old and serious, brown and big. + +He digs the flowers, green, red, and blue, +Nor wishes to be spoken to. +He digs the flowers and cuts the hay, +And never seems to want to play. + +Silly gardener! summer goes, +And winter comes with pinching toes, +When in the garden bare and brown +You must lay your barrow down. + +Well now, and while the summer stays, +To profit by these garden days +O how much wiser you would be +To play at Indian wars with me! + + + VIII + Historical Associations + +Dear Uncle Jim, this garden ground +That now you smoke your pipe around, +Has seen immortal actions done +And valiant battles lost and won. + +Here we had best on tip-toe tread, +While I for safety march ahead, +For this is that enchanted ground +Where all who loiter slumber sound. + +Here is the sea, here is the sand, +Here is simple Shepherd's Land, +Here are the fairy hollyhocks, +And there are Ali Baba's rocks. + +But yonder, see! apart and high, +Frozen Siberia lies; where I, +With Robert Bruce and William Tell, +Was bound by an enchanter's spell. + + + + + ENVOYS + + + I + To Willie and Henrietta + + If two may read aright + These rhymes of old delight + And house and garden play, +You two, my cousins, and you only, may. + + You in a garden green + With me were king and queen, + Were hunter, soldier, tar, +And all the thousand things that children are. + + Now in the elders' seat + We rest with quiet feet, + And from the window-bay +We watch the children, our successors, play. + + "Time was," the golden head + Irrevocably said; + But time which one can bind, +While flowing fast away, leaves love behind. + + + II + To My Mother + +You too, my mother, read my rhymes +For love of unforgotten times, +And you may chance to hear once more +The little feet along the floor. + + + III + To Auntie + +"Chief of our aunts"--not only I, +But all your dozen of nurselings cry-- +"What did the other children do? +And what were childhood, wanting you?" + + + IV + To Minnie +The red room with the giant bed +Where none but elders laid their head; +The little room where you and I +Did for awhile together lie +And, simple suitor, I your hand +In decent marriage did demand; +The great day nursery, best of all, +With pictures pasted on the wall +And leaves upon the blind-- +A pleasant room wherein to wake +And hear the leafy garden shake +And rustle in the wind-- +And pleasant there to lie in bed +And see the pictures overhead-- +The wars about Sebastopol, +The grinning guns along the wall, +The daring escalade, +The plunging ships, the bleating sheep, +The happy children ankle-deep +And laughing as they wade: +All these are vanished clean away, +And the old manse is changed to-day; +It wears an altered face +And shields a stranger race. +The river, on from mill to mill, +Flows past our childhood's garden still; +But ah! we children never more +Shall watch it from the water-door! +Below the yew--it still is there-- +Our phantom voices haunt the air +As we were still at play, +And I can hear them call and say: +"How far is it to Babylon?" + +Ah, far enough, my dear, +Far, far enough from here-- +Yet you have farther gone! +"Can I get there by candlelight?" +So goes the old refrain. +I do not know--perchance you might-- +But only, children, hear it right, +Ah, never to return again! +The eternal dawn, beyond a doubt, +Shall break on hill and plain, +And put all stars and candles out +Ere we be young again. + +To you in distant India, these +I send across the seas, +Nor count it far across. +For which of us forgets +The Indian cabinets, +The bones of antelope, the wings of albatross, +The pied and painted birds and beans, +The junks and bangles, beads and screens, +The gods and sacred bells, +And the loud-humming, twisted shells! +The level of the parlour floor +Was honest, homely, Scottish shore; +But when we climbed upon a chair, +Behold the gorgeous East was there! +Be this a fable; and behold +Me in the parlour as of old, +And Minnie just above me set +In the quaint Indian cabinet! +Smiling and kind, you grace a shelf +Too high for me to reach myself. +Reach down a hand, my dear, and take +These rhymes for old acquaintance' sake! + + + + V + To My Name-Child + + 1 + +Some day soon this rhyming volume, if you learn with proper speed, +Little Louis Sanchez, will be given you to read. +Then you shall discover, that your name was printed down +By the English printers, long before, in London town. + +In the great and busy city where the East and West are met, +All the little letters did the English printer set; +While you thought of nothing, and were still too young to play, +Foreign people thought of you in places far away. + +Ay, and when you slept, a baby, over all the English lands +Other little children took the volume in their hands; +Other children questioned, in their homes across the seas: +Who was little Louis, won't you tell us, mother, please? + + + 2 + +Now that you have spelt your lesson, lay it down and go and play, +Seeking shells and seaweed on the sands of Monterey, +Watching all the mighty whalebones, lying buried by the breeze, +Tiny sandy-pipers, and the huge Pacific seas. + +And remember in your playing, as the sea-fog rolls to you, +Long ere you could read it, how I told you what to do; +And that while you thought of no one, nearly half the world away +Some one thought of Louis on the beach of Monterey! + + + VI + To Any Reader + +As from the house your mother sees +You playing round the garden trees, +So you may see, if you will look +Through the windows of this book, +Another child, far, far away, +And in another garden, play. +But do not think you can at all, +By knocking on the window, call +That child to hear you. He intent +Is all on his play-business bent. +He does not hear, he will not look, +Nor yet be lured out of this book. +For, long ago, the truth to say, +He has grown up and gone away, +And it is but a child of air +That lingers in the garden there. + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of A Child's Garden of Verses +by Robert Louis Stevenson + diff --git a/old/old/child11.zip b/old/old/child11.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d0bb0b7 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/old/child11.zip |