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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:33:40 -0700 |
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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/9777-h.zip b/9777-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..98cc902 --- /dev/null +++ b/9777-h.zip diff --git a/9777-h/9777-h.htm b/9777-h/9777-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ae81e3a --- /dev/null +++ b/9777-h/9777-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,3262 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta content="pg2html (binary v0.17)" name="linkgenerator" /> + <title> + Riley Child-rhymes, by James Whitcomb Riley + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + body { margin:15%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .75em; margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%; text-align: justify; font-size: 80%; font-style: italic;} + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + .xx-small {font-size: 60%;} + .x-small {font-size: 75%;} + .small {font-size: 85%;} + .large {font-size: 115%;} + .x-large {font-size: 130%;} + .indent5 { margin-left: 5%;} + .indent10 { margin-left: 10%;} + .indent15 { margin-left: 15%;} + .indent20 { margin-left: 20%;} + .indent25 { margin-left: 25%;} + .indent30 { margin-left: 30%;} + .indent35 { margin-left: 35%;} + .indent40 { margin-left: 40%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {position: absolute; right: 1%; font-size: 0.6em; + font-variant: normal; font-style: normal; + text-align: right; background-color: #FFFACD; + border: 1px solid; padding: 0.3em;text-indent: 0em;} + .side { float: left; font-size: 75%; width: 15%; padding-left: 0.8em; + border-left: dashed thin; text-align: left; + text-indent: 0; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; + font-weight: bold; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: solid 1px;} + .head { float: left; font-size: 90%; width: 98%; padding-left: 0.8em; + border-left: dashed thin; text-align: center; + text-indent: 0; font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; + font-weight: bold; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: solid 1px;} + p.pfirst, p.noindent {text-indent: 0} + span.dropcap { float: left; margin: 0 0.1em 0 0; line-height: 0.8 } + pre { font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 100%; margin-left: 10%;} +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Riley Child-Rhymes, by James Whitcomb Riley + +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: Riley Child-Rhymes + +Author: James Whitcomb Riley + +Release Date: January, 2006 [EBook #9777] +First Posted: October 15, 2003 +Last Updated: December 29, 2018 + + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: iso-8559-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RILEY CHILD-RHYMES *** + + + + +Etext produced by Maria Cecilia Lim and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +HTML file produced by David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <div style="height: 8em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + RILEY CHILD-RHYMES + </h1> + <h2> + By James Whitcomb Riley + </h2> + <h4> + Copyright 1890, 1896, 1898 and 1905 + </h4> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h3> + WITH HALE AFFECTION AND ABIDING FAITH + </h3> + <h3> + THESE RHYMES AND PICTURES + </h3> + <h3> + ARE INSCRIBED + </h3> + <h3> + TO THE CHILDREN EVERYWHERE + </h3> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + <i>He owns the bird-songs of the hills— + The laughter of the April rills; + And his are all the diamonds set + In Morning's dewy coronet,— + And his the Dusk's first minted stars + That twinkle through the pasture-bars + And litter all the skies at night + With glittering scraps of silver light;— + The rainbow's bar, from rim to rim, + In beaten gold, belongs to him.</i> +</pre> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + [Note from the transcriber: The Table of Contents below was taken from + the book and is an ALPHABETICAL LIST of the poems.] + + AT AUNTY'S HOUSE + + BEAR STORY, THE + + BOY LIVES ON OUR FARM, THE + + BOYS' CANDIDATE, THE + + BUMBLEBEE, THE + + CIRCUS-DAY PARADE, THE + + CURLY LOCKS + + DAYS GONE BY, THE + + DOWN AROUND THE RIVER + + ENVOY + + FUNNY LITTLE FELLOW, THE + + GRANDFATHER SQUEERS + + HAPPY LITTLE CRIPPLE, THE + + HOME-MADE FAIRY-TALE, A + + IMPETUOUS RESOLVE, AN + + JOLLY MILLER, THE + + LIFE-LESSON, A + + LITTLE COAT, THE + + LITTLE ORPHANT ANNIE + + LUGUBRIOUS WHING-WHANG, THE + + NAUGHTY CLAUDE + + NINE LITTLE GOBLINS, THE + + OLD AUNT MARY'S + + OLD HAY-MOW, THE + + OLD TRAMP, THE + + ON THE SUNNY SIDE + + OUR HIRED GIRL + + PET COON, THE + + PIXY PEOPLE, THE + + RAGGEDY MAN, THE + + RIDER OF THE KNEE, THE + + RUNAWAY BOY, THE + + SOUTH WIND AND THE SUN, THE + + SQUIRTGUN UNCLE MAKED ME, THE + + SUDDEN SHOWER, A + + TIME OF CLEARER TWITTERINGS + + WAITIN' FER THE CAT TO DIE + + WHO SANTY-CLAUS WUZ + + WINTER FANCIES +</pre> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p> + <b>LINKED CONTENTS</b> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> RILEY CHILD-RHYMES </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> LITTLE ORPHANT ANNIE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> THE RAGGEDY MAN </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> CURLY LOCKS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> THE FUNNY LITTLE FELLOW </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> THE HAPPY LITTLE CRIPPLE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> THE RIDER OF THE KNEE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> DOWN AROUND THE RIVER </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0009"> AT AUNTY'S HOUSE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0010"> THE DAYS GONE BY </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0011"> THE BUMBLEBEE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0012"> THE BOY LIVES ON OUR FARM </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0013"> THE SQUIRTGUN UNCLE MAKED ME </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0014"> THE OLD TRAMP </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0015"> OLD AUNT MARY'S </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0016"> WINTER FANCIES </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0017"> THE RUNAWAY BOY </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0018"> THE LITTLE COAT </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0019"> AN IMPETUOUS RESOLVE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0020"> WHO SANTY-CLAUS WUZ </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0021"> THE NINE LITTLE GOBLINS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0022"> TIME OF CLEARER TWITTERINGS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0023"> THE CIRCUS-DAY PARADE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0024"> THE LUGUBRIOUS WHING-WHANG </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0025"> WAITIN' FER THE CAT TO DIE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0026"> NAUGHTY CLAUDE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0027"> THE SOUTH WIND AND THE SUN </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0028"> THE JOLLY MILLER </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0029"> OUR HIRED GIRL </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0030"> THE BOYS' CANDIDATE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0031"> THE PET COON </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0032"> THE OLD HAY-MOW </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0033"> ON THE SUNNY SIDE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0034"> A SUDDEN SHOWER </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0035"> GRANDFATHER SQUEERS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0036"> THE PIXY PEOPLE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0037"> A LIFE-LESSON </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0038"> A HOME-MADE FAIRY-TALE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0039"> THE BEAR STORY </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0040"> ENVOY </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + RILEY CHILD-RHYMES + </h1> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + LITTLE ORPHANT ANNIE + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [Unavailable image: They was two great big black things a-standin' by her side] + + Little Orphant Annie's come to our house to stay, + An' wash the cups an' saucers up, an' brush the crumbs away, + An' shoo the chickens off the porch, an' dust the hearth, an' sweep, + An' make the fire, an' bake the bread, an' earn her board-an'-keep; + An' all us other childern, when the supper things is done, + We set around the kitchen fire an' has the mostest fun + A-list'nin' to the witch-tales 'at Annie tells about, + An' the Gobble-uns 'at gits you + Ef you + Don't + Watch + Out! + + Onc't they was a little boy wouldn't say his prayers,— + So when he went to bed at night, away up stairs, + His Mammy heerd him holler, an' his Daddy heerd him bawl, + An' when they turn't the kivvers down, he wasn't there at all! + An' they seeked him in the rafter-room, an' cubby-hole, an' press, + An' seeked him up the chimbly-flue, an' ever'wheres, I guess; + But all they ever found was thist his pants an' roundabout:— + An' the Gobble-uns'll git you + Ef you + Don't + Watch + Out! + + [Unavailable image: An' when they turn't the kivvers down] + + An' one time a little girl 'ud allus laugh an' grin, + An' make fun of ever'one, an' all her blood an' kin; + An' onc't, when they was "company," an' ole folks was there, + She mocked 'em an' shocked 'em, an' said she didn't care! + An' thist as she kicked her heels, an' turn't to run an' hide, + They was two great big Black Things a-standin' by her side, + An' they snatched her through the ceilin' 'fore she knowed what she's about! + An' the Gobble-uns'll git you + Ef you + Don't + Watch + Out! + + An' little Orphant Annie says when the blaze is blue, + An' the lamp-wick sputters, an' the wind goes <i>woo-oo!</i> + An' you hear the crickets quit, an' the moon is gray, + An' the lightnin'-bugs in dew is all squenched away,— + You better mind yer parents, an' yer teachers fond an' dear, + An' churish them 'at loves you, an' dry the orphant's tear, + An' he'p the pore an' needy ones 'at clusters all about, + Er the Gobble-uns'll git you + Ef you + Don't + Watch + Out! + + [Unavailable image: Little Orphant Annie—Tailpiece] +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE RAGGEDY MAN + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [Unavailable image: The Raggedy Man—Title] + + O The Raggedy Man! He works fer Pa; + An' he's the goodest man ever you saw! + He comes to our house every day, + An' waters the horses, an' feeds 'em hay; + An' he opens the shed—an' we all ist laugh + When he drives out our little old wobble-ly calf; + An' nen—ef our hired girl says he can— + He milks the cow fer 'Lizabuth Ann.— + Aint he a' awful good Raggedy Man? + Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man! + + W'y, The Raggedy Man—he's ist so good + He splits the kindlin' an' chops the wood; + An' nen he spades in our garden, too, + An' does most things 'at <i>boys</i> can't do!— + He clumbed clean up in our big tree + An' shooked a' apple down fer me— + An' nother'n', too, fer 'Lizabuth Ann— + An' nother'n', too, fer The Raggedy Man.— + Aint he a' awful kind Raggedy Man? + Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man! + + [Unavailable image: He showed me the hole 'at the Wunks is got] + + An' The Raggedy Man, he knows most rhymes + An' tells 'em, ef I be good, sometimes: + Knows 'bout Giunts, an' Griffuns, an' Elves, + An' the Squidgicum-Squees 'at swallers therselves! + An', wite by the pump in our pasture-lot, + He showed me the hole 'at the Wunks is got, + 'At lives 'way deep in the ground, an' can + Turn into me, er 'Lizabuth Ann! + Aint he a funny old Raggedy Man? + Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man! + + The Raggedy Man—one time when he + Wuz makin' a little bow-'n'-orry fer me, + Says "When <i>you're</i> big like your Pa is, + Air you go' to keep a fine store like his— + An' be a rich merchunt—an' wear fine clothes?— + Er what <i>air</i> you go' to be, goodness knows!" + An' nen he laughed at 'Lizabuth Ann, + An' I says "'M go' to be a Raggedy Man!— + I'm ist go' to be a nice Raggedy Man!" + Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man! +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CURLY LOCKS + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [Unavailable image: Curly Locks—Title] + + <i>Curly Locks! Curly Locks! wilt thou be mine? + Thou shalt not wash the dishes, nor yet feed the swine,— + But sit on a cushion and sew a fine seam, + And feast upon strawberries, sugar and cream.</i> + + Curly Locks! Curly Locks! wilt thou be mine? + The throb of my heart is in every line, + And the pulse of a passion as airy and glad + In its musical beat as the little Prince had! + + [Unavailable image: Sit on a cushion and sew a fine seam] + + Thou shalt not wash the dishes, nor yet feed the swine!— + O I'll dapple thy hands with these kisses of mine + Till the pink of the nail of each finger shall be + As a little pet blush in full blossom for me. + + But sit on a cushion and sew a fine seam, + And thou shalt have fabric as fair as a dream,— + The red of my veins, and the white of my love, + And the gold of my joy for the braiding thereof. + + And feast upon strawberries, sugar and cream + From a service of silver, with jewels agleam,— + At thy feet will I bide, at thy beck will I rise, + And twinkle my soul in the night of thine eyes! + + <i>Curly Locks! Curly Locks! wilt thou be mine? + Thou shalt not wash the dishes, nor yet feed the swine.— + But sit on a cushion and sew a fine seam, + And feast upon strawberries, sugar and cream.</i> +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE FUNNY LITTLE FELLOW + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [Unavailable image: The Funny Little Fellow—Title] + + 'Twas a Funny Little Fellow + Of the very purest type, + For he had a heart as mellow + As an apple over-ripe; + And the brightest little twinkle + When a funny thing occurred, + And the lightest little tinkle + Of a laugh you ever heard! + + His smile was like the glitter + Of the sun in tropic lands, + And his talk a sweeter twitter + Than the swallow understands; + Hear him sing—and tell a story— + Snap a joke—ignite a pun,— + 'Twas a capture—rapture—glory, + And explosion—all in one! + + Though he hadn't any money— + That condiment which tends + To make a fellow "honey" + For the palate of his friends;— + Sweet simples he compounded— + Sovereign antidotes for sin + Or taint,—a faith unbounded + That his friends were genuine. + + He wasn't honored, may be— + For his songs of praise were slim,— + Yet I never knew a baby + That wouldn't crow for him; + I never knew a mother + But urged a kindly claim + Upon him as a brother, + At the mention of his name. + + [Unavailable image: Never knew a baby that wouldn't crow for him] + + The sick have ceased their sighing + And have even found the grace + Of a smile when they were dying + As they looked upon his face; + And I've seen his eyes of laughter + Melt in tears that only ran + As though, swift dancing after, + Came the Funny Little Man. + + He laughed away the sorrow, + And he laughed away the gloom + We are all so prone to borrow + From the darkness of the tomb; + And he laughed across the ocean + Of a happy life, and passed, + With a laugh of glad emotion, + Into Paradise at last. + + And I think the Angels knew him, + And had gathered to await + His coming, and run to him + Through the widely-opened Gate— + With their faces gleaming sunny + For his laughter-loving sake, + And thinking, "What a funny + Little Angel he will make!" +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE HAPPY LITTLE CRIPPLE + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [Unavailable image: The Happy Little Cripple—Title] + + I'm thist a little cripple boy, an' never goin' to grow + An' get a great big man at all!—'cause Aunty told me so. + When I was thist a baby onc't, I falled out of the bed + An' got "The Curv'ture of the Spine"—'at's what the Doctor said. + I never had no Mother nen—fer my Pa runned away + An' dassn't come back here no more—'cause he was drunk one day + An' stobbed a man in thish-ere town, an' couldn't pay his fine! + An' nen my Ma she died—an' I got "Curv'ture of the Spine!" + + [Unavailable image: An' I peck on the winder] + + I'm nine years old! An' you can't guess how much I weigh, I bet!— + Last birthday I weighed thirty-three!—An' I weigh thirty yet! + I'm awful little fer my size—I'm purt' nigh littler 'nan + Some babies is!—an' neighbers all calls me "The Little Man!" + An' Doc one time he laughed an' said: "I 'spect, first thing you know, + You'll have a little spike-tail coat an' travel with a show!" + An' nen I laughed—till I looked round an' Aunty was a-cryin'— + Sometimes she acts like that, 'cause I got "Curv'ture of the Spine." + + I set—while Aunty's washin'—on my little long-leg stool, + An' watch the little boys an' girls a-skippin' by to school; + An' I peck on the winder, an' holler out an' say: + "Who wants to fight The Little Man 'at dares you all today?" + An', nen the boys climbs on the fence, an' little girls peeks through, + An' they all says: "Cause you're so big, you think we're 'feared o' you!" + An' nen they yell, an' shake their fist at me, like I shake mine— + They're thist in fun, you know, 'cause I got "Curv'ture of the Spine!" + + At evening, when the ironin's done, an' Aunty's fixed the fire, + An' filled an' lit the lamp, an' trimmed the wick an' turned it higher, + An' fetched the wood all in fer night, an' locked the kitchen door, + An' stuffed the ole crack where the wind blows in up through the floor— + She sets the kittle on the coals, an' biles an' makes the tea, + An' fries the liver an' the mush, an' cooks a egg fer me; + An' sometimes—when I cough so hard—her elderberry wine + Don't go so bad fer little boys with "Curv'ture of the Spine!" + + [Unavailable image: An' cooks a' egg fer me] + + But Aunty's all so childish-like on my account, you see, + I'm 'most afeard she'll be took down—an' 'at's what bothers me!— + 'Cause ef my good old Aunty ever would git sick an' die, + I don't know what she'd do in heaven—till <i>I</i> come, by an' by:— + Fer she's so ust to all my ways, an' ever'thing, you know, + An' no one there like me, to nuss an' worry over so!— + 'Cause all the little childerns there's so straight an' strong an' fine, + They's nary angel 'bout the place with "Curv'ture of the Spine!" + + [Unavailable image: The Happy Little Cripple—Tailpiece] +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE RIDER OF THE KNEE + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Knightly Rider of the Knee + Of Proud-prancing Unclery! + Gaily mount, and wave the sign + Of that mastery of thine. + + Pat thy steed and turn him free, + Knightly Rider of the Knee! + Sit thy charger as a throne— + Lash him with thy laugh alone: + + Sting him only with the spur + Of such wit as may occur, + Knightly Rider of the Knee, + In thy shriek of ecstasy. + + Would, as now, we might endure, + Twain as one—thou miniature + Ruler, at the rein of me— + Knightly Rider of the Knee! + + [Unavailable image: The Rider of the Knee] +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + DOWN AROUND THE RIVER + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [Unavailable image: Down Around the River—Title] + + Noon-time an' June-time, down around the river! + Have to furse with 'Lizey Ann— but lawzy! I fergive her! + Drives me off the place, an' says 'at all 'at she's a-wishin', + Land o' gracious! time'll come I'll git enough o' fishin'! + Little Dave, a-choppin' wood, never 'pears to notice; + Don't know where she's hid his hat, er keerin' where his coat is,— + Specalatin', more'n like, he haint a-goin' to mind me, + An' guessin' where, say twelve o'clock, a feller'd likely find me! + + Noon-time an' June-time, down around the river! + Clean out o' sight o' home, an' skulkin' under kivver + Of the sycamores, jack-oaks, an' swamp-ash an' ellum— + Idies all so jumbled up, you kin hardly tell 'em!— + <i>Tired</i>, you know, but <i>lovin'</i> it, an' smilin' jes' to think 'at + Any <i>sweeter</i> tiredness you'd fairly want to <i>drink</i> it! + Tired o' fishin'—tired o' fun—line out slack an' slacker— + All you want in all the world's a little more tobacker! + + Hungry, but <i>a-hidin'</i> it, er jes' a-not a-keerin':— + Kingfisher gittin' up an' skootin' out o' hearin'; + Snipes on the t'other side, where the County Ditch is, + Wadin' up an' down the aidge like they'd rolled their britches! + Old turkle on the root kindo-sorto drappin' + Intoo th' worter like he don't know how it happen! + Worter, shade an' all so mixed, don't know which you'd orter + Say; th' <i>worter</i> in the shadder—<i>shadder</i> in the <i>worter!</i> + + Somebody hollerin'—'way around the bend in + Upper Fork—where yer eye kin jes' ketch the endin' + Of the shiney wedge o' wake some muss-rat's a-makin' + With that pesky nose o' his! Then a sniff o' bacon, + Corn-bred an' 'dock-greens—an' little Dave a-shinnin' + 'Crost the rocks an' mussel-shells, a-limpin' an' a-grinnin', + With yer dinner fer ye, an' a blessin' from the giver, + Noon-time an' June-time down around the river! + + [Unavailable image: Noon-time and June-time down around the river] + + [Unavailable image: Down Around The River—Tailpiece] +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0009" id="link2H_4_0009"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + AT AUNTY'S HOUSE + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [Unavailable image: At Aunty's House—Title] + + One time, when we'z at Aunty's house— + 'Way in the country!—where + They's ist but woods—an' pigs, an' cows— + An' all's out-doors an' air!— + An' orchurd-swing; an' churry-trees— + An' <i>churries</i> in 'em!—Yes, an' these— + Here red-head birds steals all they please, + An' tetch 'em ef you dare!— + W'y, wunst, one time, when we wuz there, + <i>We et out on the porch!</i> + + [Unavailable image: We et out on the porch] + + Wite where the cellar-door wuz shut + The table wuz; an' I + Let Aunty set by me an' cut + My vittuls up—an' pie. + 'Tuz awful funny!—I could see + The red-heads in the churry-tree; + An' bee-hives, where you got to be + So keerful, goin' by;— + An' "Comp'ny" there an' all!—an' we— + <i>We et out on the porch!</i> + + An' I ist et <i>p'surves</i> an' things + 'At Ma don't 'low me to— + An' <i>chickun-gizzurds</i>—(don't like <i>wings</i> + Like <i>Parunts</i> does! do <i>you?</i>) + An' all the time, the wind blowed there, + An' I could feel it in my hair, + An' ist smell clover <i>ever'</i>where!— + An' a' old red-head flew + Purt' nigh wite over my high-chair, + <i>When we et on the porch!</i> +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE DAYS GONE BY + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [Unavailable image: The Days Gone By—Title] + + O the days gone by! O the days gone by! + The apples in the orchard, and the pathway through the rye; + The chirrup of the robin, and the whistle of the quail + As he piped across the meadows sweet as any nightingale; + When the bloom was on the clover, and the blue was in the sky, + And my happy heart brimmed over, in the days gone by. + + [Unavailable image: In the orchard] + + In the days gone by, when my naked feet were tripped + By the honeysuckle tangles where the water-lilies dipped, + And the ripples of the river lipped the moss along the brink, + Where the placid-eyed and lazy-footed cattle came to drink, + And the tilting snipe stood fearless of the truant's wayward cry + And the splashing of the swimmer, in the days gone by. + + O the days gone by! O the days gone by! + The music of the laughing lip, the lustre of the eye; + The childish faith in fairies, and Aladdin's magic ring— + The simple, soul-reposing, glad belief in everything,— + When life was like a story, holding neither sob nor sigh, + In the golden olden glory of the days gone by. +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE BUMBLEBEE + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + You better not fool with a Bumblebee!— + Ef you don't think they can sting—you'll see! + They're lazy to look at, an' kindo' go + Buzzin' an' bummin' aroun' so slow, + An' ac' so slouchy an' all fagged out, + Danglin' their legs as they drone about + The hollyhawks 'at they can't climb in + 'Ithout ist a-tumble-un out agin! + Wunst I watched one climb clean 'way + In a jim'son-blossom, I did, one day,— + An' I ist grabbed it—an' nen let go— + An' "<i>Ooh-ooh! Honey! I told ye so!</i>" + Says The Raggedy Man; an' he ist run + An' pullt out the stinger, an' don't laugh none, + An' says: "They <i>has</i> ben folks, I guess, + 'At thought I wuz predjudust, more er less,— + Yit I still muntain 'at a Bumblebee + Wears out his welcome too quick fer me!" + + [Unavailable image: The Bumblebee] +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0012" id="link2H_4_0012"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE BOY LIVES ON OUR FARM + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [Unavailable image: The Boy Lives on Our Farm—Title] + + The boy lives on our Farm, he's not + Afeard o' horses none! + An' he can make 'em lope, er trot, + Er rack, er pace, er run. + Sometimes he drives two horses, when + He comes to town an' brings + A wagon-full o' 'taters nen, + An' roastin'-ears an' things. + + Two horses is "a team," he says, + An' when you drive er hitch, + The right-un's a "near-horse," I guess + Er "off"—I don't know which— + The Boy lives on our Farm, he told + Me, too, 'at he can see, + By lookin' at their teeth, how old + A horse is, to a T! + + I'd be the gladdest boy alive + Ef I knowed much as that, + An' could stand up like him an' drive, + An' ist push back my hat, + Like he comes skallyhootin' through + Our alley, with one arm + A-wavin' Fare-ye-well! to you— + The Boy lives on our Farm! + + [Unavailable image: Stand up like him an' drive] +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0013" id="link2H_4_0013"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE SQUIRTGUN UNCLE MAKED ME + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [Unavailable image: The Squirtgun Uncle Maked Me—Title] + + Uncle Sidney, when he wuz here, + Maked me a squirtgun out o' some + Elder-bushes 'at growed out near + Where wuz the brickyard—'way out clear + To where the toll-gate come! + + So when we walked back home again, + He maked it, out in our woodhouse where + Wuz the old workbench, an' the old jack-plane, + An' the old 'pokeshave, an' the tools all lay'n' + Ist like he wants 'em there. + + He sawed it first with the old hand-saw; + An' nen he peeled off the bark, an' got + Some glass an' scraped it; an' told 'bout Pa, + When <i>he</i> wuz a boy an' fooled his Ma, + An' the whippin' 'at he caught. + + Nen Uncle Sidney, he took an' filed + A' old arn ramrod; an' one o' the ends + He screwed fast into the vise; an' smiled, + Thinkin', he said, o' when he wuz a child, + 'Fore him an' Pa wuz mens. + + He punched out the peth, an' nen he put + A plug in the end with a hole notched through; + Nen took the old drawey-knife an' cut + An' maked a handle 'at shoved clean shut + But ist where yer hand held to. + + An' he wropt th'uther end with some string an' white + Piece o' the sleeve of a' old tored shirt; + An' nen he showed me to hold it tight, + An' suck in the water an' work it right + An' it 'ud ist squirt an' squirt! + + [Unavailable image: The Squirtgun—Tailpiece] + + [Unavailable image: An' nen he peeled off the bark] +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0014" id="link2H_4_0014"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE OLD TRAMP + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [Unavailable image: The Old Tramp.] + + A Old Tramp slep' in our stable wunst, + An' The Raggedy Man he caught + An' roust him up, an' chased him off + Clean out through our back lot! + + An' th' Old Tramp hollered back an' said,— + "You're a <i>purty</i> man!—<i>You</i> air!— + With a pair o' eyes like two fried eggs, + An' a nose like a Bartlutt pear!" +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0015" id="link2H_4_0015"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + OLD AUNT MARY'S + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Wasn't it pleasant, O brother mine, + In those old days of the lost sunshine + Of youth—when the Saturday's chores were through, + And the "Sunday's wood" in the kitchen, too, + And we went visiting, "me and you," + Out to Old Aunt Mary's? + + It all comes back so clear to-day! + Though I am as bald as you are gray— + Out by the barn-lot, and down the lane, + We patter along in the dust again, + As light as the tips of the drops of the rain, + Out to Old Aunt Mary's! + + We cross the pasture, and through the wood + Where the old gray snag of the poplar stood, + Where the hammering "red-heads" hopped awry, + And the buzzard "raised" in the "clearing" sky + And lolled and circled, as we went by + Out to Old Aunt Mary's. + + And then in the dust of the road again; + And the teams we met, and the countrymen; + And the long highway, with sunshine spread + As thick as butter on country bread, + Our cares behind, and our hearts ahead + Out to Old Aunt Mary's. + + [Unavailable image: We patter along in the dust again] + + Why, I see her now in the open door, + Where the little gourds grew up the sides and o'er + The clapboard roof!—And her face—ah, me! + Wasn't it good for a boy to see— + And wasn't it good for a boy to be + Out to Old Aunt Mary's? + + And O my brother, so far away, + This is to tell you she waits to-day + To welcome us:—Aunt Mary fell + Asleep this morning, whispering, "Tell + The boys to come!" And all is well + Out to Old Aunt Mary's. + + [Unavailable image: Old Aunt Mary's—Tailpiece] +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0016" id="link2H_4_0016"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + WINTER FANCIES + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [Unavailable image: Winter Fancies—Title] + + I + + Winter without + And warmth within; + The winds may shout + And the storm begin; + The snows may pack + At the window pane, + And the skies grow black, + And the sun remain + Hidden away + The livelong day— + But here—in here is the warmth of May! + + [Unavailable image: Winter without and warmth within] + + II + + Swoop your spitefullest + Up the flue, + Wild Winds—do! + What in the world do I care for you? + O delightfullest + Weather of all, + Howl and squall, + And shake the trees till the last leaves fall! + + III + + The joy one feels, + In an easy chair, + Cocking his heels + In the dancing air + That wreathes the rim of a roaring stove + Whose heat loves better than hearts can love, + Will not permit + The coldest day + To drive away + The fire in his blood, and the bliss of it! + + IV + + Then blow, Winds, blow! + And rave and shriek, + And snarl and snow + Till your breath grows weak— + While here in my room + I'm as snugly shut + As a glad little worm + In the heart of a nut! + + [Unavailable image: Here in my room I'm as snugly shut] +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0017" id="link2H_4_0017"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE RUNAWAY BOY + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Wunst I sassed my Pa, an' he + Won't stand that, an' punished me,— + Nen when he was gone that day, + I slipped out an' runned away. + + I tooked all my copper-cents, + An' clumbed over our back fence + In the jimpson-weeds 'at growed + Ever'where all down the road. + + Nen I got out there, an' nen + I runned some—an' runned again + When I met a man 'at led + A big cow 'at shooked her head. + + I went down a long, long lane + Where was little pigs a-play'n'; + An' a grea'-big pig went "Booh!" + An' jumped up, an' skeered me too. + + Nen I scampered past, an' they + Was somebody hollered "Hey!" + An' I ist looked ever'where, + An' they was nobody there. + + I <i>Want</i> to, but I'm 'fraid to try + To go back.... An' by-an'-by + Somepin' hurts my throat inside— + An' I want my Ma—an' cried. + + Nen a grea'-big girl come through + Where's a gate, an' telled me who + Am I? an' ef I tell where + My home's at she'll show me there. + + But I couldn't ist but tell + What's my <i>name</i>; an' she says well, + An' she tooked me up an' says + <i>She</i> know where I live, she guess. + + [Unavailable image: An' a grea'-big pig went "Booh!"] + + Nen she telled me hug wite close + Round her neck!—an' off she goes + Skippin' up the street! An' nen + Purty soon I'm home again. + + An' my Ma, when she kissed me, + Kissed the <i>big girl</i> too, an' <i>she</i> + Kissed me—ef I p'omise <i>shore</i> + I won't run away no more! + + [Unavailable image: Hug wite close round her neck] +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0018" id="link2H_4_0018"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE LITTLE COAT + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Here's his ragged "roundabout"; + Turn the pockets inside out: + See; his pen-knife, lost to use, + Rusted shut with apple-juice; + Here, with marbles, top and string, + Is his deadly "devil-sling," + With its rubber, limp at last + As the sparrows of the past! + Beeswax—buckles—leather straps— + Bullets, and a box of caps,— + Not a thing of all, I guess, + But betrays some waywardness— + E'en these tickets, blue and red, + For the Bible-verses said— + Such as this his mem'ry kept— + "Jesus wept." + + [Unavailable image: The Little Coat] + + Here's a fishing hook-and-line, + Tangled up with wire and twine, + And dead angle-worms, and some + Slugs of lead and chewing-gum, + Blent with scents that can but come + From the oil of rhodium. + Here—a soiled, yet dainty note, + That some little sweetheart wrote, + Dotting,—"Vine grows round the stump," + And—"My sweetest sugar lump!" + Wrapped in this—a padlock key + Where he's filed a touch-hole—see! + And some powder in a quill + Corked up with a liver pill; + And a spongy little chunk + Of "punk." + + Here's the little coat—but O! + Where is he we've censured so! + Don't you hear us calling, dear? + Back! come back, and never fear.— + You may wander where you will, + Over orchard, field and hill; + You may kill the birds, or do + Anything that pleases you! + Ah, this empty coat of his! + Every tatter worth a kiss; + Every stain as pure instead + As the white stars overhead: + And the pockets—homes were they + Of the little hands that play + Now no more—but, absent, thus + Beckon us. + + [Unavailable image: The Little Coat—Tailpiece] +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0019" id="link2H_4_0019"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + AN IMPETUOUS RESOLVE + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [Unavailable image: An Impetuous Resolve—Title] + + When little Dickie Swope's a man, + He's go' to be a Sailor; + An' little Hamey Tincher, he's + A-go' to be a Tailor: + Bud Mitchell, he's a-go' to be + A stylish Carriage-Maker; + An' when <i>I</i> grow a grea'-big man, + I'm go' to be a Baker! + + An' Dick'll buy his sailor-suit + O' Hame; and Hame'll take it + An' buy as fine a double-rigg + As ever Bud can make it: + An' nen all three'll drive roun' fer me + An' we'll drive off togevver, + A-slingin' pie-crust 'long the road + Ferever an' ferever! + + [Unavailable image: I'm go' to be a baker] + + [Unavailable image: A-slingin' pie-crust 'long the road] +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0020" id="link2H_4_0020"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + WHO SANTY-CLAUS WUZ + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [Unavailable image: Who Santy-Claus Wuz—Title] + + Jes' a little bit o' feller—I remember still— + Ust to almost cry fer Christmas, like a youngster will. + Fourth o' July's nothin' to it!—New Year's ain't a smell! + Easter-Sunday—Circus-day—jes' all dead in the shell! + Lawzy, though! at night, you know, to set around an' hear + The old folks work the story off about the sledge an' deer, + An' "Santy" skootin' round the roof, all wrapt in fur an' fuzz— + Long afore + I knowed who + "Santy-Claus" wuz! + + Ust to wait, an' set up late, a week er two ahead; + Couldn't hardly keep awake, ner wouldn't go to bed; + Kittle stewin' on the fire, an' Mother settin' here + Darnin' socks, an' rockin' in the skreeky rockin'-cheer; + Pap gap', an' wonder where it wuz the money went, + An' quar'l with his frosted heels, an' spill his liniment; + An' me a-dreamin' sleigh-bells when the clock 'ud whir an' buzz, + Long afore + I knowed who + "Santy-Claus" wuz! + + Size the fire-place up an' figger how "Ole Santy" could + Manage to come down the chimbly, like they said he would; + Wisht 'at I could hide an' see him—wunderd what he'd say + Ef he ketched a feller layin' fer him thataway! + But I <i>bet</i> on him, an' <i>liked</i> him, same as ef he had + Turned to pat me on the back an' say, "Look here, my lad, + Here's my pack,—jes' he'p yourse'f, like all good boys does!" + Long afore + I knowed who + "Santy-Claus" wuz! + + [Unavailable image: An' quar'l with his frosted heels] + + Wisht that yarn was true about him, as it 'peared to be— + Truth made out o' lies like that-un's good enough fer me!— + Wisht I still wuz so confidin' I could jes' go wild + Over hangin' up my stockin's, like the little child + Climbin' in my lap to-night, an' beggin' me to tell + 'Bout them reindeers, and "Old Santy" that she loves so well + I'm half sorry fer this little-girl-sweetheart of his— + Long afore + She knows who + "Santy-Claus" is! + + [Unavailable image: Who Santy-Claus Wuz—Tailpiece] +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0021" id="link2H_4_0021"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE NINE LITTLE GOBLINS + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + They all climbed up on a high board-fence— + Nine little Goblins, with green-glass eyes— + Nine little Goblins that had no sense, + And couldn't tell coppers from cold mince pies; + And they all climbed up on the fence, and sat— + And I asked them what they were staring at. + + And the first one said, as he scratched his head + With a queer little arm that reached out of his ear + And rasped its claws in his hair so red— + "This is what this little arm is fer!" + And he scratched and stared, and the next one said, + "How on earth do <i>you</i> scratch your head?" + + And he laughed like the screech of a rusty hinge— + Laughed and laughed till his face grew black; + And when he choked, with a final twinge + Of his stifling laughter, he thumped his back + With a fist that grew on the end of his tail + Till the breath came back to his lips so pale. + + [Unavailable image: The Nine Little Goblins] + + And the third little Goblin leered round at me— + And there were no lids on his eyes at all— + And he clucked one eye, and he says, says he, + "What is the style of your socks this fall?" + And he clapped his heels—and I sighed to see + That he had hands where his feet should be. + + Then a bald-faced Goblin, gray and grim, + Bowed his head, and I saw him slip + His eyebrows off, as I looked at him, + And paste them over his upper lip; + And then he moaned in remorseful pain— + "Would—Ah, would I'd me brows again!" + + And then the whole of the Goblin band + Rocked on the fence-top to and fro, + And clung, in a long row, hand in hand, + Singing the songs that they used to know— + Singing the songs that their grandsires sung + In the goo-goo days of the Goblin-tongue. + + And ever they kept their green-glass eyes + Fixed on me with a stony stare— + Till my own grew glazed with a dread surmise, + And my hat whooped up on my lifted hair, + And I felt the heart in my breast snap to + As you've heard the lid of a snuff-box do. + + And they sang "You're asleep! There is no board-fence, + And never a Goblin with green-glass eyes!— + 'Tis only a vision the mind invents + After a supper of cold mince-pies,— + And you're doomed to dream this way," they said,— + "<i>And you sha'n't wake up till you're clean plum dead!</i>" + + [Unavailable image: The Nine Little Goblins—Tailpiece] +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0022" id="link2H_4_0022"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + TIME OF CLEARER TWITTERINGS + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [Unavailable image: Time of Clearer Twitterings—Title] + + I. + + Time of crisp and tawny leaves, + And of tarnished harvest sheaves, + And of dusty grasses—weeds— + Thistles, with their tufted seeds + Voyaging the Autumn breeze + Like as fairy argosies: + Time of quicker flash of wings, + And of clearer twitterings + In the grove, or deeper shade + Of the tangled everglade,— + Where the spotted water-snake + Coils him in the sunniest brake; + And the bittern, as in fright, + Darts, in sudden, slanting flight, + Southward, while the startled crane + Films his eyes in dreams again. + + II + + Down along the dwindled creek + We go loitering. We speak + Only with old questionings + Of the dear remembered things + Of the days of long ago, + When the stream seemed thus and so + In our boyish eyes:—The bank + Greener then, through rank on rank + Of the mottled sycamores, + Touching tops across the shores: + Here, the hazel thicket stood— + There, the almost pathless wood + Where the shellbark hickory tree + Rained its wealth on you and me. + Autumn! as you loved us then, + Take us to your heart again! + + III + + Season halest of the year! + How the zestful atmosphere + Nettles blood and brain, and smites + Into life the old delights + We have tasted in our youth, + And our graver years, forsooth! + How again the boyish heart + Leaps to see the chipmunk start + From the brush and sleek the sun + Very beauty, as he runs! + How again a subtle hint + Of crushed pennyroyal or mint, + Sends us on our knees, as when + We were truant boys of ten— + Brown marauders of the wood, + Merrier than Robin Hood! + + [Unavailable image: Where the shellbark hickory tree] + + IV + + Ah! will any minstrel say, + In his sweetest roundelay, + What is sweeter, after all, + Than black haws, in early Fall— + Fruit so sweet the frost first sat, + Dainty-toothed, and nibbled at! + And will any poet sing + Of a lusher, richer thing + Than a ripe May-apple, rolled + Like a pulpy lump of gold + Under thumb and finger-tips, + And poured molten through the lips? + Go, ye bards of classic themes, + Pipe your songs by classic streams! + I would twang the redbird's wings + In the thicket while he sings! +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0023" id="link2H_4_0023"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE CIRCUS-DAY PARADE + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Oh, the Circus-Day parade! How the bugles played and played! + And how the glossy horses tossed their flossy manes, and neighed, + As the rattle and the rhyme of the tenor-drummer's time + Filled all the hungry hearts of us with melody sublime! + + How the grand band-wagon shone with a splendor all its own, + And glittered with a glory that our dreams had never known! + And how the boys behind, high and low of every kind, + Marched in unconscious capture, with a rapture undefined! + + How the horsemen, two and two, with their plumes of white and blue, + And crimson, gold and purple, nodding by at me and you. + Waved the banners that they bore, as the Knights in days of yore, + Till our glad eyes gleamed and glistened like the spangles that they wore! + + [Unavailable image: The Circus-Day Parade] + + How the graceless-graceful stride of the elephant was eyed, + And the capers of the little horse that cantered at his side! + How the shambling camels, tame to the plaudits of their fame, + With listless eyes came silent, masticating as they came. + + [Unavailable image: How the cages jolted past] + + How the cages jolted past, with each wagon battened fast, + And the mystery within it only hinted of at last + From the little grated square in the rear, and nosing there + The snout of some strange animal that sniffed the outer air! + + And, last of all, The Clown, making mirth for all the town, + With his lips curved ever upward and his eyebrows ever down, + And his chief attention paid to the little mule that played + A tattoo on the dashboard with his heels, in the parade. + + Oh! the Circus-Day parade! How the bugles played and played! + And how the glossy horses tossed their flossy manes and neighed. + As the rattle and the rhyme of the tenor-drummer's time + Filled all the hungry hearts of us with melody sublime! + + [Unavailable image: And, last of all, the clown] +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0024" id="link2H_4_0024"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE LUGUBRIOUS WHING-WHANG + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [Unavailable image: The Lugubrious Whing-Whang—Title] + + The rhyme o' The Raggedy Man's 'at's best + Is Tickle me, Love, in these Lonesome Ribs,— + 'Cause that-un's the strangest of all o' the rest, + An' the worst to learn, an' the last one guessed, + An' the funniest one, an' the foolishest.— + Tickle me, Love, in these Lonesome Ribs! + + I don't know what in the world it means— + Tickle me, Love, in these Lonesome Ribs!— + An' nen when I <i>tell</i> him I don't, he leans + Like he was a-grindin' on some machines + An' says: Ef I <i>don't</i>, w'y, I don't know <i>beans!</i> + Tickle me, Love, in these Lonesome Ribs!— + + Out on the margin of Moonshine Land, + Tickle me, Love, in these Lonesome Ribs! + Out where the Whing-Whang loves to stand, + Writing his name with his tail in the sand, + And swiping it out with his oogerish hand; + Tickle me, Love, in these Lonesome Ribs! + + Is it the gibber of Gungs or Keeks? + Tickle me, Love, in these Lonesome Ribs! + Or what <i>is</i> the sound that the Whing-Whang seeks?— + Crouching low by the winding creeks + And holding his breath for weeks and weeks! + Tickle me, Love, in these Lonesome Ribs! + + Aroint him the wraithest of wraithly things! + Tickle me, Love, in these Lonesome Ribs! + 'Tis a fair Whing-Whangess, with phosphor rings + And bridal-jewels of fangs and stings; + And she sits and as sadly and softly sings + As the mildewed whir of her own dead wings,— + Tickle me, Dear, + Tickle me here, + Tickle me, Love, in these Lonesome Ribs! +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0025" id="link2H_4_0025"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + WAITIN' FER THE CAT TO DIE + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [Unavailable image: Waitin' Fer The Cat to Die—Title] + + Lawzy! don't I rickollect + That-'air old swing in the lane! + Right and proper, I expect, + Old times <i>can't</i> come back again; + But I want to state, ef they + <i>Could</i> come back, and I could say + What <i>my</i> pick 'ud be, i jing! + I'd say, Gimme the old swing + 'Nunder the old locus'-trees + On the old place, ef you please!— + Danglin' there with half-shet eye, + Waitin' fer the cat to die! + + I'd say, Gimme the old gang + Of barefooted, hungry, lean, + Ornry boys you want to hang + When you're growed up twic't as mean! + The old gyarden-patch, the old + Truants, and the stuff we stol'd! + The old stompin'-groun', where we + Wore the grass off, wild and free + As the swoop of the old swing, + Where we ust to climb and cling, + And twist roun', and fight, and lie— + Waitin' fer the cat to die! + + 'Pears like I 'most allus could + Swing the highest of the crowd— + Jes sail up there tel I stood + Downside-up, and screech out loud,— + Ketch my breath, and jes drap back + Fer to let the old swing slack, + Yit my tow-head dippin' still + In the green boughs, and the chill + Up my backbone taperin' down, + With my shadder on the ground' + Slow and slower trailin' by— + Waitin' fer the cat to die! + + [Unavailable image: Barefooted, hungry, lean, ornry boys] + + Now my daughter's little Jane's + Got a kind o' baby-swing + On the porch, so's when it rains + She kin play there—little thing! + And I'd limped out t'other day + With my old cheer this-a-way, + Swingin' <i>her</i> and rockin' too, + Thinkin' how <i>I</i> ust to do + At <i>her</i> age, when suddently, + "Hey, Gran'pap!" she says to me, + "Why you rock so slow?" ... Says I, + "Waitin' fer the cat to die!" + + [Unavailable image: Why you rock so slow?] +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0026" id="link2H_4_0026"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + NAUGHTY CLAUDE + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [Unavailable image: Naughty Claude] + + When Little Claude was naughty wunst + At dinner-time, an' said + He won't say "<i>Thank you</i>" to his Ma, + She maked him go to bed + An' stay two hours an' not git up,— + So when the clock struck Two, + Nen Claude says,—"Thank you, Mr. Clock, + I'm much obleeged to you!" +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0027" id="link2H_4_0027"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE SOUTH WIND AND THE SUN + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [Unavailable image: The South Wind and The Sun—Title] + + O the South Wind and the Sun + How each loved the other one— + Full of fancy—full of folly— + Full of jollity and fun! + How they romped and ran about, + Like two boys when school is out, + With glowing face, and lisping lip, + Low laugh, and lifted shout! + + And the South Wind—he was dressed + With a ribbon round his breast + That floated, flapped and fluttered + In a riotous unrest; + And a drapery of mist, + From the shoulder and the wrist + Flowing backward with the motion + Of the waving hand he kissed. + + And the Sun had on a crown + Wrought of gilded thistledown, + And a scarf of velvet vapor, + And a raveled-rainbow gown; + And his tinsel-tangled hair, + Tossed and lost upon the air, + With glossier and flossier + Than any anywhere. + + And the South Wind's eyes were two + Little dancing drops of dew, + As he puffed his cheeks, and pursed his lips, + And blew and blew and blew! + And the Sun's—like diamond-stone, + Brighter yet than ever known, + As he knit his brows and held his breath, + And shone and shone and shone! + + And this pair of merry fays + Wandered through the summer days; + Arm-in-arm they went together + Over heights of morning haze— + Over slanting slopes of lawn + They went on and on and on, + Where the daisies looked like star-tracks + Trailing up and down the dawn. + + And where'er they found the top + Of a wheat-stalk droop and lop, + They chucked it underneath the chin + And praised the lavish crop, + Till it lifted with the pride + Of the heads it grew beside, + And then the South Wind and the Sun + Went onward satisfied. + + Over meadow-lands they tripped, + Where the dandelions dipped + In crimson foam of clover bloom + And dripped and dripped and dripped! + And they clinched the bumble-stings, + Gauming honey on their wings, + And bundling them in lily-bells, + With maudlin murmurings. + + And the humming-bird, that hung + Like a jewel up among + The tilted honeysuckle horns, + They mesmerized and swung + In the palpitating air, + Drowsed with odors strange and rare, + And, with whispered laughter, slipped away, + And left him hanging there. + + And they braided blades of grass + Where the truant had to pass; + And they wriggled through the rushes + And the reeds of the morass, + Where they danced, in rapture sweet, + O'er the leaves that laid a street + Of undulant mosaic for + The touches of their feet. + + By the brook with mossy brink, + Where the cattle came to drink, + They trilled and piped and whistled + With the thrush and bobolink, + Till the kine, in listless pause, + Switched their tails in mute applause, + With lifted heads, and dreamy eyes, + And bubble-dripping jaws. + + And where the melons grew, + Streaked with yellow, green and blue, + These jolly sprites went wandering + Through spangled paths of dew; + And the melons, here and there, + They made love to, everywhere, + Turning their pink souls to crimson + With caresses fond and fair. + + [Unavailable image: This pair of merry fays] + + Over orchard walls they went, + Where the fruited boughs were bent + Till they brushed the sward beneath them + Where the shine and shadow blent; + And the great green pear they shook + Till the sallow hue forsook + Its features, and the gleam of gold + Laughed out in every look. + + And they stroked the downy cheek + Of the peach, and smoothed it sleek, + And flushed it into splendor; + And, with many an elfish freak, + Gave the russet's rust a wipe— + Prankt the rambo with a stripe, + And the winesap blushed its reddest + As they spanked the pippins ripe. + + Through the woven ambuscade + That the twining vines had made, + They found the grapes, in clusters, + Drinking up the shine and shade— + Plumpt, like tiny skins of wine, + With a vintage so divine + That the tongue of Fancy tingled + With the tang of muscadine. + + And the golden-banded bees, + Droning o'er the flowery leas, + They bridled, reined, and rode away + Across the fragrant breeze, + Till in hollow oak and elm + They had groomed and stabled them + In waxen stalls that oozed with dews + Of rose and lily-stem. + + Where the dusty highway leads, + High above the wayside weeds, + They sowed the air with butterflies + Like blooming flower-seeds, + Till the dull grasshopper sprung + Half a man's-height up, and hung + Tranced in the heat, with whirring wings, + And sung and sung and sung! + + And they loitered, hand in hand, + Where the snipe along the sand + Of the river ran to meet them + As the ripple meets the land, + Till the dragonfly, in light + Gauzy armor, burnished bright, + Came tilting down the waters + In a wild, bewildered flight. + + And they heard the kildee's call, + And afar, the waterfall, + But the rustle of a falling leaf + They heard above it all; + And the trailing willow crept + Deeper in the tide that swept + The leafy shallop to the shore, + And wept and wept and wept! + + And the fairy vessel veered + From its moorings—tacked and steered + For the center of the current— + Sailed away and disappeared: + And the burthen that it bore + From the long-enchanted shore— + "Alas! the South Wind and the Sun!" + I murmur evermore. + + For the South Wind and the Sun, + Each so loves the other one, + For all his jolly folly, + And frivolity and fun, + That our love for them they weigh + As their fickle fancies may, + And when at last we love them most, + They laugh and sail away. +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0028" id="link2H_4_0028"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE JOLLY MILLER + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [Unavailable image: The Jolly Miller—Title] + + [Restored Romaunt.] + + It was a Jolly Miller lived on the River Dee; + He looked upon his piller, and there he found a flea: + "O Mr. Flea! you have bit' me, + And you shall shorely die!" + So he scrunched his bones against the stones— + And there he let him lie! + + Twas then the Jolly Miller he laughed and told his wife, + And <i>she</i> laughed fit to kill her, and dropped her carvin'-knife!— + "O Mr. Flea!" "Ho-ho!" "Tee-hee!" + They <i>both</i> laughed fit to kill, + Until the sound did almost drownd + The rumble of the mill! + + <i>"Laugh on, my Jolly Miller! and Missus Miller, too!— + But there's a weeping-willer will soon wave over you!"</i> + The voice was all so awful small— + So very small and slim!— + He durst' infer that it was her, + Ner her infer 'twas him! + + [Unavailable image: That cat o' yourn I'd kill her] + + That night the Jolly Miller, says he, "It's Wifey dear, + That cat o' yourn, I'd kill her!—her actions is so queer,— + She rubbin' 'ginst the grindstone-legs, + And yowlin' at the sky— + And I 'low the moon haint greener + Than the yaller of her eye!" + + And as the Jolly Miller went chuckle-un to bed, + Was <i>Somepin</i> jerked his piller from underneath his head! + "O Wife," says he, on-easi-lee, + "Fetch here that lantern there!" + But <i>Somepin</i> moans in thunder tones, + "<i>You tetch it ef you dare!</i>" + + 'Twas then the Jolly Miller he trimbled and he quailed— + And his wife choked until her breath come back, 'n' she <i>wailed!</i> + And "<i>O!"</i> cried she, "it is <i>the Flea</i>, + All white and pale and wann— + He's got you in his clutches, and + <i>He's bigger than a man!</i>" + + "<i>Ho! ho! my Jolly Miller," (fer 'twas the Flea, fer shore!) + "I reckon you'll not rack my bones ner scrunch 'em any more!</i>" + And then <i>the Ghost</i> he grabbed him clos't, + With many a ghastly smile, + And from the doorstep stooped and hopped + About four hundred mile! +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0029" id="link2H_4_0029"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + OUR HIRED GIRL + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Our hired girl, she's 'Lizabuth Ann; + An' she can cook best things to eat! + She ist puts dough in our pie-pan, + An' pours in somepin' 'at's good and sweet, + An' nen she salts it all on top + With cinnamon; an' nen she'll stop + An' stoop an' slide it, ist as slow, + In th' old cook-stove, so's 'twon't slop + An' git all spilled; nen bakes it, so + It's custard pie, first thing you know! + An' nen she'll say: + "Clear out o' my way! + They's time fer work, an' time fer play!— + Take yer dough, an' run, Child; run! + Er I cain't git no cookin' done!" + + When our hired girl 'tends like she's mad, + An' says folks got to walk the chalk + When <i>she's</i> around, er wisht they had, + I play out on our porch an' talk + To th' Raggedy Man 'at mows our lawn; + An' he says "<i>Whew!"</i> an' nen leans on + His old crook-scythe, and blinks his eyes + An' sniffs all around an' says,—"I swawn! + Ef my old nose don't tell me lies, + It 'pears like I smell custard-pies!" + An' nen <i>he'll</i> say,— + "'Clear out' o' my way! + They's time fer work an' time fer play! + Take yer dough, an' run, Child; run! + Er <i>she</i> cain't git no cookin' done!'" + + [Unavailable image: Wuz parchin' corn fer the raggedy man] + + Wunst our hired girl, one time when she + Got the supper, an' we all et, + An' it was night, an' Ma an' me + An' Pa went wher' the "Social" met,— + An' nen when we come home, an' see + A light in the kitchen-door, an' we + Heerd a maccordeum, Pa says "Lan'— + O'Gracious! who can <i>her</i> beau be?" + An' I marched in, an' 'Lizabuth Ann + Wuz parchin' corn fer the Raggedy Man! + <i>Better</i> say + "Clear out o' the way! + They's time fer work, an' time fer play! + Take the hint, an' run, Child; run! + Er we cain't git no <i>courtin</i>' done!'" +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0030" id="link2H_4_0030"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE BOYS' CANDIDATE + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [Unavailable image: The Boys' Candidate] + + Las' time 'at Uncle Sidney come, + He bringed a watermelon home— + An' half the boys in town, + Come taggin' after him.—An' he + Says, when we et it,—<i>"Gracious me! + 'S the boy-house fell down?"</i> +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0031" id="link2H_4_0031"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE PET COON + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [Unavailable image: The Pet Coon—Title] + + Noey Bixler ketched him, and fetched him in to me + When he's ist a little teenty-weenty baby-coon + 'Bout as big as little pups, an' tied him to a tree; + An' Pa gived Noey fifty cents, when he come home at noon. + Nen he buyed a chain fer him, an' little collar, too, + An' sawed a hole in a' old tub an' turnt it upside-down; + An' little feller'd stay in there and won't come out fer you— + 'Tendin' like he's kindo' skeered o' boys 'at lives in town. + + <i>Now</i> he aint afeard a bit! he's ist so fat an' tame, + We on'y chain him up at night, to save the little chicks. + Holler "Greedy! Greedy!" to him, an' he knows his name, + An' here he'll come a-waddle-un, up fer any tricks! + He'll climb up my leg, he will, an' waller in my lap, + An' poke his little black paws 'way in my pockets where + They's beechnuts, er chinkypins, er any little scrap + Of anything, 'at's good to eat—an' <i>he</i> don't care! + + An' he's as spunky as you please, an' don't like dogs at all.— + Billy Miller's black-an'-tan tackled him one day, + An' "Greedy" he ist kindo' doubled all up like a ball, + An' Billy's dog he gived a yelp er two an' runned away! + An' nen when Billy fighted me, an' hit me with a bone, + An' Ma she purt'nigh ketched him as he dodged an' skooted thro' + The fence, she says, "You better let my little boy alone, + Er 'Greedy,' next he whips yer dog, shall whip you, too!" + + [Unavailable image: An' nen when Billy fighted me] +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0032" id="link2H_4_0032"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE OLD HAY-MOW + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [Unavailable image: The Old Hay-Mow—Title] + + The Old Hay-mow's the place to play + Fer boys, when it's a rainy day! + I good-'eal ruther be up there + Than down in town, er anywhere! + + When I play in our stable-loft, + The good old hay's so dry an' soft, + An' feels so fine, an' smells so sweet, + I 'most ferget to go an' eat. + + [Unavailable image: In our hay-mow where I keep store] + + An' one time wunst I <i>did</i> ferget + To go 'tel dinner was all et,— + An' they had short-cake—an'—Bud he + Hogged up the piece Ma saved fer me! + + Nen I won't let him play no more + In our hay-mow where I keep store + An' got hen-eggs to sell,—an' shoo + The cackle-un old hen out, too! + + An' nen, when Aunty she was here + A-visitun from Rensselaer, + An' bringed my little cousin,—<i>he</i> + Can come up there an' play with me. + + But, after while—when Bud he bets + 'At I can't turn no summersetts,— + I let him come up, ef he can + Ac' ha'f-way like a gentleman! +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0033" id="link2H_4_0033"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + ON THE SUNNY SIDE + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [Unavailable image: On The Sunny Side—Title] + + Hi and whoop-hooray, boys! + Sing a song of cheer! + Here's a holiday, boys, + Lasting half a year! + Round the world, and half is + Shadow we have tried; + Now we're where the laugh is,— + On the sunny side! + + Pigeons coo and mutter, + Strutting high aloof + Where the sunbeans flutter + Through the stable roof. + Hear the chickens cheep, boys, + And the hen with pride + Clucking them to sleep, boys, + On the sunny side! + + [Unavailable image: As a romping boy] + + Hear the clacking guinea; + Hear the cattle moo; + Hear the horses whinny, + Looking out at you! + On the hitching-block, boys, + Grandly satisfied, + See the old peacock, boys, + On the sunny side! + + Robins in the peach-tree; + Bluebirds in the pear; + Blossoms over each tree + In the orchard there! + All the world's in joy, boys, + Glad and glorified + As a romping boy, boys, + On the sunny side! + + Where's a heart as mellow? + Where's a soul as free? + Where is any fellow + We would rather be? + Just ourselves or none, boys, + World around and wide, + Laughing in the sun, boys, + On the sunny side! +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0034" id="link2H_4_0034"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + A SUDDEN SHOWER + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [Unavailable image: A Sudden Shower—Title] + + Barefooted boys scud up the street + Or skurry under sheltering sheds; + And schoolgirl faces, pale and sweet, + Gleam from the shawls about their heads. + + Doors bang; and mother-voices call + From alien homes; and rusty gates + Are slammed; and high above it all, + The thunder grim reverberates. + + And then, abrupt,—the rain! the rain!— + The earth lies gasping; and the eyes + Behind the streaming window-pane + Smile at the trouble of the skies. + + [Unavailable image: Schoolgirl faces ... gleam from the shawls about their + heads] + + The highway smokes; sharp echoes ring; + The cattle bawl and cowbells clank; + And into town comes galloping + The farmer's horse, with streaming flank. + + The swallow dips beneath the eaves, + And flirts his plumes and folds his wings; + And under the catawba leaves + The caterpillar curls and clings. + + The bumble-bee is pelted down + The wet stem of the hollyhock; + And sullenly, in spattered brown, + The cricket leaps the garden walk. + + Within, the baby claps his hands + And crows with rapture strange and vague; + Without, beneath the rosebush stands + A dripping rooster on one leg. + + [Unavailable image: A Sudden Shower—Tailpiece] +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0035" id="link2H_4_0035"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + GRANDFATHER SQUEERS + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [Unavailable image: Grandfather Squeers—Title] + + "My grandfather Squeers," said The Raggedy Man, + As he solemnly lighted his pipe and began— + + "The most indestructible man, for his years, + And the grandest on earth, was my grandfather Squeers! + + "He said, when he rounded his three-score-and-ten, + 'I've the hang of it now and can do it again!' + + "He had frozen his heels so repeatedly, he + Could tell by them just what the weather would be; + + "And would laugh and declare, 'while the <i>Almanac</i> would + Most falsely prognosticate, <i>he</i> never could!' + + "Such a hale constitution had grandfather Squeers + That, 'though he'd used '<i>navy</i>' for sixty odd years, + + "He still chewed a dime's-worth six days of the week, + While the seventh he passed with a chew in each cheek: + + "Then my grandfather Squeers had a singular knack + Of sitting around on the small of his back, + + "With his legs like a letter Y stretched o'er the grate + Wherein 'twas his custom to ex-pec-tor-ate. + + "He was fond of tobacco in <i>manifold</i> ways, + And would sit on the door-step, of sunshiny days, + + "And smoke leaf-tobacco he'd raised strictly for + The pipe he'd used all through The Mexican War." + + And The Raggedy Man said, refilling the bowl + Of his own pipe and leisurely picking a coal + + From the stove with his finger and thumb, "You can see + What a tee-nacious habit he's fastened on me! + + "And my grandfather Squeers took a special delight + In pruning his corns every Saturday night + + "With a horn-handled razor, whose edge he excused + By saying 'twas one that his grandfather used; + + "And, though deeply etched in the haft of the same + Was the ever-euphonious Wostenholm's name, + + "'Twas my grandfather's custom to boast of the blade + As 'A Seth Thomas razor—the best ever made!' + + "No Old Settlers' Meeting, or Pioneers' Fair, + Was complete without grandfather Squeers in the chair + + "To lead off the programme by telling folks how + 'He used to shoot deer where the Court-House stands now'— + + [Unavailable image: And smoke leaf-tobacco] + + "How 'he felt, of a truth, to live over the past, + When the country was wild and unbroken and vast, + + "'That the little log cabin was just plenty fine + For himself, his companion, and fambly of nine!— + + "'When they didn't have even a pump, or a tin, + But drunk surface-water, year out and year in, + + "'From the old-fashioned gourd that was sweeter, by odds, + Than the goblets of gold at the lips of the gods!'" + + Then The Raggedy Man paused to plaintively say + It was clockin' along to'rds the close of the day— + + And he'd <i>ought</i> to get back to his work on the lawn,— + Then dreamily blubbered his pipe and went on: + + "His teeth were imperfect—my grandfather owned + That he couldn't eat oysters unless they were 'boned'; + + "And his eyes were so weak, and so feeble of sight, + He couldn't sleep with them unless, every night, + + "He put on his spectacles—all he possessed,— + Three pairs—with his goggles on top of the rest. + + "And my grandfather always, retiring at night, + Blew down the lamp-chimney to put out the light; + + "Then he'd curl up on edge like a shaving, in bed, + And puff and smoke pipes in his sleep, it is said: + + "And would snore oftentimes as the legends relate, + Till his folks were wrought up to a terrible state,— + + "Then he'd snort, and rear up, and roll over; and there, + In the subsequent hush they could hear him chew air. + + "And so glaringly bald was the top of his head + That many's the time he has musingly said, + + "As his eyes journeyed o'er its reflex in the glass,— + 'I must set out a few signs of <i>Keep Off the Grass!</i>' + + "So remarkably deaf was my grandfather Squeers + That he had to wear lightning-rods over his ears + + "To even hear thunder—and oftentimes then + He was forced to request it to thunder again." + + [Unavailable image: Grandfather Squeers—Tailpiece] +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0036" id="link2H_4_0036"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE PIXY PEOPLE + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [Unavailable image: The Pixy People—Title] + + It was just a very + Merry fairy dream!— + All the woods were airy + With the gloom and gleam; + Crickets in the clover + Clattered clear and strong, + And the bees droned over + Their old honey-song. + + In the mossy passes, + Saucy grasshoppers + Leapt about the grasses + And the thistle-burs; + And the whispered chuckle + Of the katydid + Shook the honeysuckle + Blossoms where he hid. + + Through the breezy mazes + Of the lazy June, + Drowsy with the hazes + Of the dreamy noon, + Little Pixy people + Winged above the walk, + Pouring from the steeple + Of a mullein-stalk. + + One—a gallant fellow— + Evidently King,— + Wore a plume of yellow + In a jewelled ring + On a pansy bonnet, + Gold and white and blue, + With the dew still on it, + And the fragrance, too. + + One—a dainty lady,— + Evidently Queen,— + Wore a gown of shady + Moonshine and green, + With a lace of gleaming + Starlight that sent + All the dewdrops dreaming + Everywhere she went. + + [Unavailable image: Winged above the walk] + + One wore a waistcoat + Of roseleaves, out and in, + And one wore a faced-coat + Of tiger-lily-skin; + And one wore a neat coat + Of palest galingale; + And one a tiny street-coat, + And one a swallow-tail. + + And Ho! sang the King of them, + And Hey! sang the Queen; + And round and round the ring of them + Went dancing o'er the green; + And Hey! sang the Queen of them, + And Ho! sang the King— + And all that I had seen of them + —Wasn't anything! + + It was just a very + Merry fairy dream!— + All the woods were airy + With the gloom and gleam; + Crickets in the clover + Clattered clear and strong, + And the bees droned over + Their old honey-song! +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0037" id="link2H_4_0037"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + A LIFE-LESSON + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [Unavailable image: A Life-Lesson—Title] + + There! little girl; don't cry! + They have broken your doll, I know; + And your tea-set blue, + And your play-house, too, + Are things of the long ago; + But childish troubles will soon pass by.— + There! little girl; don't cry! + + There! little girl; don't cry! + They have broken your slate, I know; + And the glad, wild ways + Of your school-girl days + Are things of the long ago; + But life and love will soon come by.— + There! little girl; don't cry! + + There! little girl; don't cry! + They have broken your heart, I know; + And the rainbow gleams + Of your youthful dreams + Are things of the long ago; + But Heaven holds all for which you sigh.— + There! little girl; don't cry! + + [Unavailable image: But Heaven hold all for which you sigh] +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0038" id="link2H_4_0038"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + A HOME-MADE FAIRY-TALE + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + [Unavailable image: A Home-made Fairy-Tale—Title] + + Bud, come here to your Uncle a spell, + And I'll tell you something you mustn't tell— + For it's a secret and shore-nuff true, + And maybe I oughtn't to tell it to you!— + But out in the garden, under the shade + Of the apple-trees where we romped and played + Till the moon was up, and you thought I'd gone + Fast asleep.—That was all put on! + For I was a-watchin' something queer + Goin' on there in the grass, my dear! + 'Way down deep in it, there I see + A little dude-Fairy who winked at me, + And snapped his fingers, and laughed as low + And fine as the whine of a mus-kee-to! + I kept still—watchin' him closer—and + I noticed a little guitar in his hand, + Which he leant 'ginst a little dead bee—and laid + His cigarette down on a clean grass-blade; + And then climbed up on the shell of a snail— + Carefully dusting his swallowtail— + And pulling up, by a waxed web-thread, + This little guitar, you remember, I said! + And there he trinkled and trilled a tune— + "My Love, so Fair, Tans in the Moon!" + Till presently, out of the clover-top + He seemed to be singing to, came k'pop! + The purtiest, daintiest Fairy face + In all this world, or any place! + Then the little ser'nader waved his hand, + As much as to say, "We'll excuse <i>you</i>!" and + I heard, as I squinted my eyelids to, + A kiss like the drip of a drop of dew! + + [Unavailable image: A Little Dude-Fairy] +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0039" id="link2H_4_0039"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + THE BEAR STORY + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + THAT ALEX "IST MAKED UP HIS-OWN-SE'F" + + W'y, wunst they wuz a Little Boy went out + In the woods to shoot a Bear. So, he went out + 'Way in the grea'-big woods—he did.—An' he + Wuz goin' along—an' goin' along, you know, + An' purty soon he heerd somepin' go "<i>Wooh!"</i>— + Ist thataway—"<i>Woo-ooh!"</i> An' he wuz <i>skeered</i>, + He wuz. An' so he runned an' clumbed a tree— + A grea'-big tree, he did,—a sicka-<i>more</i> tree. + An' nen he heerd it ag'in: an' he looked round, + An' <i>'t'uz a Bear!—a grea'-big shore-nuff Bear!</i>— + No: 't'uz <i>two</i> Bears, it wuz—two grea'-big Bears— + <i>One</i> of 'em wuz—ist <i>one's</i> a <i>grea'-big</i> Bear.— + But they ist <i>boff</i> went "<i>Wooh!</i>"—An' here <i>they</i> come + To climb the tree an' git the Little Boy + An' eat him up! + + An' nen the Little Boy + He 'uz skeered worse'n ever! An' here come + The grea'-big Bear a-climbin' th' tree to git + The Little Boy an' eat him up—Oh, <i>no!</i>— + It 'uzn't the <i>Big</i> Bear 'at clumb the tree— + It 'uz the <i>Little</i> Bear. So here <i>he</i> come + Climbin' the tree—an' climbin' the tree! Nen when + He git wite <i>clos't</i> to the Little Boy, w'y nen + The Little Boy he ist pulled up his gun + An' <i>shot</i> the Bear, he did, an' killed him dead! + An' nen the Bear he falled clean on down out + The tree—away clean to the ground, he did— + <i>Spling-splung!</i> he falled <i>plum</i> down, an' killed him, too! + An' lit wite side o' where the <i>Big</i> Bear's at. + + An' nen the Big Bear's awful mad, you bet!— + 'Cause—'cause the Little Boy he shot his gun + An' killed the <i>Little</i> Bear.—'Cause the <i>Big</i> Bear + He—he 'uz the Little Bear's Papa.—An' so here + <i>He</i> come to climb the big old tree an' git + The Little Boy an' eat him up! An' when + The Little Boy he saw the <i>grea'-big Bear</i> + A-comin', he uz badder skeered, he wuz, + Than <i>any</i> time! An' so he think he'll climb + Up <i>higher</i>—'way up higher in the tree + Than the old <i>Bear</i> kin climb, you know.—But he— + He <i>can't</i> climb higher 'an old <i>Bears</i> kin climb,— + 'Cause Bears kin climb up higher in the trees + Than any little Boys in all the Wo-r-r-ld! + + An' so here come the grea'-big-Bear, he did,— + A-climbin' up—an' up the tree, to git + The Little Boy an' eat him up! An' so + The Little Boy he clumbed on higher, an' higher, + An' higher up the tree—an' higher—an' higher— + An' higher'n iss-here <i>house</i> is!—An' here come + Th' old Bear—clos'ter to him all the time!— + An' nen—first thing you know,—when th' old Big Bear + Wuz wite clos't to him—nen the Little Boy + Ist jabbed his gun wite in the old Bear's mouf + An' shot an' killed him dead!—No; I <i>fergot</i>,— + He didn't shoot the grea'-big Bear at all— + 'Cause <i>they 'uz no load in the gun</i>, you know— + 'Cause when he shot the <i>Little</i> Bear, w'y, nen + No load 'uz anymore nen <i>in</i> the gun! + + But th' Little Boy clumbed <i>higher</i> up, he did— + He clumbed <i>lots</i> higher—an' on up <i>higher</i>—an' higher + An' <i>higher</i>—tel he ist <i>can't</i> climb no higher, + 'Cause nen the limbs 'uz all so little, 'way + Up in the teeny-weeny tip-top of + The tree, they'd break down wiv him ef he don't + Be keerful! So he stop an' think: An' nen + He look around—An' here come th' old Bear! + + An' so the Little Boy make up his mind + He's got to ist git out o' there <i>some</i> way!— + 'Cause here come the old Bear!—so clos't, his bref's + Purt 'nigh so's he kin feel how hot it is + Ag'inst his bare feet—ist like old "Ring's" bref + When he's ben out a-huntin' an's all tired. + So when th' old Bear's so clos't—the Little Boy + Ist gives a grea'-big jump fer '<i>nother</i> tree— + No!—no he don't do that!—I tell you what + The Little Boy does:—W'y, nen—w'y, he—Oh, <i>yes</i>— + The Little Boy <i>he finds a hole up there + 'At's in the tree</i>—an' climbs in there an' <i>hides</i>— + An' <i>nen</i> th' old Bear can't find the Little Boy + At all!—But, purty soon th' old Bear finds + The Little Boy's <i>gun</i> 'at's up there—'cause the <i>gun</i> + It's too <i>tall</i> to tooked wiv him in the hole. + So, when the old Bear fin' the <i>gun</i>, he knows + The Little Boy's ist <i>hid</i> 'round <i>somers</i> there,— + An' th' old Bear 'gins to snuff an' sniff around, + An' sniff an' snuff around—so's he kin find + Out where the Little Boy's hid at.—An' nen—nen— + Oh, <i>yes!</i>—W'y, purty soon the old Bear climbs + 'Way out on a big limb—a grea'-long limb,— + An' nen the Little Boy climbs out the hole + An' takes his ax an' chops the limb off!... Nen + The old Bear falls <i>k-splunge!</i> clean to the ground + An' bust an' kill hisse'f plum dead, he did! + + An' nen the Little Boy he git his gun + An' 'menced a-climbin' down the tree ag'in— + No!—no, he <i>didn't</i> git his <i>gun</i>—'cause when + The <i>Bear</i> falled, nen the <i>gun</i> falled, too—An' broked + It all to pieces, too!—An' <i>nicest</i> gun!— + His Pa ist buyed it!—An' the Little Boy + Ist cried, he did; an' went on climbin' down + The tree—an' climbin' down—an' climbin' down!— + <i>An'-sir!</i> when he 'uz purt'-nigh down,—w'y, nen + <i>The old Bear he jumped up ag'in</i>—an' he + Ain't dead at all—ist <i>'tendin'</i> thataway, + So he kin git the Little Boy an' eat + Him up! But the Little Boy he 'uz too smart + To climb clean <i>down</i> the tree.—An' the old Bear + He can't climb <i>up</i> the tree no more—'cause when + He fell, he broke one of his—he broke <i>all</i> + His legs!—an' nen he <i>couldn't</i> climb! But he + Ist won't go'way an' let the Little Boy + Come down out of the tree. An' the old Bear + Ist growls 'round there, he does—ist growls an' goes + "<i>Wooh!—woo-ooh!"</i> all the time! An' Little Boy + He haf to stay up in the tree—all night— + An' 'thout no <i>supper</i> neether!—On'y they + Wuz <i>apples</i> on the tree!—An' Little Boy + Et apples—ist all night—an' cried—an' cried! + Nen when 'tuz morning th' old Bear went <i>"Wooh!"</i> + Ag'in, an' try to climb up in the tree + An' git the Little Boy.—But he <i>can't</i> + Climb t'save his <i>soul</i>, he can't!—An' <i>oh!</i> he's <i>mad!</i>— + He ist tear up the ground! an' go <i>"Woo-ooh!"</i> + An'—<i>Oh, yes!</i>—purty soon, when morning's come + All <i>light</i>—so's you kin <i>see</i>, you know,—w'y, nen + The old Bear finds the Little Boy's <i>gun</i>, you know, + 'At's on the ground.—(An' it ain't broke at all— + I ist <i>said</i> that!) An' so the old Bear think + He'll take the gun an' <i>shoot</i> the Little Boy:— + But <i>Bears they</i> don't know much 'bout shootin' guns; + So when he go to shoot the Little Boy, + The old Bear got the <i>other</i> end the gun + Ag'in' his shoulder, 'stid o' <i>th' other</i> end— + So when he try to shoot the Little Boy, + It shot <i>the Bear</i>, it did—an' killed him dead! + An' nen the Little Boy clumb down the tree + An' chopped his old woolly head off:—Yes, an' killed + The <i>other</i> Bear ag'in, he did—an' killed + All <i>boff</i> the bears, he did—an' tuk 'em home + An' <i>cooked</i> 'em, too, an' <i>et</i> 'em! + —An' that's all. + + [Unavailable image: ENVOY] +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0040" id="link2H_4_0040"> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + ENVOY + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Many pleasures of youth have been buoyantly sung— + And, borne on the winds of delight, may they beat + With their palpitant wings at the hearts of the Young, + And in bosoms of Age find as warm a retreat!— + Yet sweetest of all of the musical throng, + Though least of the numbers that upward aspire, + Is the one rising now into wavering song, + As I sit in the silence and gaze in the fire. + + 'Tis a Winter long dead that beleaguers my door + And muffles his steps in the snows of the past: + And I see, in the embers I'm dreaming before, + Lost faces of love as they looked on me last:— + The round, laughing eyes of the desk-mate of old + Gleam out for a moment with truant desire— + Then fade and are lost in a City of Gold, + As I sit in the silence and gaze in the fire. + + And then comes the face, peering back in my own, + Of a shy little girl, with her lids drooping low, + As she faltering tells, in a far-away tone, + The ghost of a story of long, long ago.— + Then her dewy blue eyes they are lifted again; + But I see their glad light slowly fail and expire, + As I reach and cry to her in vain, all in vain!— + As I sit in the silence and gaze in the fire. + + Then the face of a Mother looks back, through the mist + Of tears that are welling; and, lucent with light, + I see the dear smile of the lips I have kissed + As she knelt by my cradle at morning and night; + And my arms are outheld, with a yearning too wild + For any but God in His love to inspire, + As she pleads at the foot of His throne for her child,— + As I sit in the silence and gaze in the fire. + + O pathos of rapture! O glorious pain! + My heart is a blossom of joy over-run + With a shower of tears, as a lily with rain + That weeps in the shadow and laughs in the sun. + The blight of the frost may descend on the tree, + And the leaf and the flower may fall and expire, + But ever and ever love blossoms for me, + As I sit in the silence and gaze in the fire. +</pre> + <div style="height: 6em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Riley Child-Rhymes, by James Whitcomb Riley + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RILEY CHILD-RHYMES *** + +***** This file should be named 9777-h.htm or 9777-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/9/7/7/9777/ + +Etext produced by Maria Cecilia Lim and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +HTML file produced by David Widger + +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. 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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: Riley Child-Rhymes + +Author: James Whitcomb Riley + +Posting Date: November 3, 2011 [EBook #9777] +Release Date: January, 2006 +First Posted: October 15, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RILEY CHILD-RHYMES *** + + + + +Produced by Maria Cecilia Lim and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + + + + + +[Illustration: A-list'nin' to the witch-tales 'at Annie tells +abou--Frontispiece] + + + + +RILEY +CHILD-RHYMES + +James Whitcomb Riley + + +WITH HOOSIER PICTURES BY + +Will Vawter + + + + +Copyright 1890, 1896, 1898 and 1905 + + + + +WITH HALE AFFECTION AND ABIDING FAITH +THESE RHYMES AND PICTURES +ARE INSCRIBED +TO THE CHILDREN EVERYWHERE + + + + +_He owns the bird-songs of the hills-- +The laughter of the April rills; +And his are all the diamonds set +In Morning's dewy coronet,-- +And his the Dusk's first minted stars +That twinkle through the pasture-bars +And litter all the skies at night +With glittering scraps of silver light;-- +The rainbow's bar, from rim to rim, +In beaten gold, belongs to him._ + + + + +CONTENTS + +[Note from the transcriber: The Table of Contents below was taken from +the book and is an alphabetical list of the poems. A second Table of +Contents, listing the poems in the order they occur in this book, has +been provided by the transcriber.] + +AT AUNTY'S HOUSE + +BEAR STORY, THE + +BOY LIVES ON OUR FARM, THE + +BOYS' CANDIDATE, THE + +BUMBLEBEE, THE + +CIRCUS-DAY PARADE, THE + +CURLY LOCKS + +DAYS GONE BY, THE + +DOWN AROUND THE RIVER + +ENVOY + +FUNNY LITTLE FELLOW, THE + +GRANDFATHER SQUEERS + +HAPPY LITTLE CRIPPLE, THE + +HOME-MADE FAIRY-TALE, A + +IMPETUOUS RESOLVE, AN + +JOLLY MILLER, THE + +LIFE-LESSON, A + +LITTLE COAT, THE + +LITTLE ORPHANT ANNIE + +LUGUBRIOUS WHING-WHANG, THE + +NAUGHTY CLAUDE + +NINE LITTLE GOBLINS, THE + +OLD AUNT MARY'S + +OLD HAY-MOW, THE + +OLD TRAMP, THE + +ON THE SUNNY SIDE + +OUR HIRED GIRL + +PET COON, THE + +PIXY PEOPLE, THE + +RAGGEDY MAN, THE + +RIDER OF THE KNEE, THE + +RUNAWAY BOY, THE + +SOUTH WIND AND THE SUN, THE + +SQUIRTGUN UNCLE MAKED ME, THE + +SUDDEN SHOWER, A + +TIME OF CLEARER TWITTERINGS + +WAITIN' FER THE CAT TO DIE + +WHO SANTY-CLAUS WUZ + +WINTER FANCIES + + + + +Contents (Listed in the Order They Appear) + +LITTLE ORPHANT ANNIE + +THE RAGGEDY MAN + +CURLY LOCKS + +THE FUNNY LITTLE FELLOW + +THE HAPPY LITTLE CRIPPLE + +THE RIDER OF THE KNEE + +DOWN AROUND THE RIVER + +AT AUNTY'S HOUSE + +THE DAYS GONE BY + +THE BUMBLEBEE + +THE BOY LIVES ON OUR FARM + +THE SQUIRTGUN UNCLE MAKED ME + +THE OLD TRAMP + +OLD AUNT MARY'S + +WINTER FANCIES + +THE RUNAWAY BOY + +THE LITTLE COAT + +AN IMPETUOUS RESOLVE + +WHO SANTY-CLAUS WUZ + +THE NINE LITTLE GOBLINS + +TIME OF CLEARER TWITTERINGS + +THE CIRCUS-DAY PARADE + +THE LUGUBRIOUS WHING-WHANG + +WAITIN' FER THE CAT TO DIE + +NAUGHTY CLAUDE + +THE SOUTH WIND AND THE SUN + +THE JOLLY MILLER + +OUR HIRED GIRL + +THE BOYS' CANDIDATE + +THE PET COON + +THE OLD HAY-MOW + +ON THE SUNNY SIDE + +A SUDDEN SHOWER + +GRANDFATHER SQUEERS + +THE PIXY PEOPLE + +A LIFE-LESSON + +A HOME-MADE FAIRY-TALE + +THE BEAR STORY + +ENVOY + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +WITCH-TALES + +THEY WAS TWO GREAT BIG BLACK THINGS A-STANDIN' BY HER SIDE + +AN' WHEN THEY TURN'T THE KIVVERS DOWN + +LITTLE ORPHANT ANNIE--TAILPIECE + +THE RAGGEDY MAN--TITLE + +HE SHOWED ME THE HOLE 'AT THE WUNKS IS GOT + +CURLY LOCKS--TITLE + +SIT ON A CUSHION AND SEW A FINE SEAM + +THE FUNNY LITTLE FELLOW--TITLE + +NEVER KNEW A BABY THAT WOULDN'T CROW FOR HIM + +THE HAPPY LITTLE CRIPPLE--TITLE + +AN' I PECK ON THE WINDER + +AN' COOKS A' EGG FER ME + +THE HAPPY LITTLE CRIPPLE--TAILPIECE + +THE RIDER OF THE KNEE + +DOWN AROUND THE RIVER--TITLE + +NOON-TIME AND JUNE-TIME DOWN AROUND THE RIVER + +DOWN AROUND THE RIVER--TAILPIECE + +AT AUNTY'S HOUSE--TITLE + +WE ET OUT ON THE PORCH + +THE DAYS GONE BY--TITLE + +IN THE ORCHARD + +THE BUMBLEBEE + +THE BOY LIVES ON OUR FARM--TITLE + +STAND UP LIKE HIM AN' DRIVE + +THE SQUIRTGUN UNCLE MAKED ME--TITLE + +THE SQUIRTGUN--TAILPIECE + +AN' NEN HE PEELED OFF THE BARK + +THE OLD TRAMP + +WE PATTER ALONG IN THE DUST AGAIN + +OLD AUNT MARY'S--TAILPIECE + +WINTER FANCIES--TITLE + +WINTER WITHOUT AND WARMTH WITHIN + +HERE IN MY ROOM I'M AS SNUGLY SHUT + +AN' A GREA'-BIG PIG WENT "BOOH!" + +HUG WITE CLOSE ROUND HER NECK + +THE LITTLE COAT + +THE LITTLE COAT--TAILPIECE + +AN IMPETUOUS RESOLVE--TITLE + +I'M GO' TO BE A BAKER + +A-SLINGIN' PIE-CRUST 'LONG THE ROAD + +WHO SANTY-CLAUS WUZ--TITLE + +AN' QUAR'L WITH HIS FROSTED HEELS + +WHO SANTY-CLAUS WUZ--TAILPIECE + +THE NINE LITTLE GOBLINS + +THE NINE LITTLE GOBLINS--TAILPIECE + +TIME OF CLEARER TWITTERINGS--TITLE + +WHERE THE SHELLBARK HICKORY TREE + +THE CIRCUS-DAY PARADE + +HOW THE CAGES JOLTED PAST + +AND, LAST OF ALL, THE CLOWN + +THE LUGUBRIOUS WHING-WHANG--TITLE + +WAITIN' FER THE CAT TO DIE--TITLE + +BAREFOOTED, HUNGRY, LEAN, ORNRY BOYS + +WHY YOU ROCK SO SLOW? + +NAUGHTY CLAUDE + +THE SOUTH WIND AND THE SUN--TITLE + +THIS PAIR OF MERRY FAYS + +THE JOLLY MILLER--TITLE + +THAT CAT O' YOURN I'D KILL HER + +WUZ PARCHIN' CORN FER THE RAGGEDY MAN + +THE BOYS' CANDIDATE + +THE PET COON--TITLE + +AN' NEN WHEN BILLY FIGHTED ME + +THE OLD HAY-MOW--TITLE + +IN OUR HAY-MOW WHERE I KEEP STORE + +ON THE SUNNY SIDE--TITLE + +AS A ROMPING BOY + +A SUDDEN SHOWER--TITLE + +SCHOOLGIRL FACES ... GLEAM FROM THE SHAWLS ABOUT THEIR HEADS + +A SUDDEN SHOWER--TAILPIECE + +GRANDFATHER SQUEERS--TITLE + +AND SMOKE LEAF-TOBACCO + +GRANDFATHER SQUEERS--TAILPIECE + +THE PIXY PEOPLE--TITLE + +WINGED ABOVE THE WALK + +A LIFE-LESSON--TITLE + +BUT HEAVEN HOLDS ALL FOR WHICH YOU SIGH + +A HOME-MADE FAIRY-TALE--TITLE + +A LITTLE DUDE-FAIRY + +ENVOY + + + + +RILEY CHILD-RHYMES + + + + +LITTLE ORPHANT ANNIE + +[Illustration: They was two great big black things a-standin' by her side] + +Little Orphant Annie's come to our house to stay, +An' wash the cups an' saucers up, an' brush the crumbs away, +An' shoo the chickens off the porch, an' dust the hearth, an' sweep, +An' make the fire, an' bake the bread, an' earn her board-an'-keep; +An' all us other childern, when the supper things is done, +We set around the kitchen fire an' has the mostest fun +A-list'nin' to the witch-tales 'at Annie tells about, +An' the Gobble-uns 'at gits you + Ef you + Don't + Watch + Out! + +Onc't they was a little boy wouldn't say his prayers,-- +So when he went to bed at night, away up stairs, +His Mammy heerd him holler, an' his Daddy heerd him bawl, +An' when they turn't the kivvers down, he wasn't there at all! +An' they seeked him in the rafter-room, an' cubby-hole, an' press, +An' seeked him up the chimbly-flue, an' ever'wheres, I guess; +But all they ever found was thist his pants an' roundabout:-- +An' the Gobble-uns'll git you + Ef you + Don't + Watch + Out! + +[Illustration: An' when they turn't the kivvers down] + +An' one time a little girl 'ud allus laugh an' grin, +An' make fun of ever'one, an' all her blood an' kin; +An' onc't, when they was "company," an' ole folks was there, +She mocked 'em an' shocked 'em, an' said she didn't care! +An' thist as she kicked her heels, an' turn't to run an' hide, +They was two great big Black Things a-standin' by her side, +An' they snatched her through the ceilin' 'fore she knowed what she's about! +An' the Gobble-uns'll git you + Ef you + Don't + Watch + Out! + +An' little Orphant Annie says when the blaze is blue, +An' the lamp-wick sputters, an' the wind goes _woo-oo!_ +An' you hear the crickets quit, an' the moon is gray, +An' the lightnin'-bugs in dew is all squenched away,-- +You better mind yer parents, an' yer teachers fond an' dear, +An' churish them 'at loves you, an' dry the orphant's tear, +An' he'p the pore an' needy ones 'at clusters all about, +Er the Gobble-uns'll git you + Ef you + Don't + Watch + Out! + +[Illustration: Little Orphant Annie--Tailpiece] + + + + +THE RAGGEDY MAN + +[Illustration: The Raggedy Man--Title] + +O The Raggedy Man! He works fer Pa; +An' he's the goodest man ever you saw! +He comes to our house every day, +An' waters the horses, an' feeds 'em hay; +An' he opens the shed--an' we all ist laugh +When he drives out our little old wobble-ly calf; +An' nen--ef our hired girl says he can-- +He milks the cow fer 'Lizabuth Ann.-- + Aint he a' awful good Raggedy Man? + Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man! + +W'y, The Raggedy Man--he's ist so good +He splits the kindlin' an' chops the wood; +An' nen he spades in our garden, too, +An' does most things 'at _boys_ can't do!-- +He clumbed clean up in our big tree +An' shooked a' apple down fer me-- +An' nother'n', too, fer 'Lizabuth Ann-- +An' nother'n', too, fer The Raggedy Man.-- + Aint he a' awful kind Raggedy Man? + Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man! + +[Illustration: He showed me the hole 'at the Wunks is got] + +An' The Raggedy Man, he knows most rhymes +An' tells 'em, ef I be good, sometimes: +Knows 'bout Giunts, an' Griffuns, an' Elves, +An' the Squidgicum-Squees 'at swallers therselves! +An', wite by the pump in our pasture-lot, +He showed me the hole 'at the Wunks is got, +'At lives 'way deep in the ground, an' can +Turn into me, er 'Lizabuth Ann! + Aint he a funny old Raggedy Man? + Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man! + +The Raggedy Man--one time when he +Wuz makin' a little bow-'n'-orry fer me, +Says "When _you're_ big like your Pa is, +Air you go' to keep a fine store like his-- +An' be a rich merchunt--an' wear fine clothes?-- +Er what _air_ you go' to be, goodness knows!" +An' nen he laughed at 'Lizabuth Ann, +An' I says "'M go' to be a Raggedy Man!-- + I'm ist go' to be a nice Raggedy Man!" + Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man! + + + + +CURLY LOCKS + +[Illustration: Curly Locks--Title] + +_Curly Locks! Curly Locks! wilt thou be mine? +Thou shalt not wash the dishes, nor yet feed the swine,-- +But sit on a cushion and sew a fine seam, +And feast upon strawberries, sugar and cream._ + +Curly Locks! Curly Locks! wilt thou be mine? +The throb of my heart is in every line, +And the pulse of a passion as airy and glad +In its musical beat as the little Prince had! + +[Illustration: Sit on a cushion and sew a fine seam] + +Thou shalt not wash the dishes, nor yet feed the swine!-- +O I'll dapple thy hands with these kisses of mine +Till the pink of the nail of each finger shall be +As a little pet blush in full blossom for me. + +But sit on a cushion and sew a fine seam, +And thou shalt have fabric as fair as a dream,-- +The red of my veins, and the white of my love, +And the gold of my joy for the braiding thereof. + +And feast upon strawberries, sugar and cream +From a service of silver, with jewels agleam,-- +At thy feet will I bide, at thy beck will I rise, +And twinkle my soul in the night of thine eyes! + +_Curly Locks! Curly Locks! wilt thou be mine? +Thou shalt not wash the dishes, nor yet feed the swine.-- +But sit on a cushion and sew a fine seam, +And feast upon strawberries, sugar and cream._ + + + + +THE FUNNY LITTLE FELLOW + +[Illustration: The Funny Little Fellow--Title] + +'Twas a Funny Little Fellow + Of the very purest type, +For he had a heart as mellow + As an apple over-ripe; +And the brightest little twinkle + When a funny thing occurred, +And the lightest little tinkle + Of a laugh you ever heard! + +His smile was like the glitter + Of the sun in tropic lands, +And his talk a sweeter twitter + Than the swallow understands; +Hear him sing--and tell a story-- + Snap a joke--ignite a pun,-- +'Twas a capture--rapture--glory, + And explosion--all in one! + +Though he hadn't any money-- + That condiment which tends +To make a fellow "honey" + For the palate of his friends;-- +Sweet simples he compounded-- + Sovereign antidotes for sin +Or taint,--a faith unbounded + That his friends were genuine. + +He wasn't honored, may be-- + For his songs of praise were slim,-- +Yet I never knew a baby + That wouldn't crow for him; +I never knew a mother + But urged a kindly claim +Upon him as a brother, + At the mention of his name. + +[Illustration: Never knew a baby that wouldn't crow for him] + +The sick have ceased their sighing + And have even found the grace +Of a smile when they were dying + As they looked upon his face; +And I've seen his eyes of laughter + Melt in tears that only ran +As though, swift dancing after, + Came the Funny Little Man. + +He laughed away the sorrow, + And he laughed away the gloom +We are all so prone to borrow + From the darkness of the tomb; +And he laughed across the ocean + Of a happy life, and passed, +With a laugh of glad emotion, + Into Paradise at last. + +And I think the Angels knew him, + And had gathered to await +His coming, and run to him + Through the widely-opened Gate-- +With their faces gleaming sunny + For his laughter-loving sake, +And thinking, "What a funny + Little Angel he will make!" + + + + +THE HAPPY LITTLE CRIPPLE + +[Illustration: The Happy Little Cripple--Title] + +I'm thist a little cripple boy, an' never goin' to grow +An' get a great big man at all!--'cause Aunty told me so. +When I was thist a baby onc't, I falled out of the bed +An' got "The Curv'ture of the Spine"--'at's what the Doctor said. +I never had no Mother nen--fer my Pa runned away +An' dassn't come back here no more--'cause he was drunk one day +An' stobbed a man in thish-ere town, an' couldn't pay his fine! +An' nen my Ma she died--an' I got "Curv'ture of the Spine!" + +[Illustration: An' I peck on the winder] + +I'm nine years old! An' you can't guess how much I weigh, I bet!-- +Last birthday I weighed thirty-three!--An' I weigh thirty yet! +I'm awful little fer my size--I'm purt' nigh littler 'nan +Some babies is!--an' neighbers all calls me "The Little Man!" +An' Doc one time he laughed an' said: "I 'spect, first thing you know, +You'll have a little spike-tail coat an' travel with a show!" +An' nen I laughed--till I looked round an' Aunty was a-cryin'-- +Sometimes she acts like that, 'cause I got "Curv'ture of the Spine." + +I set--while Aunty's washin'--on my little long-leg stool, +An' watch the little boys an' girls a-skippin' by to school; +An' I peck on the winder, an' holler out an' say: +"Who wants to fight The Little Man 'at dares you all today?" +An', nen the boys climbs on the fence, an' little girls peeks through, +An' they all says: "Cause you're so big, you think we're 'feared o' you!" +An' nen they yell, an' shake their fist at me, like I shake mine-- +They're thist in fun, you know, 'cause I got "Curv'ture of the Spine!" + +At evening, when the ironin's done, an' Aunty's fixed the fire, +An' filled an' lit the lamp, an' trimmed the wick an' turned it higher, +An' fetched the wood all in fer night, an' locked the kitchen door, +An' stuffed the ole crack where the wind blows in up through the floor-- +She sets the kittle on the coals, an' biles an' makes the tea, +An' fries the liver an' the mush, an' cooks a egg fer me; +An' sometimes--when I cough so hard--her elderberry wine +Don't go so bad fer little boys with "Curv'ture of the Spine!" + +[Illustration: An' cooks a' egg fer me] + +But Aunty's all so childish-like on my account, you see, +I'm 'most afeard she'll be took down--an' 'at's what bothers me!-- +'Cause ef my good old Aunty ever would git sick an' die, +I don't know what she'd do in heaven--till _I_ come, by an' by:-- +Fer she's so ust to all my ways, an' ever'thing, you know, +An' no one there like me, to nuss an' worry over so!-- +'Cause all the little childerns there's so straight an' strong an' fine, +They's nary angel 'bout the place with "Curv'ture of the Spine!" + +[Illustration: The Happy Little Cripple--Tailpiece] + + + + +THE RIDER OF THE KNEE + +Knightly Rider of the Knee +Of Proud-prancing Unclery! +Gaily mount, and wave the sign +Of that mastery of thine. + +Pat thy steed and turn him free, +Knightly Rider of the Knee! +Sit thy charger as a throne-- +Lash him with thy laugh alone: + +Sting him only with the spur +Of such wit as may occur, +Knightly Rider of the Knee, +In thy shriek of ecstasy. + +Would, as now, we might endure, +Twain as one--thou miniature +Ruler, at the rein of me-- +Knightly Rider of the Knee! + +[Illustration: The Rider of the Knee] + + + + +DOWN AROUND THE RIVER + +[Illustration: Down Around the River--Title] + +Noon-time an' June-time, down around the river! +Have to furse with 'Lizey Ann--but lawzy! I fergive her! +Drives me off the place, an' says 'at all 'at she's a-wishin', +Land o' gracious! time'll come I'll git enough o' fishin'! +Little Dave, a-choppin' wood, never 'pears to notice; +Don't know where she's hid his hat, er keerin' where his coat is,-- +Specalatin', more'n like, he haint a-goin' to mind me, +An' guessin' where, say twelve o'clock, a feller'd likely find me! + +Noon-time an' June-time, down around the river! +Clean out o' sight o' home, an' skulkin' under kivver +Of the sycamores, jack-oaks, an' swamp-ash an' ellum-- +Idies all so jumbled up, you kin hardly tell 'em!-- +_Tired_, you know, but _lovin'_ it, an' smilin' jes' to think 'at +Any _sweeter_ tiredness you'd fairly want to _drink_ it! +Tired o' fishin'--tired o' fun--line out slack an' slacker-- +All you want in all the world's a little more tobacker! + +Hungry, but _a-hidin'_ it, er jes' a-not a-keerin':-- +Kingfisher gittin' up an' skootin' out o' hearin'; +Snipes on the t'other side, where the County Ditch is, +Wadin' up an' down the aidge like they'd rolled their britches! +Old turkle on the root kindo-sorto drappin' +Intoo th' worter like he don't know how it happen! +Worter, shade an' all so mixed, don't know which you'd orter +Say; th' _worter_ in the shadder--_shadder_ in the _worter!_ + +Somebody hollerin'--'way around the bend in +Upper Fork--where yer eye kin jes' ketch the endin' +Of the shiney wedge o' wake some muss-rat's a-makin' +With that pesky nose o' his! Then a sniff o' bacon, +Corn-bred an' 'dock-greens--an' little Dave a-shinnin' +'Crost the rocks an' mussel-shells, a-limpin' an' a-grinnin', +With yer dinner fer ye, an' a blessin' from the giver, +Noon-time an' June-time down around the river! + +[Illustration: Noon-time and June-time down around the river] + +[Illustration: Down Around The River--Tailpiece] + + + + +AT AUNTY'S HOUSE + +[Illustration: At Aunty's House--Title] + +One time, when we'z at Aunty's house-- + 'Way in the country!--where +They's ist but woods--an' pigs, an' cows-- + An' all's out-doors an' air!-- +An' orchurd-swing; an' churry-trees-- +An' _churries_ in 'em!--Yes, an' these-- +Here red-head birds steals all they please, + An' tetch 'em ef you dare!-- +W'y, wunst, one time, when we wuz there, + _We et out on the porch!_ + +[Illustration: We et out on the porch] + +Wite where the cellar-door wuz shut + The table wuz; an' I +Let Aunty set by me an' cut + My vittuls up--an' pie. +'Tuz awful funny!--I could see +The red-heads in the churry-tree; +An' bee-hives, where you got to be + So keerful, goin' by;-- +An' "Comp'ny" there an' all!--an' we-- + _We et out on the porch!_ + +An' I ist et _p'surves_ an' things + 'At Ma don't 'low me to-- +An' _chickun-gizzurds_--(don't like _wings_ + Like _Parunts_ does! do _you?_) +An' all the time, the wind blowed there, +An' I could feel it in my hair, +An' ist smell clover _ever'_where!-- + An' a' old red-head flew +Purt' nigh wite over my high-chair, + _When we et on the porch!_ + + + + +THE DAYS GONE BY + +[Illustration: The Days Gone By--Title] + +O the days gone by! O the days gone by! +The apples in the orchard, and the pathway through the rye; +The chirrup of the robin, and the whistle of the quail +As he piped across the meadows sweet as any nightingale; +When the bloom was on the clover, and the blue was in the sky, +And my happy heart brimmed over, in the days gone by. + +[Illustration: In the orchard] + +In the days gone by, when my naked feet were tripped +By the honeysuckle tangles where the water-lilies dipped, +And the ripples of the river lipped the moss along the brink, +Where the placid-eyed and lazy-footed cattle came to drink, +And the tilting snipe stood fearless of the truant's wayward cry +And the splashing of the swimmer, in the days gone by. + +O the days gone by! O the days gone by! +The music of the laughing lip, the lustre of the eye; +The childish faith in fairies, and Aladdin's magic ring-- +The simple, soul-reposing, glad belief in everything,-- +When life was like a story, holding neither sob nor sigh, +In the golden olden glory of the days gone by. + + + + +THE BUMBLEBEE + +You better not fool with a Bumblebee!-- +Ef you don't think they can sting--you'll see! +They're lazy to look at, an' kindo' go +Buzzin' an' bummin' aroun' so slow, +An' ac' so slouchy an' all fagged out, +Danglin' their legs as they drone about +The hollyhawks 'at they can't climb in +'Ithout ist a-tumble-un out agin! +Wunst I watched one climb clean 'way +In a jim'son-blossom, I did, one day,-- +An' I ist grabbed it--an' nen let go-- +An' "_Ooh-ooh! Honey! I told ye so!_" +Says The Raggedy Man; an' he ist run +An' pullt out the stinger, an' don't laugh none, +An' says: "They _has_ ben folks, I guess, +'At thought I wuz predjudust, more er less,-- +Yit I still muntain 'at a Bumblebee +Wears out his welcome too quick fer me!" + +[Illustration: The Bumblebee] + + + + +THE BOY LIVES ON OUR FARM + +[Illustration: The Boy Lives on Our Farm--Title] + +The boy lives on our Farm, he's not + Afeard o' horses none! +An' he can make 'em lope, er trot, + Er rack, er pace, er run. +Sometimes he drives two horses, when + He comes to town an' brings +A wagon-full o' 'taters nen, + An' roastin'-ears an' things. + +Two horses is "a team," he says, + An' when you drive er hitch, +The right-un's a "near-horse," I guess + Er "off"--I don't know which-- +The Boy lives on our Farm, he told + Me, too, 'at he can see, +By lookin' at their teeth, how old + A horse is, to a T! + +I'd be the gladdest boy alive + Ef I knowed much as that, +An' could stand up like him an' drive, + An' ist push back my hat, +Like he comes skallyhootin' through + Our alley, with one arm +A-wavin' Fare-ye-well! to you-- + The Boy lives on our Farm! + +[Illustration: Stand up like him an' drive] + + + + +THE SQUIRTGUN UNCLE MAKED ME + +[Illustration: The Squirtgun Uncle Maked Me--Title] + +Uncle Sidney, when he wuz here, + Maked me a squirtgun out o' some +Elder-bushes 'at growed out near +Where wuz the brickyard--'way out clear + To where the toll-gate come! + +So when we walked back home again, + He maked it, out in our woodhouse where +Wuz the old workbench, an' the old jack-plane, +An' the old 'pokeshave, an' the tools all lay'n' + Ist like he wants 'em there. + +He sawed it first with the old hand-saw; + An' nen he peeled off the bark, an' got +Some glass an' scraped it; an' told 'bout Pa, +When _he_ wuz a boy an' fooled his Ma, + An' the whippin' 'at he caught. + +Nen Uncle Sidney, he took an' filed + A' old arn ramrod; an' one o' the ends +He screwed fast into the vise; an' smiled, +Thinkin', he said, o' when he wuz a child, + 'Fore him an' Pa wuz mens. + +He punched out the peth, an' nen he put + A plug in the end with a hole notched through; +Nen took the old drawey-knife an' cut +An' maked a handle 'at shoved clean shut + But ist where yer hand held to. + +An' he wropt th'uther end with some string an' white + Piece o' the sleeve of a' old tored shirt; +An' nen he showed me to hold it tight, +An' suck in the water an' work it right + An' it 'ud ist squirt an' squirt! + +[Illustration: The Squirtgun--Tailpiece] + +[Illustration: An' nen he peeled off the bark] + + + + +THE OLD TRAMP + +[Illustration: The Old Tramp.] + +A Old Tramp slep' in our stable wunst, + An' The Raggedy Man he caught +An' roust him up, an' chased him off + Clean out through our back lot! + +An' th' Old Tramp hollered back an' said,-- + "You're a _purty_ man!--_You_ air!-- +With a pair o' eyes like two fried eggs, + An' a nose like a Bartlutt pear!" + + + + +OLD AUNT MARY'S + +Wasn't it pleasant, O brother mine, +In those old days of the lost sunshine +Of youth--when the Saturday's chores were through, +And the "Sunday's wood" in the kitchen, too, +And we went visiting, "me and you," + Out to Old Aunt Mary's? + +It all comes back so clear to-day! +Though I am as bald as you are gray-- +Out by the barn-lot, and down the lane, +We patter along in the dust again, +As light as the tips of the drops of the rain, + Out to Old Aunt Mary's! + +We cross the pasture, and through the wood +Where the old gray snag of the poplar stood, +Where the hammering "red-heads" hopped awry, +And the buzzard "raised" in the "clearing" sky +And lolled and circled, as we went by + Out to Old Aunt Mary's. + +And then in the dust of the road again; +And the teams we met, and the countrymen; +And the long highway, with sunshine spread +As thick as butter on country bread, +Our cares behind, and our hearts ahead + Out to Old Aunt Mary's. + +[Illustration: We patter along in the dust again] + +Why, I see her now in the open door, +Where the little gourds grew up the sides and o'er +The clapboard roof!--And her face--ah, me! +Wasn't it good for a boy to see-- +And wasn't it good for a boy to be + Out to Old Aunt Mary's? + +And O my brother, so far away, +This is to tell you she waits to-day +To welcome us:--Aunt Mary fell +Asleep this morning, whispering, "Tell +The boys to come!" And all is well + Out to Old Aunt Mary's. + +[Illustration: Old Aunt Mary's--Tailpiece] + + + + +WINTER FANCIES + +[Illustration: Winter Fancies--Title] + +I + + Winter without + And warmth within; + The winds may shout + And the storm begin; + The snows may pack + At the window pane, + And the skies grow black, + And the sun remain + Hidden away + The livelong day-- +But here--in here is the warmth of May! + +[Illustration: Winter without and warmth within] + +II + + Swoop your spitefullest + Up the flue, + Wild Winds--do! +What in the world do I care for you? + O delightfullest + Weather of all, + Howl and squall, +And shake the trees till the last leaves fall! + +III + + The joy one feels, + In an easy chair, + Cocking his heels + In the dancing air +That wreathes the rim of a roaring stove +Whose heat loves better than hearts can love, + Will not permit + The coldest day + To drive away +The fire in his blood, and the bliss of it! + +IV + +Then blow, Winds, blow! + And rave and shriek, +And snarl and snow + Till your breath grows weak-- +While here in my room + I'm as snugly shut +As a glad little worm + In the heart of a nut! + +[Illustration: Here in my room I'm as snugly shut] + + + + +THE RUNAWAY BOY + +Wunst I sassed my Pa, an' he +Won't stand that, an' punished me,-- +Nen when he was gone that day, +I slipped out an' runned away. + +I tooked all my copper-cents, +An' clumbed over our back fence +In the jimpson-weeds 'at growed +Ever'where all down the road. + +Nen I got out there, an' nen +I runned some--an' runned again +When I met a man 'at led +A big cow 'at shooked her head. + +I went down a long, long lane +Where was little pigs a-play'n'; +An' a grea'-big pig went "Booh!" +An' jumped up, an' skeered me too. + +Nen I scampered past, an' they +Was somebody hollered "Hey!" +An' I ist looked ever'where, +An' they was nobody there. + +I _Want_ to, but I'm 'fraid to try +To go back.... An' by-an'-by +Somepin' hurts my throat inside-- +An' I want my Ma--an' cried. + +Nen a grea'-big girl come through +Where's a gate, an' telled me who +Am I? an' ef I tell where +My home's at she'll show me there. + +But I couldn't ist but tell +What's my _name_; an' she says well, +An' she tooked me up an' says +_She_ know where I live, she guess. + +[Illustration: An' a grea'-big pig went "Booh!"] + +Nen she telled me hug wite close +Round her neck!--an' off she goes +Skippin' up the street! An' nen +Purty soon I'm home again. + +An' my Ma, when she kissed me, +Kissed the _big girl_ too, an' _she_ +Kissed me--ef I p'omise _shore_ +I won't run away no more! + +[Illustration: Hug wite close round her neck] + + + + +THE LITTLE COAT + +Here's his ragged "roundabout"; +Turn the pockets inside out: +See; his pen-knife, lost to use, +Rusted shut with apple-juice; +Here, with marbles, top and string, +Is his deadly "devil-sling," +With its rubber, limp at last +As the sparrows of the past! +Beeswax--buckles--leather straps-- +Bullets, and a box of caps,-- +Not a thing of all, I guess, +But betrays some waywardness-- +E'en these tickets, blue and red, +For the Bible-verses said-- +Such as this his mem'ry kept-- + "Jesus wept." + +[Illustration: The Little Coat] + +Here's a fishing hook-and-line, +Tangled up with wire and twine, +And dead angle-worms, and some +Slugs of lead and chewing-gum, +Blent with scents that can but come +From the oil of rhodium. +Here--a soiled, yet dainty note, +That some little sweetheart wrote, +Dotting,--"Vine grows round the stump," +And--"My sweetest sugar lump!" +Wrapped in this--a padlock key +Where he's filed a touch-hole--see! +And some powder in a quill +Corked up with a liver pill; +And a spongy little chunk + Of "punk." + +Here's the little coat--but O! +Where is he we've censured so! +Don't you hear us calling, dear? +Back! come back, and never fear.-- +You may wander where you will, +Over orchard, field and hill; +You may kill the birds, or do +Anything that pleases you! +Ah, this empty coat of his! +Every tatter worth a kiss; +Every stain as pure instead +As the white stars overhead: +And the pockets--homes were they +Of the little hands that play +Now no more--but, absent, thus + Beckon us. + +[Illustration: The Little Coat--Tailpiece] + + + + +AN IMPETUOUS RESOLVE + +[Illustration: An Impetuous Resolve--Title] + +When little Dickie Swope's a man, + He's go' to be a Sailor; +An' little Hamey Tincher, he's + A-go' to be a Tailor: +Bud Mitchell, he's a-go' to be + A stylish Carriage-Maker; +An' when _I_ grow a grea'-big man, + I'm go' to be a Baker! + +An' Dick'll buy his sailor-suit + O' Hame; and Hame'll take it +An' buy as fine a double-rigg + As ever Bud can make it: +An' nen all three'll drive roun' fer me + An' we'll drive off togevver, +A-slingin' pie-crust 'long the road + Ferever an' ferever! + +[Illustration: I'm go' to be a baker] + +[Illustration: A-slingin' pie-crust 'long the road] + + + + +WHO SANTY-CLAUS WUZ + +[Illustration: Who Santy-Claus Wuz--Title] + +Jes' a little bit o' feller--I remember still-- +Ust to almost cry fer Christmas, like a youngster will. +Fourth o' July's nothin' to it!--New Year's ain't a smell! +Easter-Sunday--Circus-day--jes' all dead in the shell! +Lawzy, though! at night, you know, to set around an' hear +The old folks work the story off about the sledge an' deer, +An' "Santy" skootin' round the roof, all wrapt in fur an' fuzz-- +Long afore + I knowed who + "Santy-Claus" wuz! + +Ust to wait, an' set up late, a week er two ahead; +Couldn't hardly keep awake, ner wouldn't go to bed; +Kittle stewin' on the fire, an' Mother settin' here +Darnin' socks, an' rockin' in the skreeky rockin'-cheer; +Pap gap', an' wonder where it wuz the money went, +An' quar'l with his frosted heels, an' spill his liniment; +An' me a-dreamin' sleigh-bells when the clock 'ud whir an' buzz, +Long afore + I knowed who + "Santy-Claus" wuz! + +Size the fire-place up an' figger how "Ole Santy" could +Manage to come down the chimbly, like they said he would; +Wisht 'at I could hide an' see him--wunderd what he'd say +Ef he ketched a feller layin' fer him thataway! +But I _bet_ on him, an' _liked_ him, same as ef he had +Turned to pat me on the back an' say, "Look here, my lad, +Here's my pack,--jes' he'p yourse'f, like all good boys does!" +Long afore + I knowed who + "Santy-Claus" wuz! + +[Illustration: An' quar'l with his frosted heels] + +Wisht that yarn was true about him, as it 'peared to be-- +Truth made out o' lies like that-un's good enough fer me!-- +Wisht I still wuz so confidin' I could jes' go wild +Over hangin' up my stockin's, like the little child +Climbin' in my lap to-night, an' beggin' me to tell +'Bout them reindeers, and "Old Santy" that she loves so well +I'm half sorry fer this little-girl-sweetheart of his-- +Long afore + She knows who + "Santy-Claus" is! + +[Illustration: Who Santy-Claus Wuz--Tailpiece] + + + + +THE NINE LITTLE GOBLINS + +They all climbed up on a high board-fence-- + Nine little Goblins, with green-glass eyes-- +Nine little Goblins that had no sense, + And couldn't tell coppers from cold mince pies; + And they all climbed up on the fence, and sat-- + And I asked them what they were staring at. + +And the first one said, as he scratched his head + With a queer little arm that reached out of his ear +And rasped its claws in his hair so red-- + "This is what this little arm is fer!" + And he scratched and stared, and the next one said, + "How on earth do _you_ scratch your head?" + +And he laughed like the screech of a rusty hinge-- + Laughed and laughed till his face grew black; +And when he choked, with a final twinge + Of his stifling laughter, he thumped his back + With a fist that grew on the end of his tail + Till the breath came back to his lips so pale. + +[Illustration: The Nine Little Goblins] + +And the third little Goblin leered round at me-- + And there were no lids on his eyes at all-- +And he clucked one eye, and he says, says he, + "What is the style of your socks this fall?" + And he clapped his heels--and I sighed to see + That he had hands where his feet should be. + +Then a bald-faced Goblin, gray and grim, + Bowed his head, and I saw him slip +His eyebrows off, as I looked at him, + And paste them over his upper lip; + And then he moaned in remorseful pain-- + "Would--Ah, would I'd me brows again!" + +And then the whole of the Goblin band + Rocked on the fence-top to and fro, +And clung, in a long row, hand in hand, + Singing the songs that they used to know-- + Singing the songs that their grandsires sung + In the goo-goo days of the Goblin-tongue. + +And ever they kept their green-glass eyes + Fixed on me with a stony stare-- +Till my own grew glazed with a dread surmise, + And my hat whooped up on my lifted hair, + And I felt the heart in my breast snap to + As you've heard the lid of a snuff-box do. + +And they sang "You're asleep! There is no board-fence, + And never a Goblin with green-glass eyes!-- +'Tis only a vision the mind invents + After a supper of cold mince-pies,-- +And you're doomed to dream this way," they said,-- +"_And you sha'n't wake up till you're clean plum dead!_" + +[Illustration: The Nine Little Goblins--Tailpiece] + + + + +TIME OF CLEARER TWITTERINGS + +[Illustration: Time of Clearer Twitterings--Title] + +I. + +Time of crisp and tawny leaves, +And of tarnished harvest sheaves, +And of dusty grasses--weeds-- +Thistles, with their tufted seeds +Voyaging the Autumn breeze +Like as fairy argosies: +Time of quicker flash of wings, +And of clearer twitterings +In the grove, or deeper shade +Of the tangled everglade,-- +Where the spotted water-snake +Coils him in the sunniest brake; +And the bittern, as in fright, +Darts, in sudden, slanting flight, +Southward, while the startled crane +Films his eyes in dreams again. + +II + +Down along the dwindled creek +We go loitering. We speak +Only with old questionings +Of the dear remembered things +Of the days of long ago, +When the stream seemed thus and so +In our boyish eyes:--The bank +Greener then, through rank on rank +Of the mottled sycamores, +Touching tops across the shores: +Here, the hazel thicket stood-- +There, the almost pathless wood +Where the shellbark hickory tree +Rained its wealth on you and me. +Autumn! as you loved us then, +Take us to your heart again! + +III + +Season halest of the year! +How the zestful atmosphere +Nettles blood and brain, and smites +Into life the old delights +We have tasted in our youth, +And our graver years, forsooth! +How again the boyish heart +Leaps to see the chipmunk start +From the brush and sleek the sun +Very beauty, as he runs! +How again a subtle hint +Of crushed pennyroyal or mint, +Sends us on our knees, as when +We were truant boys of ten-- +Brown marauders of the wood, +Merrier than Robin Hood! + +[Illustration: Where the shellbark hickory tree] + +IV + +Ah! will any minstrel say, +In his sweetest roundelay, +What is sweeter, after all, +Than black haws, in early Fall-- +Fruit so sweet the frost first sat, +Dainty-toothed, and nibbled at! +And will any poet sing +Of a lusher, richer thing +Than a ripe May-apple, rolled +Like a pulpy lump of gold +Under thumb and finger-tips, +And poured molten through the lips? +Go, ye bards of classic themes, +Pipe your songs by classic streams! +I would twang the redbird's wings +In the thicket while he sings! + + + + +THE CIRCUS-DAY PARADE + +Oh, the Circus-Day parade! How the bugles played and played! +And how the glossy horses tossed their flossy manes, and neighed, +As the rattle and the rhyme of the tenor-drummer's time +Filled all the hungry hearts of us with melody sublime! + +How the grand band-wagon shone with a splendor all its own, +And glittered with a glory that our dreams had never known! +And how the boys behind, high and low of every kind, +Marched in unconscious capture, with a rapture undefined! + +How the horsemen, two and two, with their plumes of white and blue, +And crimson, gold and purple, nodding by at me and you. +Waved the banners that they bore, as the Knights in days of yore, +Till our glad eyes gleamed and glistened like the spangles that they wore! + +[Illustration: The Circus-Day Parade] + +How the graceless-graceful stride of the elephant was eyed, +And the capers of the little horse that cantered at his side! +How the shambling camels, tame to the plaudits of their fame, +With listless eyes came silent, masticating as they came. + +[Illustration: How the cages jolted past] + +How the cages jolted past, with each wagon battened fast, +And the mystery within it only hinted of at last +From the little grated square in the rear, and nosing there +The snout of some strange animal that sniffed the outer air! + +And, last of all, The Clown, making mirth for all the town, +With his lips curved ever upward and his eyebrows ever down, +And his chief attention paid to the little mule that played +A tattoo on the dashboard with his heels, in the parade. + +Oh! the Circus-Day parade! How the bugles played and played! +And how the glossy horses tossed their flossy manes and neighed. +As the rattle and the rhyme of the tenor-drummer's time +Filled all the hungry hearts of us with melody sublime! + +[Illustration: And, last of all, the clown] + + + + +THE LUGUBRIOUS WHING-WHANG + +[Illustration: The Lugubrious Whing-Whang--Title] + +The rhyme o' The Raggedy Man's 'at's best +Is Tickle me, Love, in these Lonesome Ribs,-- +'Cause that-un's the strangest of all o' the rest, +An' the worst to learn, an' the last one guessed, +An' the funniest one, an' the foolishest.-- + Tickle me, Love, in these Lonesome Ribs! + +I don't know what in the world it means-- + Tickle me, Love, in these Lonesome Ribs!-- +An' nen when I _tell_ him I don't, he leans +Like he was a-grindin' on some machines +An' says: Ef I _don't_, w'y, I don't know _beans!_ + Tickle me, Love, in these Lonesome Ribs!-- + +Out on the margin of Moonshine Land, + Tickle me, Love, in these Lonesome Ribs! +Out where the Whing-Whang loves to stand, +Writing his name with his tail in the sand, +And swiping it out with his oogerish hand; + Tickle me, Love, in these Lonesome Ribs! + +Is it the gibber of Gungs or Keeks? + Tickle me, Love, in these Lonesome Ribs! +Or what _is_ the sound that the Whing-Whang seeks?-- +Crouching low by the winding creeks +And holding his breath for weeks and weeks! + Tickle me, Love, in these Lonesome Ribs! + +Aroint him the wraithest of wraithly things! + Tickle me, Love, in these Lonesome Ribs! +'Tis a fair Whing-Whangess, with phosphor rings +And bridal-jewels of fangs and stings; +And she sits and as sadly and softly sings +As the mildewed whir of her own dead wings,-- + Tickle me, Dear, + Tickle me here, + Tickle me, Love, in these Lonesome Ribs! + + + + +WAITIN' FER THE CAT TO DIE + +[Illustration: Waitin' Fer The Cat to Die--Title] + +Lawzy! don't I rickollect + That-'air old swing in the lane! +Right and proper, I expect, + Old times _can't_ come back again; +But I want to state, ef they +_Could_ come back, and I could say +What _my_ pick 'ud be, i jing! +I'd say, Gimme the old swing +'Nunder the old locus'-trees +On the old place, ef you please!-- +Danglin' there with half-shet eye, +Waitin' fer the cat to die! + +I'd say, Gimme the old gang + Of barefooted, hungry, lean, +Ornry boys you want to hang + When you're growed up twic't as mean! +The old gyarden-patch, the old +Truants, and the stuff we stol'd! +The old stompin'-groun', where we +Wore the grass off, wild and free +As the swoop of the old swing, +Where we ust to climb and cling, +And twist roun', and fight, and lie-- +Waitin' fer the cat to die! + +'Pears like I 'most allus could + Swing the highest of the crowd-- +Jes sail up there tel I stood + Downside-up, and screech out loud,-- +Ketch my breath, and jes drap back +Fer to let the old swing slack, +Yit my tow-head dippin' still +In the green boughs, and the chill +Up my backbone taperin' down, +With my shadder on the ground' +Slow and slower trailin' by-- +Waitin' fer the cat to die! + +[Illustration: Barefooted, hungry, lean, ornry boys] + +Now my daughter's little Jane's + Got a kind o' baby-swing +On the porch, so's when it rains + She kin play there--little thing! +And I'd limped out t'other day +With my old cheer this-a-way, +Swingin' _her_ and rockin' too, +Thinkin' how _I_ ust to do +At _her_ age, when suddently, +"Hey, Gran'pap!" she says to me, +"Why you rock so slow?" ... Says I, +"Waitin' fer the cat to die!" + +[Illustration: Why you rock so slow?] + + + + +NAUGHTY CLAUDE + +[Illustration: Naughty Claude] + +When Little Claude was naughty wunst + At dinner-time, an' said +He won't say "_Thank you_" to his Ma, + She maked him go to bed +An' stay two hours an' not git up,-- + So when the clock struck Two, +Nen Claude says,--"Thank you, Mr. Clock, + I'm much obleeged to you!" + + + + +THE SOUTH WIND AND THE SUN + +[Illustration: The South Wind and The Sun--Title] + + O the South Wind and the Sun + How each loved the other one-- +Full of fancy--full of folly-- + Full of jollity and fun! + How they romped and ran about, + Like two boys when school is out, +With glowing face, and lisping lip, + Low laugh, and lifted shout! + + And the South Wind--he was dressed + With a ribbon round his breast +That floated, flapped and fluttered + In a riotous unrest; + And a drapery of mist, + From the shoulder and the wrist +Flowing backward with the motion + Of the waving hand he kissed. + + And the Sun had on a crown + Wrought of gilded thistledown, +And a scarf of velvet vapor, + And a raveled-rainbow gown; + And his tinsel-tangled hair, + Tossed and lost upon the air, +With glossier and flossier + Than any anywhere. + + And the South Wind's eyes were two + Little dancing drops of dew, +As he puffed his cheeks, and pursed his lips, + And blew and blew and blew! + And the Sun's--like diamond-stone, + Brighter yet than ever known, +As he knit his brows and held his breath, + And shone and shone and shone! + + And this pair of merry fays + Wandered through the summer days; +Arm-in-arm they went together + Over heights of morning haze-- + Over slanting slopes of lawn + They went on and on and on, +Where the daisies looked like star-tracks + Trailing up and down the dawn. + + And where'er they found the top + Of a wheat-stalk droop and lop, +They chucked it underneath the chin + And praised the lavish crop, + Till it lifted with the pride + Of the heads it grew beside, +And then the South Wind and the Sun + Went onward satisfied. + + Over meadow-lands they tripped, + Where the dandelions dipped +In crimson foam of clover bloom + And dripped and dripped and dripped! + And they clinched the bumble-stings, + Gauming honey on their wings, +And bundling them in lily-bells, + With maudlin murmurings. + + And the humming-bird, that hung + Like a jewel up among +The tilted honeysuckle horns, + They mesmerized and swung + In the palpitating air, + Drowsed with odors strange and rare, +And, with whispered laughter, slipped away, + And left him hanging there. + + And they braided blades of grass + Where the truant had to pass; +And they wriggled through the rushes + And the reeds of the morass, + Where they danced, in rapture sweet, + O'er the leaves that laid a street +Of undulant mosaic for + The touches of their feet. + + By the brook with mossy brink, + Where the cattle came to drink, +They trilled and piped and whistled + With the thrush and bobolink, + Till the kine, in listless pause, + Switched their tails in mute applause, +With lifted heads, and dreamy eyes, + And bubble-dripping jaws. + + And where the melons grew, + Streaked with yellow, green and blue, +These jolly sprites went wandering + Through spangled paths of dew; + And the melons, here and there, + They made love to, everywhere, +Turning their pink souls to crimson + With caresses fond and fair. + +[Illustration: This pair of merry fays] + + Over orchard walls they went, + Where the fruited boughs were bent +Till they brushed the sward beneath them + Where the shine and shadow blent; + And the great green pear they shook + Till the sallow hue forsook +Its features, and the gleam of gold + Laughed out in every look. + + And they stroked the downy cheek + Of the peach, and smoothed it sleek, +And flushed it into splendor; + And, with many an elfish freak, + Gave the russet's rust a wipe-- + Prankt the rambo with a stripe, +And the winesap blushed its reddest + As they spanked the pippins ripe. + + Through the woven ambuscade + That the twining vines had made, +They found the grapes, in clusters, + Drinking up the shine and shade-- + Plumpt, like tiny skins of wine, + With a vintage so divine +That the tongue of Fancy tingled + With the tang of muscadine. + + And the golden-banded bees, + Droning o'er the flowery leas, +They bridled, reined, and rode away + Across the fragrant breeze, + Till in hollow oak and elm + They had groomed and stabled them +In waxen stalls that oozed with dews + Of rose and lily-stem. + + Where the dusty highway leads, + High above the wayside weeds, +They sowed the air with butterflies + Like blooming flower-seeds, + Till the dull grasshopper sprung + Half a man's-height up, and hung +Tranced in the heat, with whirring wings, + And sung and sung and sung! + + And they loitered, hand in hand, + Where the snipe along the sand +Of the river ran to meet them + As the ripple meets the land, + Till the dragonfly, in light + Gauzy armor, burnished bright, +Came tilting down the waters + In a wild, bewildered flight. + + And they heard the kildee's call, + And afar, the waterfall, +But the rustle of a falling leaf + They heard above it all; + And the trailing willow crept + Deeper in the tide that swept +The leafy shallop to the shore, + And wept and wept and wept! + + And the fairy vessel veered + From its moorings--tacked and steered +For the center of the current-- + Sailed away and disappeared: + And the burthen that it bore + From the long-enchanted shore-- +"Alas! the South Wind and the Sun!" + I murmur evermore. + + For the South Wind and the Sun, + Each so loves the other one, +For all his jolly folly, + And frivolity and fun, + That our love for them they weigh + As their fickle fancies may, +And when at last we love them most, + They laugh and sail away. + + + + +THE JOLLY MILLER + +[Illustration: The Jolly Miller--Title] + +[Restored Romaunt.] + +It was a Jolly Miller lived on the River Dee; +He looked upon his piller, and there he found a flea: + "O Mr. Flea! you have bit' me, + And you shall shorely die!" + So he scrunched his bones against the stones-- + And there he let him lie! + +Twas then the Jolly Miller he laughed and told his wife, +And _she_ laughed fit to kill her, and dropped her carvin'-knife!-- + "O Mr. Flea!" "Ho-ho!" "Tee-hee!" + They _both_ laughed fit to kill, + Until the sound did almost drownd + The rumble of the mill! + +_"Laugh on, my Jolly Miller! and Missus Miller, too!-- +But there's a weeping-willer will soon wave over you!"_ + The voice was all so awful small-- + So very small and slim!-- + He durst' infer that it was her, + Ner her infer 'twas him! + +[Illustration: That cat o' yourn I'd kill her] + +That night the Jolly Miller, says he, "It's Wifey dear, +That cat o' yourn, I'd kill her!--her actions is so queer,-- + She rubbin' 'ginst the grindstone-legs, + And yowlin' at the sky-- + And I 'low the moon haint greener + Than the yaller of her eye!" + +And as the Jolly Miller went chuckle-un to bed, +Was _Somepin_ jerked his piller from underneath his head! + "O Wife," says he, on-easi-lee, + "Fetch here that lantern there!" + But _Somepin_ moans in thunder tones, + "_You tetch it ef you dare!_" + +'Twas then the Jolly Miller he trimbled and he quailed-- +And his wife choked until her breath come back, 'n' she _wailed!_ + And "_O!"_ cried she, "it is _the Flea_, + All white and pale and wann-- + He's got you in his clutches, and + _He's bigger than a man!_" + +"_Ho! ho! my Jolly Miller," (fer 'twas the Flea, fer shore!) +"I reckon you'll not rack my bones ner scrunch 'em any more!_" + And then _the Ghost_ he grabbed him clos't, + With many a ghastly smile, + And from the doorstep stooped and hopped + About four hundred mile! + + + + +OUR HIRED GIRL + +Our hired girl, she's 'Lizabuth Ann; + An' she can cook best things to eat! +She ist puts dough in our pie-pan, + An' pours in somepin' 'at's good and sweet, +An' nen she salts it all on top +With cinnamon; an' nen she'll stop + An' stoop an' slide it, ist as slow, +In th' old cook-stove, so's 'twon't slop + An' git all spilled; nen bakes it, so + It's custard pie, first thing you know! + An' nen she'll say: + "Clear out o' my way! + They's time fer work, an' time fer play!-- + Take yer dough, an' run, Child; run! + Er I cain't git no cookin' done!" + +When our hired girl 'tends like she's mad, + An' says folks got to walk the chalk +When _she's_ around, er wisht they had, + I play out on our porch an' talk +To th' Raggedy Man 'at mows our lawn; +An' he says "_Whew!"_ an' nen leans on + His old crook-scythe, and blinks his eyes +An' sniffs all around an' says,--"I swawn! + Ef my old nose don't tell me lies, + It 'pears like I smell custard-pies!" + An' nen _he'll_ say,-- + "'Clear out' o' my way! + They's time fer work an' time fer play! + Take yer dough, an' run, Child; run! + Er _she_ cain't git no cookin' done!'" + +[Illustration: Wuz parchin' corn fer the raggedy man] + +Wunst our hired girl, one time when she + Got the supper, an' we all et, +An' it was night, an' Ma an' me + An' Pa went wher' the "Social" met,-- +An' nen when we come home, an' see +A light in the kitchen-door, an' we + Heerd a maccordeum, Pa says "Lan'-- +O'Gracious! who can _her_ beau be?" + An' I marched in, an' 'Lizabuth Ann + Wuz parchin' corn fer the Raggedy Man! + _Better_ say + "Clear out o' the way! + They's time fer work, an' time fer play! + Take the hint, an' run, Child; run! + Er we cain't git no _courtin_' done!'" + + + + +THE BOYS' CANDIDATE + +[Illustration: The Boys' Candidate] + +Las' time 'at Uncle Sidney come, +He bringed a watermelon home-- + An' half the boys in town, +Come taggin' after him.--An' he +Says, when we et it,--_"Gracious me! + 'S the boy-house fell down?"_ + + + + +THE PET COON + +[Illustration: The Pet Coon--Title] + +Noey Bixler ketched him, and fetched him in to me + When he's ist a little teenty-weenty baby-coon +'Bout as big as little pups, an' tied him to a tree; + An' Pa gived Noey fifty cents, when he come home at noon. +Nen he buyed a chain fer him, an' little collar, too, + An' sawed a hole in a' old tub an' turnt it upside-down; +An' little feller'd stay in there and won't come out fer you-- + 'Tendin' like he's kindo' skeered o' boys 'at lives in town. + +_Now_ he aint afeard a bit! he's ist so fat an' tame, + We on'y chain him up at night, to save the little chicks. +Holler "Greedy! Greedy!" to him, an' he knows his name, + An' here he'll come a-waddle-un, up fer any tricks! +He'll climb up my leg, he will, an' waller in my lap, + An' poke his little black paws 'way in my pockets where +They's beechnuts, er chinkypins, er any little scrap + Of anything, 'at's good to eat--an' _he_ don't care! + +An' he's as spunky as you please, an' don't like dogs at all.-- + Billy Miller's black-an'-tan tackled him one day, +An' "Greedy" he ist kindo' doubled all up like a ball, + An' Billy's dog he gived a yelp er two an' runned away! +An' nen when Billy fighted me, an' hit me with a bone, + An' Ma she purt'nigh ketched him as he dodged an' skooted thro' +The fence, she says, "You better let my little boy alone, + Er 'Greedy,' next he whips yer dog, shall whip you, too!" + +[Illustration: An' nen when Billy fighted me] + + + + +THE OLD HAY-MOW + +[Illustration: The Old Hay-Mow--Title] + +The Old Hay-mow's the place to play +Fer boys, when it's a rainy day! +I good-'eal ruther be up there +Than down in town, er anywhere! + +When I play in our stable-loft, +The good old hay's so dry an' soft, +An' feels so fine, an' smells so sweet, +I 'most ferget to go an' eat. + +[Illustration: In our hay-mow where I keep store] + +An' one time wunst I _did_ ferget +To go 'tel dinner was all et,-- +An' they had short-cake--an'--Bud he +Hogged up the piece Ma saved fer me! + +Nen I won't let him play no more +In our hay-mow where I keep store +An' got hen-eggs to sell,--an' shoo +The cackle-un old hen out, too! + +An' nen, when Aunty she was here +A-visitun from Rensselaer, +An' bringed my little cousin,--_he_ +Can come up there an' play with me. + +But, after while--when Bud he bets +'At I can't turn no summersetts,-- +I let him come up, ef he can +Ac' ha'f-way like a gentleman! + + + + +ON THE SUNNY SIDE + +[Illustration: On The Sunny Side--Title] + +Hi and whoop-hooray, boys! + Sing a song of cheer! +Here's a holiday, boys, + Lasting half a year! +Round the world, and half is + Shadow we have tried; +Now we're where the laugh is,-- + On the sunny side! + +Pigeons coo and mutter, + Strutting high aloof +Where the sunbeans flutter + Through the stable roof. +Hear the chickens cheep, boys, + And the hen with pride +Clucking them to sleep, boys, + On the sunny side! + +[Illustration: As a romping boy] + +Hear the clacking guinea; + Hear the cattle moo; +Hear the horses whinny, + Looking out at you! +On the hitching-block, boys, + Grandly satisfied, +See the old peacock, boys, + On the sunny side! + +Robins in the peach-tree; + Bluebirds in the pear; +Blossoms over each tree + In the orchard there! +All the world's in joy, boys, + Glad and glorified +As a romping boy, boys, + On the sunny side! + +Where's a heart as mellow? + Where's a soul as free? +Where is any fellow + We would rather be? +Just ourselves or none, boys, + World around and wide, +Laughing in the sun, boys, + On the sunny side! + + + + +A SUDDEN SHOWER + +[Illustration: A Sudden Shower--Title] + +Barefooted boys scud up the street + Or skurry under sheltering sheds; +And schoolgirl faces, pale and sweet, + Gleam from the shawls about their heads. + +Doors bang; and mother-voices call + From alien homes; and rusty gates +Are slammed; and high above it all, + The thunder grim reverberates. + +And then, abrupt,--the rain! the rain!-- + The earth lies gasping; and the eyes +Behind the streaming window-pane + Smile at the trouble of the skies. + +[Illustration: Schoolgirl faces ... gleam from the shawls about their +heads] + +The highway smokes; sharp echoes ring; + The cattle bawl and cowbells clank; +And into town comes galloping + The farmer's horse, with streaming flank. + +The swallow dips beneath the eaves, + And flirts his plumes and folds his wings; +And under the catawba leaves + The caterpillar curls and clings. + +The bumble-bee is pelted down + The wet stem of the hollyhock; +And sullenly, in spattered brown, + The cricket leaps the garden walk. + +Within, the baby claps his hands + And crows with rapture strange and vague; +Without, beneath the rosebush stands + A dripping rooster on one leg. + +[Illustration: A Sudden Shower--Tailpiece] + + + + +GRANDFATHER SQUEERS + +[Illustration: Grandfather Squeers--Title] + +"My grandfather Squeers," said The Raggedy Man, +As he solemnly lighted his pipe and began-- + +"The most indestructible man, for his years, +And the grandest on earth, was my grandfather Squeers! + +"He said, when he rounded his three-score-and-ten, +'I've the hang of it now and can do it again!' + +"He had frozen his heels so repeatedly, he +Could tell by them just what the weather would be; + +"And would laugh and declare, 'while the _Almanac_ would +Most falsely prognosticate, _he_ never could!' + +"Such a hale constitution had grandfather Squeers +That, 'though he'd used '_navy_' for sixty odd years, + +"He still chewed a dime's-worth six days of the week, +While the seventh he passed with a chew in each cheek: + +"Then my grandfather Squeers had a singular knack +Of sitting around on the small of his back, + +"With his legs like a letter Y stretched o'er the grate +Wherein 'twas his custom to ex-pec-tor-ate. + +"He was fond of tobacco in _manifold_ ways, +And would sit on the door-step, of sunshiny days, + +"And smoke leaf-tobacco he'd raised strictly for +The pipe he'd used all through The Mexican War." + +And The Raggedy Man said, refilling the bowl +Of his own pipe and leisurely picking a coal + +From the stove with his finger and thumb, "You can see +What a tee-nacious habit he's fastened on me! + +"And my grandfather Squeers took a special delight +In pruning his corns every Saturday night + +"With a horn-handled razor, whose edge he excused +By saying 'twas one that his grandfather used; + +"And, though deeply etched in the haft of the same +Was the ever-euphonious Wostenholm's name, + +"'Twas my grandfather's custom to boast of the blade +As 'A Seth Thomas razor--the best ever made!' + +"No Old Settlers' Meeting, or Pioneers' Fair, +Was complete without grandfather Squeers in the chair + +"To lead off the programme by telling folks how +'He used to shoot deer where the Court-House stands now'-- + +[Illustration: And smoke leaf-tobacco] + +"How 'he felt, of a truth, to live over the past, +When the country was wild and unbroken and vast, + +"'That the little log cabin was just plenty fine +For himself, his companion, and fambly of nine!-- + +"'When they didn't have even a pump, or a tin, +But drunk surface-water, year out and year in, + +"'From the old-fashioned gourd that was sweeter, by odds, +Than the goblets of gold at the lips of the gods!'" + +Then The Raggedy Man paused to plaintively say +It was clockin' along to'rds the close of the day-- + +And he'd _ought_ to get back to his work on the lawn,-- +Then dreamily blubbered his pipe and went on: + +"His teeth were imperfect--my grandfather owned +That he couldn't eat oysters unless they were 'boned'; + +"And his eyes were so weak, and so feeble of sight, +He couldn't sleep with them unless, every night, + +"He put on his spectacles--all he possessed,-- +Three pairs--with his goggles on top of the rest. + +"And my grandfather always, retiring at night, +Blew down the lamp-chimney to put out the light; + +"Then he'd curl up on edge like a shaving, in bed, +And puff and smoke pipes in his sleep, it is said: + +"And would snore oftentimes as the legends relate, +Till his folks were wrought up to a terrible state,-- + +"Then he'd snort, and rear up, and roll over; and there, +In the subsequent hush they could hear him chew air. + +"And so glaringly bald was the top of his head +That many's the time he has musingly said, + +"As his eyes journeyed o'er its reflex in the glass,-- +'I must set out a few signs of _Keep Off the Grass!_' + +"So remarkably deaf was my grandfather Squeers +That he had to wear lightning-rods over his ears + +"To even hear thunder--and oftentimes then +He was forced to request it to thunder again." + +[Illustration: Grandfather Squeers--Tailpiece] + + + + +THE PIXY PEOPLE + +[Illustration: The Pixy People--Title] + +It was just a very + Merry fairy dream!-- +All the woods were airy + With the gloom and gleam; +Crickets in the clover + Clattered clear and strong, +And the bees droned over + Their old honey-song. + +In the mossy passes, + Saucy grasshoppers +Leapt about the grasses + And the thistle-burs; +And the whispered chuckle + Of the katydid +Shook the honeysuckle + Blossoms where he hid. + +Through the breezy mazes + Of the lazy June, +Drowsy with the hazes + Of the dreamy noon, +Little Pixy people + Winged above the walk, +Pouring from the steeple + Of a mullein-stalk. + +One--a gallant fellow-- + Evidently King,-- +Wore a plume of yellow + In a jewelled ring +On a pansy bonnet, + Gold and white and blue, +With the dew still on it, + And the fragrance, too. + +One--a dainty lady,-- + Evidently Queen,-- +Wore a gown of shady + Moonshine and green, +With a lace of gleaming + Starlight that sent +All the dewdrops dreaming + Everywhere she went. + +[Illustration: Winged above the walk] + +One wore a waistcoat + Of roseleaves, out and in, +And one wore a faced-coat + Of tiger-lily-skin; +And one wore a neat coat + Of palest galingale; +And one a tiny street-coat, + And one a swallow-tail. + +And Ho! sang the King of them, + And Hey! sang the Queen; +And round and round the ring of them + Went dancing o'er the green; +And Hey! sang the Queen of them, + And Ho! sang the King-- +And all that I had seen of them + --Wasn't anything! + +It was just a very + Merry fairy dream!-- +All the woods were airy + With the gloom and gleam; +Crickets in the clover + Clattered clear and strong, +And the bees droned over + Their old honey-song! + + + + +A LIFE-LESSON + +[Illustration: A Life-Lesson--Title] + +There! little girl; don't cry! + They have broken your doll, I know; + And your tea-set blue, + And your play-house, too, + Are things of the long ago; + But childish troubles will soon pass by.-- + There! little girl; don't cry! + +There! little girl; don't cry! + They have broken your slate, I know; + And the glad, wild ways + Of your school-girl days + Are things of the long ago; + But life and love will soon come by.-- + There! little girl; don't cry! + +There! little girl; don't cry! + They have broken your heart, I know; + And the rainbow gleams + Of your youthful dreams + Are things of the long ago; + But Heaven holds all for which you sigh.-- + There! little girl; don't cry! + +[Illustration: But Heaven hold all for which you sigh] + + + + +A HOME-MADE FAIRY-TALE + +[Illustration: A Home-made Fairy-Tale--Title] + +Bud, come here to your Uncle a spell, +And I'll tell you something you mustn't tell-- +For it's a secret and shore-nuff true, +And maybe I oughtn't to tell it to you!-- +But out in the garden, under the shade +Of the apple-trees where we romped and played +Till the moon was up, and you thought I'd gone +Fast asleep.--That was all put on! +For I was a-watchin' something queer +Goin' on there in the grass, my dear! +'Way down deep in it, there I see +A little dude-Fairy who winked at me, +And snapped his fingers, and laughed as low +And fine as the whine of a mus-kee-to! +I kept still--watchin' him closer--and +I noticed a little guitar in his hand, +Which he leant 'ginst a little dead bee--and laid +His cigarette down on a clean grass-blade; +And then climbed up on the shell of a snail-- +Carefully dusting his swallowtail-- +And pulling up, by a waxed web-thread, +This little guitar, you remember, I said! +And there he trinkled and trilled a tune-- +"My Love, so Fair, Tans in the Moon!" +Till presently, out of the clover-top +He seemed to be singing to, came k'pop! +The purtiest, daintiest Fairy face +In all this world, or any place! +Then the little ser'nader waved his hand, +As much as to say, "We'll excuse _you_!" and +I heard, as I squinted my eyelids to, +A kiss like the drip of a drop of dew! + +[Illustration: A Little Dude-Fairy] + + + + +THE BEAR STORY + +THAT ALEX "IST MAKED UP HIS-OWN-SE'F" + +W'y, wunst they wuz a Little Boy went out +In the woods to shoot a Bear. So, he went out +'Way in the grea'-big woods--he did.--An' he +Wuz goin' along--an' goin' along, you know, +An' purty soon he heerd somepin' go "_Wooh!"_-- +Ist thataway--"_Woo-ooh!"_ An' he wuz _skeered_, +He wuz. An' so he runned an' clumbed a tree-- +A grea'-big tree, he did,--a sicka-_more_ tree. +An' nen he heerd it ag'in: an' he looked round, +An' _'t'uz a Bear!--a grea'-big shore-nuff Bear!_-- +No: 't'uz _two_ Bears, it wuz--two grea'-big Bears-- +_One_ of 'em wuz--ist _one's_ a _grea'-big_ Bear.-- +But they ist _boff_ went "_Wooh!_"--An' here _they_ come +To climb the tree an' git the Little Boy +An' eat him up! + + An' nen the Little Boy +He 'uz skeered worse'n ever! An' here come +The grea'-big Bear a-climbin' th' tree to git +The Little Boy an' eat him up--Oh, _no!_-- +It 'uzn't the _Big_ Bear 'at clumb the tree-- +It 'uz the _Little_ Bear. So here _he_ come +Climbin' the tree--an' climbin' the tree! Nen when +He git wite _clos't_ to the Little Boy, w'y nen +The Little Boy he ist pulled up his gun +An' _shot_ the Bear, he did, an' killed him dead! +An' nen the Bear he falled clean on down out +The tree--away clean to the ground, he did-- +_Spling-splung!_ he falled _plum_ down, an' killed him, too! +An' lit wite side o' where the _Big_ Bear's at. + +An' nen the Big Bear's awful mad, you bet!-- +'Cause--'cause the Little Boy he shot his gun +An' killed the _Little_ Bear.--'Cause the _Big_ Bear +He--he 'uz the Little Bear's Papa.--An' so here +_He_ come to climb the big old tree an' git +The Little Boy an' eat him up! An' when +The Little Boy he saw the _grea'-big Bear_ +A-comin', he uz badder skeered, he wuz, +Than _any_ time! An' so he think he'll climb +Up _higher_--'way up higher in the tree +Than the old _Bear_ kin climb, you know.--But he-- +He _can't_ climb higher 'an old _Bears_ kin climb,-- +'Cause Bears kin climb up higher in the trees +Than any little Boys in all the Wo-r-r-ld! + +An' so here come the grea'-big-Bear, he did,-- +A-climbin' up--an' up the tree, to git +The Little Boy an' eat him up! An' so +The Little Boy he clumbed on higher, an' higher, +An' higher up the tree--an' higher--an' higher-- +An' higher'n iss-here _house_ is!--An' here come +Th' old Bear--clos'ter to him all the time!-- +An' nen--first thing you know,--when th' old Big Bear +Wuz wite clos't to him--nen the Little Boy +Ist jabbed his gun wite in the old Bear's mouf +An' shot an' killed him dead!--No; I _fergot_,-- +He didn't shoot the grea'-big Bear at all-- +'Cause _they 'uz no load in the gun_, you know-- +'Cause when he shot the _Little_ Bear, w'y, nen +No load 'uz anymore nen _in_ the gun! + +But th' Little Boy clumbed _higher_ up, he did-- +He clumbed _lots_ higher--an' on up _higher_--an' higher +An' _higher_--tel he ist _can't_ climb no higher, +'Cause nen the limbs 'uz all so little, 'way +Up in the teeny-weeny tip-top of +The tree, they'd break down wiv him ef he don't +Be keerful! So he stop an' think: An' nen +He look around--An' here come th' old Bear! + +An' so the Little Boy make up his mind +He's got to ist git out o' there _some_ way!-- +'Cause here come the old Bear!--so clos't, his bref's +Purt 'nigh so's he kin feel how hot it is +Ag'inst his bare feet--ist like old "Ring's" bref +When he's ben out a-huntin' an's all tired. +So when th' old Bear's so clos't--the Little Boy +Ist gives a grea'-big jump fer '_nother_ tree-- +No!--no he don't do that!--I tell you what +The Little Boy does:--W'y, nen--w'y, he--Oh, _yes_-- +The Little Boy _he finds a hole up there +'At's in the tree_--an' climbs in there an' _hides_-- +An' _nen_ th' old Bear can't find the Little Boy +At all!--But, purty soon th' old Bear finds +The Little Boy's _gun_ 'at's up there--'cause the _gun_ +It's too _tall_ to tooked wiv him in the hole. +So, when the old Bear fin' the _gun_, he knows +The Little Boy's ist _hid_ 'round _somers_ there,-- +An' th' old Bear 'gins to snuff an' sniff around, +An' sniff an' snuff around--so's he kin find +Out where the Little Boy's hid at.--An' nen--nen-- +Oh, _yes!_--W'y, purty soon the old Bear climbs +'Way out on a big limb--a grea'-long limb,-- +An' nen the Little Boy climbs out the hole +An' takes his ax an' chops the limb off!... Nen +The old Bear falls _k-splunge!_ clean to the ground +An' bust an' kill hisse'f plum dead, he did! + +An' nen the Little Boy he git his gun +An' 'menced a-climbin' down the tree ag'in-- +No!--no, he _didn't_ git his _gun_--'cause when +The _Bear_ falled, nen the _gun_ falled, too--An' broked +It all to pieces, too!--An' _nicest_ gun!-- +His Pa ist buyed it!--An' the Little Boy +Ist cried, he did; an' went on climbin' down +The tree--an' climbin' down--an' climbin' down!-- +_An'-sir!_ when he 'uz purt'-nigh down,--w'y, nen +_The old Bear he jumped up ag'in_--an' he +Ain't dead at all--ist _'tendin'_ thataway, +So he kin git the Little Boy an' eat +Him up! But the Little Boy he 'uz too smart +To climb clean _down_ the tree.--An' the old Bear +He can't climb _up_ the tree no more--'cause when +He fell, he broke one of his--he broke _all_ +His legs!--an' nen he _couldn't_ climb! But he +Ist won't go'way an' let the Little Boy +Come down out of the tree. An' the old Bear +Ist growls 'round there, he does--ist growls an' goes +"_Wooh!--woo-ooh!"_ all the time! An' Little Boy +He haf to stay up in the tree--all night-- +An' 'thout no _supper_ neether!--On'y they +Wuz _apples_ on the tree!--An' Little Boy +Et apples--ist all night--an' cried--an' cried! +Nen when 'tuz morning th' old Bear went _"Wooh!"_ +Ag'in, an' try to climb up in the tree +An' git the Little Boy.--But he _can't_ +Climb t'save his _soul_, he can't!--An' _oh!_ he's _mad!_-- +He ist tear up the ground! an' go _"Woo-ooh!"_ +An'--_Oh, yes!_--purty soon, when morning's come +All _light_--so's you kin _see_, you know,--w'y, nen +The old Bear finds the Little Boy's _gun_, you know, +'At's on the ground.--(An' it ain't broke at all-- +I ist _said_ that!) An' so the old Bear think +He'll take the gun an' _shoot_ the Little Boy:-- +But _Bears they_ don't know much 'bout shootin' guns; +So when he go to shoot the Little Boy, +The old Bear got the _other_ end the gun +Ag'in' his shoulder, 'stid o' _th' other_ end-- +So when he try to shoot the Little Boy, +It shot _the Bear_, it did--an' killed him dead! +An' nen the Little Boy clumb down the tree +An' chopped his old woolly head off:--Yes, an' killed +The _other_ Bear ag'in, he did--an' killed +All _boff_ the bears, he did--an' tuk 'em home +An' _cooked_ 'em, too, an' _et_ 'em! + --An' that's all. + +[Illustration: ENVOY] + + + + +ENVOY + +Many pleasures of youth have been buoyantly sung-- + And, borne on the winds of delight, may they beat +With their palpitant wings at the hearts of the Young, + And in bosoms of Age find as warm a retreat!-- +Yet sweetest of all of the musical throng, + Though least of the numbers that upward aspire, +Is the one rising now into wavering song, + As I sit in the silence and gaze in the fire. + +'Tis a Winter long dead that beleaguers my door + And muffles his steps in the snows of the past: +And I see, in the embers I'm dreaming before, + Lost faces of love as they looked on me last:-- +The round, laughing eyes of the desk-mate of old + Gleam out for a moment with truant desire-- +Then fade and are lost in a City of Gold, + As I sit in the silence and gaze in the fire. + +And then comes the face, peering back in my own, + Of a shy little girl, with her lids drooping low, +As she faltering tells, in a far-away tone, + The ghost of a story of long, long ago.-- +Then her dewy blue eyes they are lifted again; + But I see their glad light slowly fail and expire, +As I reach and cry to her in vain, all in vain!-- + As I sit in the silence and gaze in the fire. + +Then the face of a Mother looks back, through the mist + Of tears that are welling; and, lucent with light, +I see the dear smile of the lips I have kissed + As she knelt by my cradle at morning and night; +And my arms are outheld, with a yearning too wild + For any but God in His love to inspire, +As she pleads at the foot of His throne for her child,-- + As I sit in the silence and gaze in the fire. + +O pathos of rapture! O glorious pain! + My heart is a blossom of joy over-run +With a shower of tears, as a lily with rain + That weeps in the shadow and laughs in the sun. +The blight of the frost may descend on the tree, + And the leaf and the flower may fall and expire, +But ever and ever love blossoms for me, + As I sit in the silence and gaze in the fire. + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Riley Child-Rhymes, by James Whitcomb Riley + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RILEY CHILD-RHYMES *** + +***** This file should be named 9777.txt or 9777.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/9/7/7/9777/ + +Produced by Maria Cecilia Lim and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +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. 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You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Riley Child-Rhymes + +Author: James Whitcomb Riley + +Release Date: January, 2006 [EBook #9777] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on October 15, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RILEY CHILD-RHYMES *** + + + + +Produced by Maria Cecilia Lim and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + +[Illustration: A-list'nin' to the witch-tales 'at Annie tells +abou--Frontispiece] + + + + +RILEY +CHILD-RHYMES + +James Whitcomb Riley + + +WITH HOOSIER PICTURES BY + +Will Vawter + + + + +Copyright 1890, 1896, 1898 and 1905 + + + + +WITH HALE AFFECTION AND ABIDING FAITH +THESE RHYMES AND PICTURES +ARE INSCRIBED +TO THE CHILDREN EVERYWHERE + + + + +_He owns the bird-songs of the hills-- +The laughter of the April rills; +And his are all the diamonds set +In Morning's dewy coronet,-- +And his the Dusk's first minted stars +That twinkle through the pasture-bars +And litter all the skies at night +With glittering scraps of silver light;-- +The rainbow's bar, from rim to rim, +In beaten gold, belongs to him._ + + + + +CONTENTS + +[Note from the transcriber: The Table of Contents below was taken from +the book and is an alphabetical list of the poems. A second Table of +Contents, listing the poems in the order they occur in this book, has +been provided by the transcriber.] + +AT AUNTY'S HOUSE + +BEAR STORY, THE + +BOY LIVES ON OUR FARM, THE + +BOYS' CANDIDATE, THE + +BUMBLEBEE, THE + +CIRCUS-DAY PARADE, THE + +CURLY LOCKS + +DAYS GONE BY, THE + +DOWN AROUND THE RIVER + +ENVOY + +FUNNY LITTLE FELLOW, THE + +GRANDFATHER SQUEERS + +HAPPY LITTLE CRIPPLE, THE + +HOME-MADE FAIRY-TALE, A + +IMPETUOUS RESOLVE, AN + +JOLLY MILLER, THE + +LIFE-LESSON, A + +LITTLE COAT, THE + +LITTLE ORPHANT ANNIE + +LUGUBRIOUS WHING-WHANG, THE + +NAUGHTY CLAUDE + +NINE LITTLE GOBLINS, THE + +OLD AUNT MARY'S + +OLD HAY-MOW, THE + +OLD TRAMP, THE + +ON THE SUNNY SIDE + +OUR HIRED GIRL + +PET COON, THE + +PIXY PEOPLE, THE + +RAGGEDY MAN, THE + +RIDER OF THE KNEE, THE + +RUNAWAY BOY, THE + +SOUTH WIND AND THE SUN, THE + +SQUIRTGUN UNCLE MAKED ME, THE + +SUDDEN SHOWER, A + +TIME OF CLEARER TWITTERINGS + +WAITIN' FER THE CAT TO DIE + +WHO SANTY-CLAUS WUZ + +WINTER FANCIES + + + + +Contents (Listed in the Order They Appear) + +LITTLE ORPHANT ANNIE + +THE RAGGEDY MAN + +CURLY LOCKS + +THE FUNNY LITTLE FELLOW + +THE HAPPY LITTLE CRIPPLE + +THE RIDER OF THE KNEE + +DOWN AROUND THE RIVER + +AT AUNTY'S HOUSE + +THE DAYS GONE BY + +THE BUMBLEBEE + +THE BOY LIVES ON OUR FARM + +THE SQUIRTGUN UNCLE MAKED ME + +THE OLD TRAMP + +OLD AUNT MARY'S + +WINTER FANCIES + +THE RUNAWAY BOY + +THE LITTLE COAT + +AN IMPETUOUS RESOLVE + +WHO SANTY-CLAUS WUZ + +THE NINE LITTLE GOBLINS + +TIME OF CLEARER TWITTERINGS + +THE CIRCUS-DAY PARADE + +THE LUGUBRIOUS WHING-WHANG + +WAITIN' FER THE CAT TO DIE + +NAUGHTY CLAUDE + +THE SOUTH WIND AND THE SUN + +THE JOLLY MILLER + +OUR HIRED GIRL + +THE BOYS' CANDIDATE + +THE PET COON + +THE OLD HAY-MOW + +ON THE SUNNY SIDE + +A SUDDEN SHOWER + +GRANDFATHER SQUEERS + +THE PIXY PEOPLE + +A LIFE-LESSON + +A HOME-MADE FAIRY-TALE + +THE BEAR STORY + +ENVOY + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +WITCH-TALES + +THEY WAS TWO GREAT BIG BLACK THINGS A-STANDIN' BY HER SIDE + +AN' WHEN THEY TURN'T THE KIVVERS DOWN + +LITTLE ORPHANT ANNIE--TAILPIECE + +THE RAGGEDY MAN--TITLE + +HE SHOWED ME THE HOLE 'AT THE WUNKS IS GOT + +CURLY LOCKS--TITLE + +SIT ON A CUSHION AND SEW A FINE SEAM + +THE FUNNY LITTLE FELLOW--TITLE + +NEVER KNEW A BABY THAT WOULDN'T CROW FOR HIM + +THE HAPPY LITTLE CRIPPLE--TITLE + +AN' I PECK ON THE WINDER + +AN' COOKS A' EGG FER ME + +THE HAPPY LITTLE CRIPPLE--TAILPIECE + +THE RIDER OF THE KNEE + +DOWN AROUND THE RIVER--TITLE + +NOON-TIME AND JUNE-TIME DOWN AROUND THE RIVER + +DOWN AROUND THE RIVER--TAILPIECE + +AT AUNTY'S HOUSE--TITLE + +WE ET OUT ON THE PORCH + +THE DAYS GONE BY--TITLE + +IN THE ORCHARD + +THE BUMBLEBEE + +THE BOY LIVES ON OUR FARM--TITLE + +STAND UP LIKE HIM AN' DRIVE + +THE SQUIRTGUN UNCLE MAKED ME--TITLE + +THE SQUIRTGUN--TAILPIECE + +AN' NEN HE PEELED OFF THE BARK + +THE OLD TRAMP + +WE PATTER ALONG IN THE DUST AGAIN + +OLD AUNT MARY'S--TAILPIECE + +WINTER FANCIES--TITLE + +WINTER WITHOUT AND WARMTH WITHIN + +HERE IN MY ROOM I'M AS SNUGLY SHUT + +AN' A GREA'-BIG PIG WENT "BOOH!" + +HUG WITE CLOSE ROUND HER NECK + +THE LITTLE COAT + +THE LITTLE COAT--TAILPIECE + +AN IMPETUOUS RESOLVE--TITLE + +I'M GO' TO BE A BAKER + +A-SLINGIN' PIE-CRUST 'LONG THE ROAD + +WHO SANTY-CLAUS WUZ--TITLE + +AN' QUAR'L WITH HIS FROSTED HEELS + +WHO SANTY-CLAUS WUZ--TAILPIECE + +THE NINE LITTLE GOBLINS + +THE NINE LITTLE GOBLINS--TAILPIECE + +TIME OF CLEARER TWITTERINGS--TITLE + +WHERE THE SHELLBARK HICKORY TREE + +THE CIRCUS-DAY PARADE + +HOW THE CAGES JOLTED PAST + +AND, LAST OF ALL, THE CLOWN + +THE LUGUBRIOUS WHING-WHANG--TITLE + +WAITIN' FER THE CAT TO DIE--TITLE + +BAREFOOTED, HUNGRY, LEAN, ORNRY BOYS + +WHY YOU ROCK SO SLOW? + +NAUGHTY CLAUDE + +THE SOUTH WIND AND THE SUN--TITLE + +THIS PAIR OF MERRY FAYS + +THE JOLLY MILLER--TITLE + +THAT CAT O' YOURN I'D KILL HER + +WUZ PARCHIN' CORN FER THE RAGGEDY MAN + +THE BOYS' CANDIDATE + +THE PET COON--TITLE + +AN' NEN WHEN BILLY FIGHTED ME + +THE OLD HAY-MOW--TITLE + +IN OUR HAY-MOW WHERE I KEEP STORE + +ON THE SUNNY SIDE--TITLE + +AS A ROMPING BOY + +A SUDDEN SHOWER--TITLE + +SCHOOLGIRL FACES ... GLEAM FROM THE SHAWLS ABOUT THEIR HEADS + +A SUDDEN SHOWER--TAILPIECE + +GRANDFATHER SQUEERS--TITLE + +AND SMOKE LEAF-TOBACCO + +GRANDFATHER SQUEERS--TAILPIECE + +THE PIXY PEOPLE--TITLE + +WINGED ABOVE THE WALK + +A LIFE-LESSON--TITLE + +BUT HEAVEN HOLDS ALL FOR WHICH YOU SIGH + +A HOME-MADE FAIRY-TALE--TITLE + +A LITTLE DUDE-FAIRY + +ENVOY + + + + +RILEY CHILD-RHYMES + + + + +LITTLE ORPHANT ANNIE + +[Illustration: They was two great big black things a-standin' by her side] + +Little Orphant Annie's come to our house to stay, +An' wash the cups an' saucers up, an' brush the crumbs away, +An' shoo the chickens off the porch, an' dust the hearth, an' sweep, +An' make the fire, an' bake the bread, an' earn her board-an'-keep; +An' all us other childern, when the supper things is done, +We set around the kitchen fire an' has the mostest fun +A-list'nin' to the witch-tales 'at Annie tells about, +An' the Gobble-uns 'at gits you + Ef you + Don't + Watch + Out! + +Onc't they was a little boy wouldn't say his prayers,-- +So when he went to bed at night, away up stairs, +His Mammy heerd him holler, an' his Daddy heerd him bawl, +An' when they turn't the kivvers down, he wasn't there at all! +An' they seeked him in the rafter-room, an' cubby-hole, an' press, +An' seeked him up the chimbly-flue, an' ever'wheres, I guess; +But all they ever found was thist his pants an' roundabout:-- +An' the Gobble-uns'll git you + Ef you + Don't + Watch + Out! + +[Illustration: An' when they turn't the kivvers down] + +An' one time a little girl 'ud allus laugh an' grin, +An' make fun of ever'one, an' all her blood an' kin; +An' onc't, when they was "company," an' ole folks was there, +She mocked 'em an' shocked 'em, an' said she didn't care! +An' thist as she kicked her heels, an' turn't to run an' hide, +They was two great big Black Things a-standin' by her side, +An' they snatched her through the ceilin' 'fore she knowed what she's about! +An' the Gobble-uns'll git you + Ef you + Don't + Watch + Out! + +An' little Orphant Annie says when the blaze is blue, +An' the lamp-wick sputters, an' the wind goes _woo-oo!_ +An' you hear the crickets quit, an' the moon is gray, +An' the lightnin'-bugs in dew is all squenched away,-- +You better mind yer parents, an' yer teachers fond an' dear, +An' churish them 'at loves you, an' dry the orphant's tear, +An' he'p the pore an' needy ones 'at clusters all about, +Er the Gobble-uns'll git you + Ef you + Don't + Watch + Out! + +[Illustration: Little Orphant Annie--Tailpiece] + + + + +THE RAGGEDY MAN + +[Illustration: The Raggedy Man--Title] + +O The Raggedy Man! He works fer Pa; +An' he's the goodest man ever you saw! +He comes to our house every day, +An' waters the horses, an' feeds 'em hay; +An' he opens the shed--an' we all ist laugh +When he drives out our little old wobble-ly calf; +An' nen--ef our hired girl says he can-- +He milks the cow fer 'Lizabuth Ann.-- + Aint he a' awful good Raggedy Man? + Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man! + +W'y, The Raggedy Man--he's ist so good +He splits the kindlin' an' chops the wood; +An' nen he spades in our garden, too, +An' does most things 'at _boys_ can't do!-- +He clumbed clean up in our big tree +An' shooked a' apple down fer me-- +An' nother'n', too, fer 'Lizabuth Ann-- +An' nother'n', too, fer The Raggedy Man.-- + Aint he a' awful kind Raggedy Man? + Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man! + +[Illustration: He showed me the hole 'at the Wunks is got] + +An' The Raggedy Man, he knows most rhymes +An' tells 'em, ef I be good, sometimes: +Knows 'bout Giunts, an' Griffuns, an' Elves, +An' the Squidgicum-Squees 'at swallers therselves! +An', wite by the pump in our pasture-lot, +He showed me the hole 'at the Wunks is got, +'At lives 'way deep in the ground, an' can +Turn into me, er 'Lizabuth Ann! + Aint he a funny old Raggedy Man? + Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man! + +The Raggedy Man--one time when he +Wuz makin' a little bow-'n'-orry fer me, +Says "When _you're_ big like your Pa is, +Air you go' to keep a fine store like his-- +An' be a rich merchunt--an' wear fine clothes?-- +Er what _air_ you go' to be, goodness knows!" +An' nen he laughed at 'Lizabuth Ann, +An' I says "'M go' to be a Raggedy Man!-- + I'm ist go' to be a nice Raggedy Man!" + Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man! + + + + +CURLY LOCKS + +[Illustration: Curly Locks--Title] + +_Curly Locks! Curly Locks! wilt thou be mine? +Thou shalt not wash the dishes, nor yet feed the swine,-- +But sit on a cushion and sew a fine seam, +And feast upon strawberries, sugar and cream._ + +Curly Locks! Curly Locks! wilt thou be mine? +The throb of my heart is in every line, +And the pulse of a passion as airy and glad +In its musical beat as the little Prince had! + +[Illustration: Sit on a cushion and sew a fine seam] + +Thou shalt not wash the dishes, nor yet feed the swine!-- +O I'll dapple thy hands with these kisses of mine +Till the pink of the nail of each finger shall be +As a little pet blush in full blossom for me. + +But sit on a cushion and sew a fine seam, +And thou shalt have fabric as fair as a dream,-- +The red of my veins, and the white of my love, +And the gold of my joy for the braiding thereof. + +And feast upon strawberries, sugar and cream +From a service of silver, with jewels agleam,-- +At thy feet will I bide, at thy beck will I rise, +And twinkle my soul in the night of thine eyes! + +_Curly Locks! Curly Locks! wilt thou be mine? +Thou shalt not wash the dishes, nor yet feed the swine.-- +But sit on a cushion and sew a fine seam, +And feast upon strawberries, sugar and cream._ + + + + +THE FUNNY LITTLE FELLOW + +[Illustration: The Funny Little Fellow--Title] + +'Twas a Funny Little Fellow + Of the very purest type, +For he had a heart as mellow + As an apple over-ripe; +And the brightest little twinkle + When a funny thing occurred, +And the lightest little tinkle + Of a laugh you ever heard! + +His smile was like the glitter + Of the sun in tropic lands, +And his talk a sweeter twitter + Than the swallow understands; +Hear him sing--and tell a story-- + Snap a joke--ignite a pun,-- +'Twas a capture--rapture--glory, + And explosion--all in one! + +Though he hadn't any money-- + That condiment which tends +To make a fellow "honey" + For the palate of his friends;-- +Sweet simples he compounded-- + Sovereign antidotes for sin +Or taint,--a faith unbounded + That his friends were genuine. + +He wasn't honored, may be-- + For his songs of praise were slim,-- +Yet I never knew a baby + That wouldn't crow for him; +I never knew a mother + But urged a kindly claim +Upon him as a brother, + At the mention of his name. + +[Illustration: Never knew a baby that wouldn't crow for him] + +The sick have ceased their sighing + And have even found the grace +Of a smile when they were dying + As they looked upon his face; +And I've seen his eyes of laughter + Melt in tears that only ran +As though, swift dancing after, + Came the Funny Little Man. + +He laughed away the sorrow, + And he laughed away the gloom +We are all so prone to borrow + From the darkness of the tomb; +And he laughed across the ocean + Of a happy life, and passed, +With a laugh of glad emotion, + Into Paradise at last. + +And I think the Angels knew him, + And had gathered to await +His coming, and run to him + Through the widely-opened Gate-- +With their faces gleaming sunny + For his laughter-loving sake, +And thinking, "What a funny + Little Angel he will make!" + + + + +THE HAPPY LITTLE CRIPPLE + +[Illustration: The Happy Little Cripple--Title] + +I'm thist a little cripple boy, an' never goin' to grow +An' get a great big man at all!--'cause Aunty told me so. +When I was thist a baby onc't, I falled out of the bed +An' got "The Curv'ture of the Spine"--'at's what the Doctor said. +I never had no Mother nen--fer my Pa runned away +An' dassn't come back here no more--'cause he was drunk one day +An' stobbed a man in thish-ere town, an' couldn't pay his fine! +An' nen my Ma she died--an' I got "Curv'ture of the Spine!" + +[Illustration: An' I peck on the winder] + +I'm nine years old! An' you can't guess how much I weigh, I bet!-- +Last birthday I weighed thirty-three!--An' I weigh thirty yet! +I'm awful little fer my size--I'm purt' nigh littler 'nan +Some babies is!--an' neighbers all calls me "The Little Man!" +An' Doc one time he laughed an' said: "I 'spect, first thing you know, +You'll have a little spike-tail coat an' travel with a show!" +An' nen I laughed--till I looked round an' Aunty was a-cryin'-- +Sometimes she acts like that, 'cause I got "Curv'ture of the Spine." + +I set--while Aunty's washin'--on my little long-leg stool, +An' watch the little boys an' girls a-skippin' by to school; +An' I peck on the winder, an' holler out an' say: +"Who wants to fight The Little Man 'at dares you all today?" +An', nen the boys climbs on the fence, an' little girls peeks through, +An' they all says: "Cause you're so big, you think we're 'feared o' you!" +An' nen they yell, an' shake their fist at me, like I shake mine-- +They're thist in fun, you know, 'cause I got "Curv'ture of the Spine!" + +At evening, when the ironin's done, an' Aunty's fixed the fire, +An' filled an' lit the lamp, an' trimmed the wick an' turned it higher, +An' fetched the wood all in fer night, an' locked the kitchen door, +An' stuffed the ole crack where the wind blows in up through the floor-- +She sets the kittle on the coals, an' biles an' makes the tea, +An' fries the liver an' the mush, an' cooks a egg fer me; +An' sometimes--when I cough so hard--her elderberry wine +Don't go so bad fer little boys with "Curv'ture of the Spine!" + +[Illustration: An' cooks a' egg fer me] + +But Aunty's all so childish-like on my account, you see, +I'm 'most afeard she'll be took down--an' 'at's what bothers me!-- +'Cause ef my good old Aunty ever would git sick an' die, +I don't know what she'd do in heaven--till _I_ come, by an' by:-- +Fer she's so ust to all my ways, an' ever'thing, you know, +An' no one there like me, to nuss an' worry over so!-- +'Cause all the little childerns there's so straight an' strong an' fine, +They's nary angel 'bout the place with "Curv'ture of the Spine!" + +[Illustration: The Happy Little Cripple--Tailpiece] + + + + +THE RIDER OF THE KNEE + +Knightly Rider of the Knee +Of Proud-prancing Unclery! +Gaily mount, and wave the sign +Of that mastery of thine. + +Pat thy steed and turn him free, +Knightly Rider of the Knee! +Sit thy charger as a throne-- +Lash him with thy laugh alone: + +Sting him only with the spur +Of such wit as may occur, +Knightly Rider of the Knee, +In thy shriek of ecstasy. + +Would, as now, we might endure, +Twain as one--thou miniature +Ruler, at the rein of me-- +Knightly Rider of the Knee! + +[Illustration: The Rider of the Knee] + + + + +DOWN AROUND THE RIVER + +[Illustration: Down Around the River--Title] + +Noon-time an' June-time, down around the river! +Have to furse with 'Lizey Ann--but lawzy! I fergive her! +Drives me off the place, an' says 'at all 'at she's a-wishin', +Land o' gracious! time'll come I'll git enough o' fishin'! +Little Dave, a-choppin' wood, never 'pears to notice; +Don't know where she's hid his hat, er keerin' where his coat is,-- +Specalatin', more'n like, he haint a-goin' to mind me, +An' guessin' where, say twelve o'clock, a feller'd likely find me! + +Noon-time an' June-time, down around the river! +Clean out o' sight o' home, an' skulkin' under kivver +Of the sycamores, jack-oaks, an' swamp-ash an' ellum-- +Idies all so jumbled up, you kin hardly tell 'em!-- +_Tired_, you know, but _lovin'_ it, an' smilin' jes' to think 'at +Any _sweeter_ tiredness you'd fairly want to _drink_ it! +Tired o' fishin'--tired o' fun--line out slack an' slacker-- +All you want in all the world's a little more tobacker! + +Hungry, but _a-hidin'_ it, er jes' a-not a-keerin':-- +Kingfisher gittin' up an' skootin' out o' hearin'; +Snipes on the t'other side, where the County Ditch is, +Wadin' up an' down the aidge like they'd rolled their britches! +Old turkle on the root kindo-sorto drappin' +Intoo th' worter like he don't know how it happen! +Worter, shade an' all so mixed, don't know which you'd orter +Say; th' _worter_ in the shadder--_shadder_ in the _worter!_ + +Somebody hollerin'--'way around the bend in +Upper Fork--where yer eye kin jes' ketch the endin' +Of the shiney wedge o' wake some muss-rat's a-makin' +With that pesky nose o' his! Then a sniff o' bacon, +Corn-bred an' 'dock-greens--an' little Dave a-shinnin' +'Crost the rocks an' mussel-shells, a-limpin' an' a-grinnin', +With yer dinner fer ye, an' a blessin' from the giver, +Noon-time an' June-time down around the river! + +[Illustration: Noon-time and June-time down around the river] + +[Illustration: Down Around The River--Tailpiece] + + + + +AT AUNTY'S HOUSE + +[Illustration: At Aunty's House--Title] + +One time, when we'z at Aunty's house-- + 'Way in the country!--where +They's ist but woods--an' pigs, an' cows-- + An' all's out-doors an' air!-- +An' orchurd-swing; an' churry-trees-- +An' _churries_ in 'em!--Yes, an' these-- +Here red-head birds steals all they please, + An' tetch 'em ef you dare!-- +W'y, wunst, one time, when we wuz there, + _We et out on the porch!_ + +[Illustration: We et out on the porch] + +Wite where the cellar-door wuz shut + The table wuz; an' I +Let Aunty set by me an' cut + My vittuls up--an' pie. +'Tuz awful funny!--I could see +The red-heads in the churry-tree; +An' bee-hives, where you got to be + So keerful, goin' by;-- +An' "Comp'ny" there an' all!--an' we-- + _We et out on the porch!_ + +An' I ist et _p'surves_ an' things + 'At Ma don't 'low me to-- +An' _chickun-gizzurds_--(don't like _wings_ + Like _Parunts_ does! do _you?_) +An' all the time, the wind blowed there, +An' I could feel it in my hair, +An' ist smell clover _ever'_where!-- + An' a' old red-head flew +Purt' nigh wite over my high-chair, + _When we et on the porch!_ + + + + +THE DAYS GONE BY + +[Illustration: The Days Gone By--Title] + +O the days gone by! O the days gone by! +The apples in the orchard, and the pathway through the rye; +The chirrup of the robin, and the whistle of the quail +As he piped across the meadows sweet as any nightingale; +When the bloom was on the clover, and the blue was in the sky, +And my happy heart brimmed over, in the days gone by. + +[Illustration: In the orchard] + +In the days gone by, when my naked feet were tripped +By the honeysuckle tangles where the water-lilies dipped, +And the ripples of the river lipped the moss along the brink, +Where the placid-eyed and lazy-footed cattle came to drink, +And the tilting snipe stood fearless of the truant's wayward cry +And the splashing of the swimmer, in the days gone by. + +O the days gone by! O the days gone by! +The music of the laughing lip, the lustre of the eye; +The childish faith in fairies, and Aladdin's magic ring-- +The simple, soul-reposing, glad belief in everything,-- +When life was like a story, holding neither sob nor sigh, +In the golden olden glory of the days gone by. + + + + +THE BUMBLEBEE + +You better not fool with a Bumblebee!-- +Ef you don't think they can sting--you'll see! +They're lazy to look at, an' kindo' go +Buzzin' an' bummin' aroun' so slow, +An' ac' so slouchy an' all fagged out, +Danglin' their legs as they drone about +The hollyhawks 'at they can't climb in +'Ithout ist a-tumble-un out agin! +Wunst I watched one climb clean 'way +In a jim'son-blossom, I did, one day,-- +An' I ist grabbed it--an' nen let go-- +An' "_Ooh-ooh! Honey! I told ye so!_" +Says The Raggedy Man; an' he ist run +An' pullt out the stinger, an' don't laugh none, +An' says: "They _has_ ben folks, I guess, +'At thought I wuz predjudust, more er less,-- +Yit I still muntain 'at a Bumblebee +Wears out his welcome too quick fer me!" + +[Illustration: The Bumblebee] + + + + +THE BOY LIVES ON OUR FARM + +[Illustration: The Boy Lives on Our Farm--Title] + +The boy lives on our Farm, he's not + Afeard o' horses none! +An' he can make 'em lope, er trot, + Er rack, er pace, er run. +Sometimes he drives two horses, when + He comes to town an' brings +A wagon-full o' 'taters nen, + An' roastin'-ears an' things. + +Two horses is "a team," he says, + An' when you drive er hitch, +The right-un's a "near-horse," I guess + Er "off"--I don't know which-- +The Boy lives on our Farm, he told + Me, too, 'at he can see, +By lookin' at their teeth, how old + A horse is, to a T! + +I'd be the gladdest boy alive + Ef I knowed much as that, +An' could stand up like him an' drive, + An' ist push back my hat, +Like he comes skallyhootin' through + Our alley, with one arm +A-wavin' Fare-ye-well! to you-- + The Boy lives on our Farm! + +[Illustration: Stand up like him an' drive] + + + + +THE SQUIRTGUN UNCLE MAKED ME + +[Illustration: The Squirtgun Uncle Maked Me--Title] + +Uncle Sidney, when he wuz here, + Maked me a squirtgun out o' some +Elder-bushes 'at growed out near +Where wuz the brickyard--'way out clear + To where the toll-gate come! + +So when we walked back home again, + He maked it, out in our woodhouse where +Wuz the old workbench, an' the old jack-plane, +An' the old 'pokeshave, an' the tools all lay'n' + Ist like he wants 'em there. + +He sawed it first with the old hand-saw; + An' nen he peeled off the bark, an' got +Some glass an' scraped it; an' told 'bout Pa, +When _he_ wuz a boy an' fooled his Ma, + An' the whippin' 'at he caught. + +Nen Uncle Sidney, he took an' filed + A' old arn ramrod; an' one o' the ends +He screwed fast into the vise; an' smiled, +Thinkin', he said, o' when he wuz a child, + 'Fore him an' Pa wuz mens. + +He punched out the peth, an' nen he put + A plug in the end with a hole notched through; +Nen took the old drawey-knife an' cut +An' maked a handle 'at shoved clean shut + But ist where yer hand held to. + +An' he wropt th'uther end with some string an' white + Piece o' the sleeve of a' old tored shirt; +An' nen he showed me to hold it tight, +An' suck in the water an' work it right + An' it 'ud ist squirt an' squirt! + +[Illustration: The Squirtgun--Tailpiece] + +[Illustration: An' nen he peeled off the bark] + + + + +THE OLD TRAMP + +[Illustration: The Old Tramp.] + +A Old Tramp slep' in our stable wunst, + An' The Raggedy Man he caught +An' roust him up, an' chased him off + Clean out through our back lot! + +An' th' Old Tramp hollered back an' said,-- + "You're a _purty_ man!--_You_ air!-- +With a pair o' eyes like two fried eggs, + An' a nose like a Bartlutt pear!" + + + + +OLD AUNT MARY'S + +Wasn't it pleasant, O brother mine, +In those old days of the lost sunshine +Of youth--when the Saturday's chores were through, +And the "Sunday's wood" in the kitchen, too, +And we went visiting, "me and you," + Out to Old Aunt Mary's? + +It all comes back so clear to-day! +Though I am as bald as you are gray-- +Out by the barn-lot, and down the lane, +We patter along in the dust again, +As light as the tips of the drops of the rain, + Out to Old Aunt Mary's! + +We cross the pasture, and through the wood +Where the old gray snag of the poplar stood, +Where the hammering "red-heads" hopped awry, +And the buzzard "raised" in the "clearing" sky +And lolled and circled, as we went by + Out to Old Aunt Mary's. + +And then in the dust of the road again; +And the teams we met, and the countrymen; +And the long highway, with sunshine spread +As thick as butter on country bread, +Our cares behind, and our hearts ahead + Out to Old Aunt Mary's. + +[Illustration: We patter along in the dust again] + +Why, I see her now in the open door, +Where the little gourds grew up the sides and o'er +The clapboard roof!--And her face--ah, me! +Wasn't it good for a boy to see-- +And wasn't it good for a boy to be + Out to Old Aunt Mary's? + +And O my brother, so far away, +This is to tell you she waits to-day +To welcome us:--Aunt Mary fell +Asleep this morning, whispering, "Tell +The boys to come!" And all is well + Out to Old Aunt Mary's. + +[Illustration: Old Aunt Mary's--Tailpiece] + + + + +WINTER FANCIES + +[Illustration: Winter Fancies--Title] + +I + + Winter without + And warmth within; + The winds may shout + And the storm begin; + The snows may pack + At the window pane, + And the skies grow black, + And the sun remain + Hidden away + The livelong day-- +But here--in here is the warmth of May! + +[Illustration: Winter without and warmth within] + +II + + Swoop your spitefullest + Up the flue, + Wild Winds--do! +What in the world do I care for you? + O delightfullest + Weather of all, + Howl and squall, +And shake the trees till the last leaves fall! + +III + + The joy one feels, + In an easy chair, + Cocking his heels + In the dancing air +That wreathes the rim of a roaring stove +Whose heat loves better than hearts can love, + Will not permit + The coldest day + To drive away +The fire in his blood, and the bliss of it! + +IV + +Then blow, Winds, blow! + And rave and shriek, +And snarl and snow + Till your breath grows weak-- +While here in my room + I'm as snugly shut +As a glad little worm + In the heart of a nut! + +[Illustration: Here in my room I'm as snugly shut] + + + + +THE RUNAWAY BOY + +Wunst I sassed my Pa, an' he +Won't stand that, an' punished me,-- +Nen when he was gone that day, +I slipped out an' runned away. + +I tooked all my copper-cents, +An' clumbed over our back fence +In the jimpson-weeds 'at growed +Ever'where all down the road. + +Nen I got out there, an' nen +I runned some--an' runned again +When I met a man 'at led +A big cow 'at shooked her head. + +I went down a long, long lane +Where was little pigs a-play'n'; +An' a grea'-big pig went "Booh!" +An' jumped up, an' skeered me too. + +Nen I scampered past, an' they +Was somebody hollered "Hey!" +An' I ist looked ever'where, +An' they was nobody there. + +I _Want_ to, but I'm 'fraid to try +To go back.... An' by-an'-by +Somepin' hurts my throat inside-- +An' I want my Ma--an' cried. + +Nen a grea'-big girl come through +Where's a gate, an' telled me who +Am I? an' ef I tell where +My home's at she'll show me there. + +But I couldn't ist but tell +What's my _name_; an' she says well, +An' she tooked me up an' says +_She_ know where I live, she guess. + +[Illustration: An' a grea'-big pig went "Booh!"] + +Nen she telled me hug wite close +Round her neck!--an' off she goes +Skippin' up the street! An' nen +Purty soon I'm home again. + +An' my Ma, when she kissed me, +Kissed the _big girl_ too, an' _she_ +Kissed me--ef I p'omise _shore_ +I won't run away no more! + +[Illustration: Hug wite close round her neck] + + + + +THE LITTLE COAT + +Here's his ragged "roundabout"; +Turn the pockets inside out: +See; his pen-knife, lost to use, +Rusted shut with apple-juice; +Here, with marbles, top and string, +Is his deadly "devil-sling," +With its rubber, limp at last +As the sparrows of the past! +Beeswax--buckles--leather straps-- +Bullets, and a box of caps,-- +Not a thing of all, I guess, +But betrays some waywardness-- +E'en these tickets, blue and red, +For the Bible-verses said-- +Such as this his mem'ry kept-- + "Jesus wept." + +[Illustration: The Little Coat] + +Here's a fishing hook-and-line, +Tangled up with wire and twine, +And dead angle-worms, and some +Slugs of lead and chewing-gum, +Blent with scents that can but come +From the oil of rhodium. +Here--a soiled, yet dainty note, +That some little sweetheart wrote, +Dotting,--"Vine grows round the stump," +And--"My sweetest sugar lump!" +Wrapped in this--a padlock key +Where he's filed a touch-hole--see! +And some powder in a quill +Corked up with a liver pill; +And a spongy little chunk + Of "punk." + +Here's the little coat--but O! +Where is he we've censured so! +Don't you hear us calling, dear? +Back! come back, and never fear.-- +You may wander where you will, +Over orchard, field and hill; +You may kill the birds, or do +Anything that pleases you! +Ah, this empty coat of his! +Every tatter worth a kiss; +Every stain as pure instead +As the white stars overhead: +And the pockets--homes were they +Of the little hands that play +Now no more--but, absent, thus + Beckon us. + +[Illustration: The Little Coat--Tailpiece] + + + + +AN IMPETUOUS RESOLVE + +[Illustration: An Impetuous Resolve--Title] + +When little Dickie Swope's a man, + He's go' to be a Sailor; +An' little Hamey Tincher, he's + A-go' to be a Tailor: +Bud Mitchell, he's a-go' to be + A stylish Carriage-Maker; +An' when _I_ grow a grea'-big man, + I'm go' to be a Baker! + +An' Dick'll buy his sailor-suit + O' Hame; and Hame'll take it +An' buy as fine a double-rigg + As ever Bud can make it: +An' nen all three'll drive roun' fer me + An' we'll drive off togevver, +A-slingin' pie-crust 'long the road + Ferever an' ferever! + +[Illustration: I'm go' to be a baker] + +[Illustration: A-slingin' pie-crust 'long the road] + + + + +WHO SANTY-CLAUS WUZ + +[Illustration: Who Santy-Claus Wuz--Title] + +Jes' a little bit o' feller--I remember still-- +Ust to almost cry fer Christmas, like a youngster will. +Fourth o' July's nothin' to it!--New Year's ain't a smell! +Easter-Sunday--Circus-day--jes' all dead in the shell! +Lawzy, though! at night, you know, to set around an' hear +The old folks work the story off about the sledge an' deer, +An' "Santy" skootin' round the roof, all wrapt in fur an' fuzz-- +Long afore + I knowed who + "Santy-Claus" wuz! + +Ust to wait, an' set up late, a week er two ahead; +Couldn't hardly keep awake, ner wouldn't go to bed; +Kittle stewin' on the fire, an' Mother settin' here +Darnin' socks, an' rockin' in the skreeky rockin'-cheer; +Pap gap', an' wonder where it wuz the money went, +An' quar'l with his frosted heels, an' spill his liniment; +An' me a-dreamin' sleigh-bells when the clock 'ud whir an' buzz, +Long afore + I knowed who + "Santy-Claus" wuz! + +Size the fire-place up an' figger how "Ole Santy" could +Manage to come down the chimbly, like they said he would; +Wisht 'at I could hide an' see him--wunderd what he'd say +Ef he ketched a feller layin' fer him thataway! +But I _bet_ on him, an' _liked_ him, same as ef he had +Turned to pat me on the back an' say, "Look here, my lad, +Here's my pack,--jes' he'p yourse'f, like all good boys does!" +Long afore + I knowed who + "Santy-Claus" wuz! + +[Illustration: An' quar'l with his frosted heels] + +Wisht that yarn was true about him, as it 'peared to be-- +Truth made out o' lies like that-un's good enough fer me!-- +Wisht I still wuz so confidin' I could jes' go wild +Over hangin' up my stockin's, like the little child +Climbin' in my lap to-night, an' beggin' me to tell +'Bout them reindeers, and "Old Santy" that she loves so well +I'm half sorry fer this little-girl-sweetheart of his-- +Long afore + She knows who + "Santy-Claus" is! + +[Illustration: Who Santy-Claus Wuz--Tailpiece] + + + + +THE NINE LITTLE GOBLINS + +They all climbed up on a high board-fence-- + Nine little Goblins, with green-glass eyes-- +Nine little Goblins that had no sense, + And couldn't tell coppers from cold mince pies; + And they all climbed up on the fence, and sat-- + And I asked them what they were staring at. + +And the first one said, as he scratched his head + With a queer little arm that reached out of his ear +And rasped its claws in his hair so red-- + "This is what this little arm is fer!" + And he scratched and stared, and the next one said, + "How on earth do _you_ scratch your head?" + +And he laughed like the screech of a rusty hinge-- + Laughed and laughed till his face grew black; +And when he choked, with a final twinge + Of his stifling laughter, he thumped his back + With a fist that grew on the end of his tail + Till the breath came back to his lips so pale. + +[Illustration: The Nine Little Goblins] + +And the third little Goblin leered round at me-- + And there were no lids on his eyes at all-- +And he clucked one eye, and he says, says he, + "What is the style of your socks this fall?" + And he clapped his heels--and I sighed to see + That he had hands where his feet should be. + +Then a bald-faced Goblin, gray and grim, + Bowed his head, and I saw him slip +His eyebrows off, as I looked at him, + And paste them over his upper lip; + And then he moaned in remorseful pain-- + "Would--Ah, would I'd me brows again!" + +And then the whole of the Goblin band + Rocked on the fence-top to and fro, +And clung, in a long row, hand in hand, + Singing the songs that they used to know-- + Singing the songs that their grandsires sung + In the goo-goo days of the Goblin-tongue. + +And ever they kept their green-glass eyes + Fixed on me with a stony stare-- +Till my own grew glazed with a dread surmise, + And my hat whooped up on my lifted hair, + And I felt the heart in my breast snap to + As you've heard the lid of a snuff-box do. + +And they sang "You're asleep! There is no board-fence, + And never a Goblin with green-glass eyes!-- +'Tis only a vision the mind invents + After a supper of cold mince-pies,-- +And you're doomed to dream this way," they said,-- +"_And you sha'n't wake up till you're clean plum dead!_" + +[Illustration: The Nine Little Goblins--Tailpiece] + + + + +TIME OF CLEARER TWITTERINGS + +[Illustration: Time of Clearer Twitterings--Title] + +I. + +Time of crisp and tawny leaves, +And of tarnished harvest sheaves, +And of dusty grasses--weeds-- +Thistles, with their tufted seeds +Voyaging the Autumn breeze +Like as fairy argosies: +Time of quicker flash of wings, +And of clearer twitterings +In the grove, or deeper shade +Of the tangled everglade,-- +Where the spotted water-snake +Coils him in the sunniest brake; +And the bittern, as in fright, +Darts, in sudden, slanting flight, +Southward, while the startled crane +Films his eyes in dreams again. + +II + +Down along the dwindled creek +We go loitering. We speak +Only with old questionings +Of the dear remembered things +Of the days of long ago, +When the stream seemed thus and so +In our boyish eyes:--The bank +Greener then, through rank on rank +Of the mottled sycamores, +Touching tops across the shores: +Here, the hazel thicket stood-- +There, the almost pathless wood +Where the shellbark hickory tree +Rained its wealth on you and me. +Autumn! as you loved us then, +Take us to your heart again! + +III + +Season halest of the year! +How the zestful atmosphere +Nettles blood and brain, and smites +Into life the old delights +We have tasted in our youth, +And our graver years, forsooth! +How again the boyish heart +Leaps to see the chipmunk start +From the brush and sleek the sun +Very beauty, as he runs! +How again a subtle hint +Of crushed pennyroyal or mint, +Sends us on our knees, as when +We were truant boys of ten-- +Brown marauders of the wood, +Merrier than Robin Hood! + +[Illustration: Where the shellbark hickory tree] + +IV + +Ah! will any minstrel say, +In his sweetest roundelay, +What is sweeter, after all, +Than black haws, in early Fall-- +Fruit so sweet the frost first sat, +Dainty-toothed, and nibbled at! +And will any poet sing +Of a lusher, richer thing +Than a ripe May-apple, rolled +Like a pulpy lump of gold +Under thumb and finger-tips, +And poured molten through the lips? +Go, ye bards of classic themes, +Pipe your songs by classic streams! +I would twang the redbird's wings +In the thicket while he sings! + + + + +THE CIRCUS-DAY PARADE + +Oh, the Circus-Day parade! How the bugles played and played! +And how the glossy horses tossed their flossy manes, and neighed, +As the rattle and the rhyme of the tenor-drummer's time +Filled all the hungry hearts of us with melody sublime! + +How the grand band-wagon shone with a splendor all its own, +And glittered with a glory that our dreams had never known! +And how the boys behind, high and low of every kind, +Marched in unconscious capture, with a rapture undefined! + +How the horsemen, two and two, with their plumes of white and blue, +And crimson, gold and purple, nodding by at me and you. +Waved the banners that they bore, as the Knights in days of yore, +Till our glad eyes gleamed and glistened like the spangles that they wore! + +[Illustration: The Circus-Day Parade] + +How the graceless-graceful stride of the elephant was eyed, +And the capers of the little horse that cantered at his side! +How the shambling camels, tame to the plaudits of their fame, +With listless eyes came silent, masticating as they came. + +[Illustration: How the cages jolted past] + +How the cages jolted past, with each wagon battened fast, +And the mystery within it only hinted of at last +From the little grated square in the rear, and nosing there +The snout of some strange animal that sniffed the outer air! + +And, last of all, The Clown, making mirth for all the town, +With his lips curved ever upward and his eyebrows ever down, +And his chief attention paid to the little mule that played +A tattoo on the dashboard with his heels, in the parade. + +Oh! the Circus-Day parade! How the bugles played and played! +And how the glossy horses tossed their flossy manes and neighed. +As the rattle and the rhyme of the tenor-drummer's time +Filled all the hungry hearts of us with melody sublime! + +[Illustration: And, last of all, the clown] + + + + +THE LUGUBRIOUS WHING-WHANG + +[Illustration: The Lugubrious Whing-Whang--Title] + +The rhyme o' The Raggedy Man's 'at's best +Is Tickle me, Love, in these Lonesome Ribs,-- +'Cause that-un's the strangest of all o' the rest, +An' the worst to learn, an' the last one guessed, +An' the funniest one, an' the foolishest.-- + Tickle me, Love, in these Lonesome Ribs! + +I don't know what in the world it means-- + Tickle me, Love, in these Lonesome Ribs!-- +An' nen when I _tell_ him I don't, he leans +Like he was a-grindin' on some machines +An' says: Ef I _don't_, w'y, I don't know _beans!_ + Tickle me, Love, in these Lonesome Ribs!-- + +Out on the margin of Moonshine Land, + Tickle me, Love, in these Lonesome Ribs! +Out where the Whing-Whang loves to stand, +Writing his name with his tail in the sand, +And swiping it out with his oogerish hand; + Tickle me, Love, in these Lonesome Ribs! + +Is it the gibber of Gungs or Keeks? + Tickle me, Love, in these Lonesome Ribs! +Or what _is_ the sound that the Whing-Whang seeks?-- +Crouching low by the winding creeks +And holding his breath for weeks and weeks! + Tickle me, Love, in these Lonesome Ribs! + +Aroint him the wraithest of wraithly things! + Tickle me, Love, in these Lonesome Ribs! +'Tis a fair Whing-Whangess, with phosphor rings +And bridal-jewels of fangs and stings; +And she sits and as sadly and softly sings +As the mildewed whir of her own dead wings,-- + Tickle me, Dear, + Tickle me here, + Tickle me, Love, in these Lonesome Ribs! + + + + +WAITIN' FER THE CAT TO DIE + +[Illustration: Waitin' Fer The Cat to Die--Title] + +Lawzy! don't I rickollect + That-'air old swing in the lane! +Right and proper, I expect, + Old times _can't_ come back again; +But I want to state, ef they +_Could_ come back, and I could say +What _my_ pick 'ud be, i jing! +I'd say, Gimme the old swing +'Nunder the old locus'-trees +On the old place, ef you please!-- +Danglin' there with half-shet eye, +Waitin' fer the cat to die! + +I'd say, Gimme the old gang + Of barefooted, hungry, lean, +Ornry boys you want to hang + When you're growed up twic't as mean! +The old gyarden-patch, the old +Truants, and the stuff we stol'd! +The old stompin'-groun', where we +Wore the grass off, wild and free +As the swoop of the old swing, +Where we ust to climb and cling, +And twist roun', and fight, and lie-- +Waitin' fer the cat to die! + +'Pears like I 'most allus could + Swing the highest of the crowd-- +Jes sail up there tel I stood + Downside-up, and screech out loud,-- +Ketch my breath, and jes drap back +Fer to let the old swing slack, +Yit my tow-head dippin' still +In the green boughs, and the chill +Up my backbone taperin' down, +With my shadder on the ground' +Slow and slower trailin' by-- +Waitin' fer the cat to die! + +[Illustration: Barefooted, hungry, lean, ornry boys] + +Now my daughter's little Jane's + Got a kind o' baby-swing +On the porch, so's when it rains + She kin play there--little thing! +And I'd limped out t'other day +With my old cheer this-a-way, +Swingin' _her_ and rockin' too, +Thinkin' how _I_ ust to do +At _her_ age, when suddently, +"Hey, Gran'pap!" she says to me, +"Why you rock so slow?" ... Says I, +"Waitin' fer the cat to die!" + +[Illustration: Why you rock so slow?] + + + + +NAUGHTY CLAUDE + +[Illustration: Naughty Claude] + +When Little Claude was naughty wunst + At dinner-time, an' said +He won't say "_Thank you_" to his Ma, + She maked him go to bed +An' stay two hours an' not git up,-- + So when the clock struck Two, +Nen Claude says,--"Thank you, Mr. Clock, + I'm much obleeged to you!" + + + + +THE SOUTH WIND AND THE SUN + +[Illustration: The South Wind and The Sun--Title] + + O the South Wind and the Sun + How each loved the other one-- +Full of fancy--full of folly-- + Full of jollity and fun! + How they romped and ran about, + Like two boys when school is out, +With glowing face, and lisping lip, + Low laugh, and lifted shout! + + And the South Wind--he was dressed + With a ribbon round his breast +That floated, flapped and fluttered + In a riotous unrest; + And a drapery of mist, + From the shoulder and the wrist +Flowing backward with the motion + Of the waving hand he kissed. + + And the Sun had on a crown + Wrought of gilded thistledown, +And a scarf of velvet vapor, + And a raveled-rainbow gown; + And his tinsel-tangled hair, + Tossed and lost upon the air, +With glossier and flossier + Than any anywhere. + + And the South Wind's eyes were two + Little dancing drops of dew, +As he puffed his cheeks, and pursed his lips, + And blew and blew and blew! + And the Sun's--like diamond-stone, + Brighter yet than ever known, +As he knit his brows and held his breath, + And shone and shone and shone! + + And this pair of merry fays + Wandered through the summer days; +Arm-in-arm they went together + Over heights of morning haze-- + Over slanting slopes of lawn + They went on and on and on, +Where the daisies looked like star-tracks + Trailing up and down the dawn. + + And where'er they found the top + Of a wheat-stalk droop and lop, +They chucked it underneath the chin + And praised the lavish crop, + Till it lifted with the pride + Of the heads it grew beside, +And then the South Wind and the Sun + Went onward satisfied. + + Over meadow-lands they tripped, + Where the dandelions dipped +In crimson foam of clover bloom + And dripped and dripped and dripped! + And they clinched the bumble-stings, + Gauming honey on their wings, +And bundling them in lily-bells, + With maudlin murmurings. + + And the humming-bird, that hung + Like a jewel up among +The tilted honeysuckle horns, + They mesmerized and swung + In the palpitating air, + Drowsed with odors strange and rare, +And, with whispered laughter, slipped away, + And left him hanging there. + + And they braided blades of grass + Where the truant had to pass; +And they wriggled through the rushes + And the reeds of the morass, + Where they danced, in rapture sweet, + O'er the leaves that laid a street +Of undulant mosaic for + The touches of their feet. + + By the brook with mossy brink, + Where the cattle came to drink, +They trilled and piped and whistled + With the thrush and bobolink, + Till the kine, in listless pause, + Switched their tails in mute applause, +With lifted heads, and dreamy eyes, + And bubble-dripping jaws. + + And where the melons grew, + Streaked with yellow, green and blue, +These jolly sprites went wandering + Through spangled paths of dew; + And the melons, here and there, + They made love to, everywhere, +Turning their pink souls to crimson + With caresses fond and fair. + +[Illustration: This pair of merry fays] + + Over orchard walls they went, + Where the fruited boughs were bent +Till they brushed the sward beneath them + Where the shine and shadow blent; + And the great green pear they shook + Till the sallow hue forsook +Its features, and the gleam of gold + Laughed out in every look. + + And they stroked the downy cheek + Of the peach, and smoothed it sleek, +And flushed it into splendor; + And, with many an elfish freak, + Gave the russet's rust a wipe-- + Prankt the rambo with a stripe, +And the winesap blushed its reddest + As they spanked the pippins ripe. + + Through the woven ambuscade + That the twining vines had made, +They found the grapes, in clusters, + Drinking up the shine and shade-- + Plumpt, like tiny skins of wine, + With a vintage so divine +That the tongue of Fancy tingled + With the tang of muscadine. + + And the golden-banded bees, + Droning o'er the flowery leas, +They bridled, reined, and rode away + Across the fragrant breeze, + Till in hollow oak and elm + They had groomed and stabled them +In waxen stalls that oozed with dews + Of rose and lily-stem. + + Where the dusty highway leads, + High above the wayside weeds, +They sowed the air with butterflies + Like blooming flower-seeds, + Till the dull grasshopper sprung + Half a man's-height up, and hung +Tranced in the heat, with whirring wings, + And sung and sung and sung! + + And they loitered, hand in hand, + Where the snipe along the sand +Of the river ran to meet them + As the ripple meets the land, + Till the dragonfly, in light + Gauzy armor, burnished bright, +Came tilting down the waters + In a wild, bewildered flight. + + And they heard the kildee's call, + And afar, the waterfall, +But the rustle of a falling leaf + They heard above it all; + And the trailing willow crept + Deeper in the tide that swept +The leafy shallop to the shore, + And wept and wept and wept! + + And the fairy vessel veered + From its moorings--tacked and steered +For the center of the current-- + Sailed away and disappeared: + And the burthen that it bore + From the long-enchanted shore-- +"Alas! the South Wind and the Sun!" + I murmur evermore. + + For the South Wind and the Sun, + Each so loves the other one, +For all his jolly folly, + And frivolity and fun, + That our love for them they weigh + As their fickle fancies may, +And when at last we love them most, + They laugh and sail away. + + + + +THE JOLLY MILLER + +[Illustration: The Jolly Miller--Title] + +[Restored Romaunt.] + +It was a Jolly Miller lived on the River Dee; +He looked upon his piller, and there he found a flea: + "O Mr. Flea! you have bit' me, + And you shall shorely die!" + So he scrunched his bones against the stones-- + And there he let him lie! + +Twas then the Jolly Miller he laughed and told his wife, +And _she_ laughed fit to kill her, and dropped her carvin'-knife!-- + "O Mr. Flea!" "Ho-ho!" "Tee-hee!" + They _both_ laughed fit to kill, + Until the sound did almost drownd + The rumble of the mill! + +_"Laugh on, my Jolly Miller! and Missus Miller, too!-- +But there's a weeping-willer will soon wave over you!"_ + The voice was all so awful small-- + So very small and slim!-- + He durst' infer that it was her, + Ner her infer 'twas him! + +[Illustration: That cat o' yourn I'd kill her] + +That night the Jolly Miller, says he, "It's Wifey dear, +That cat o' yourn, I'd kill her!--her actions is so queer,-- + She rubbin' 'ginst the grindstone-legs, + And yowlin' at the sky-- + And I 'low the moon haint greener + Than the yaller of her eye!" + +And as the Jolly Miller went chuckle-un to bed, +Was _Somepin_ jerked his piller from underneath his head! + "O Wife," says he, on-easi-lee, + "Fetch here that lantern there!" + But _Somepin_ moans in thunder tones, + "_You tetch it ef you dare!_" + +'Twas then the Jolly Miller he trimbled and he quailed-- +And his wife choked until her breath come back, 'n' she _wailed!_ + And "_O!"_ cried she, "it is _the Flea_, + All white and pale and wann-- + He's got you in his clutches, and + _He's bigger than a man!_" + +"_Ho! ho! my Jolly Miller," (fer 'twas the Flea, fer shore!) +"I reckon you'll not rack my bones ner scrunch 'em any more!_" + And then _the Ghost_ he grabbed him clos't, + With many a ghastly smile, + And from the doorstep stooped and hopped + About four hundred mile! + + + + +OUR HIRED GIRL + +Our hired girl, she's 'Lizabuth Ann; + An' she can cook best things to eat! +She ist puts dough in our pie-pan, + An' pours in somepin' 'at's good and sweet, +An' nen she salts it all on top +With cinnamon; an' nen she'll stop + An' stoop an' slide it, ist as slow, +In th' old cook-stove, so's 'twon't slop + An' git all spilled; nen bakes it, so + It's custard pie, first thing you know! + An' nen she'll say: + "Clear out o' my way! + They's time fer work, an' time fer play!-- + Take yer dough, an' run, Child; run! + Er I cain't git no cookin' done!" + +When our hired girl 'tends like she's mad, + An' says folks got to walk the chalk +When _she's_ around, er wisht they had, + I play out on our porch an' talk +To th' Raggedy Man 'at mows our lawn; +An' he says "_Whew!"_ an' nen leans on + His old crook-scythe, and blinks his eyes +An' sniffs all around an' says,--"I swawn! + Ef my old nose don't tell me lies, + It 'pears like I smell custard-pies!" + An' nen _he'll_ say,-- + "'Clear out' o' my way! + They's time fer work an' time fer play! + Take yer dough, an' run, Child; run! + Er _she_ cain't git no cookin' done!'" + +[Illustration: Wuz parchin' corn fer the raggedy man] + +Wunst our hired girl, one time when she + Got the supper, an' we all et, +An' it was night, an' Ma an' me + An' Pa went wher' the "Social" met,-- +An' nen when we come home, an' see +A light in the kitchen-door, an' we + Heerd a maccordeum, Pa says "Lan'-- +O'Gracious! who can _her_ beau be?" + An' I marched in, an' 'Lizabuth Ann + Wuz parchin' corn fer the Raggedy Man! + _Better_ say + "Clear out o' the way! + They's time fer work, an' time fer play! + Take the hint, an' run, Child; run! + Er we cain't git no _courtin_' done!'" + + + + +THE BOYS' CANDIDATE + +[Illustration: The Boys' Candidate] + +Las' time 'at Uncle Sidney come, +He bringed a watermelon home-- + An' half the boys in town, +Come taggin' after him.--An' he +Says, when we et it,--_"Gracious me! + 'S the boy-house fell down?"_ + + + + +THE PET COON + +[Illustration: The Pet Coon--Title] + +Noey Bixler ketched him, and fetched him in to me + When he's ist a little teenty-weenty baby-coon +'Bout as big as little pups, an' tied him to a tree; + An' Pa gived Noey fifty cents, when he come home at noon. +Nen he buyed a chain fer him, an' little collar, too, + An' sawed a hole in a' old tub an' turnt it upside-down; +An' little feller'd stay in there and won't come out fer you-- + 'Tendin' like he's kindo' skeered o' boys 'at lives in town. + +_Now_ he aint afeard a bit! he's ist so fat an' tame, + We on'y chain him up at night, to save the little chicks. +Holler "Greedy! Greedy!" to him, an' he knows his name, + An' here he'll come a-waddle-un, up fer any tricks! +He'll climb up my leg, he will, an' waller in my lap, + An' poke his little black paws 'way in my pockets where +They's beechnuts, er chinkypins, er any little scrap + Of anything, 'at's good to eat--an' _he_ don't care! + +An' he's as spunky as you please, an' don't like dogs at all.-- + Billy Miller's black-an'-tan tackled him one day, +An' "Greedy" he ist kindo' doubled all up like a ball, + An' Billy's dog he gived a yelp er two an' runned away! +An' nen when Billy fighted me, an' hit me with a bone, + An' Ma she purt'nigh ketched him as he dodged an' skooted thro' +The fence, she says, "You better let my little boy alone, + Er 'Greedy,' next he whips yer dog, shall whip you, too!" + +[Illustration: An' nen when Billy fighted me] + + + + +THE OLD HAY-MOW + +[Illustration: The Old Hay-Mow--Title] + +The Old Hay-mow's the place to play +Fer boys, when it's a rainy day! +I good-'eal ruther be up there +Than down in town, er anywhere! + +When I play in our stable-loft, +The good old hay's so dry an' soft, +An' feels so fine, an' smells so sweet, +I 'most ferget to go an' eat. + +[Illustration: In our hay-mow where I keep store] + +An' one time wunst I _did_ ferget +To go 'tel dinner was all et,-- +An' they had short-cake--an'--Bud he +Hogged up the piece Ma saved fer me! + +Nen I won't let him play no more +In our hay-mow where I keep store +An' got hen-eggs to sell,--an' shoo +The cackle-un old hen out, too! + +An' nen, when Aunty she was here +A-visitun from Rensselaer, +An' bringed my little cousin,--_he_ +Can come up there an' play with me. + +But, after while--when Bud he bets +'At I can't turn no summersetts,-- +I let him come up, ef he can +Ac' ha'f-way like a gentleman! + + + + +ON THE SUNNY SIDE + +[Illustration: On The Sunny Side--Title] + +Hi and whoop-hooray, boys! + Sing a song of cheer! +Here's a holiday, boys, + Lasting half a year! +Round the world, and half is + Shadow we have tried; +Now we're where the laugh is,-- + On the sunny side! + +Pigeons coo and mutter, + Strutting high aloof +Where the sunbeans flutter + Through the stable roof. +Hear the chickens cheep, boys, + And the hen with pride +Clucking them to sleep, boys, + On the sunny side! + +[Illustration: As a romping boy] + +Hear the clacking guinea; + Hear the cattle moo; +Hear the horses whinny, + Looking out at you! +On the hitching-block, boys, + Grandly satisfied, +See the old peacock, boys, + On the sunny side! + +Robins in the peach-tree; + Bluebirds in the pear; +Blossoms over each tree + In the orchard there! +All the world's in joy, boys, + Glad and glorified +As a romping boy, boys, + On the sunny side! + +Where's a heart as mellow? + Where's a soul as free? +Where is any fellow + We would rather be? +Just ourselves or none, boys, + World around and wide, +Laughing in the sun, boys, + On the sunny side! + + + + +A SUDDEN SHOWER + +[Illustration: A Sudden Shower--Title] + +Barefooted boys scud up the street + Or skurry under sheltering sheds; +And schoolgirl faces, pale and sweet, + Gleam from the shawls about their heads. + +Doors bang; and mother-voices call + From alien homes; and rusty gates +Are slammed; and high above it all, + The thunder grim reverberates. + +And then, abrupt,--the rain! the rain!-- + The earth lies gasping; and the eyes +Behind the streaming window-pane + Smile at the trouble of the skies. + +[Illustration: Schoolgirl faces ... gleam from the shawls about their +heads] + +The highway smokes; sharp echoes ring; + The cattle bawl and cowbells clank; +And into town comes galloping + The farmer's horse, with streaming flank. + +The swallow dips beneath the eaves, + And flirts his plumes and folds his wings; +And under the catawba leaves + The caterpillar curls and clings. + +The bumble-bee is pelted down + The wet stem of the hollyhock; +And sullenly, in spattered brown, + The cricket leaps the garden walk. + +Within, the baby claps his hands + And crows with rapture strange and vague; +Without, beneath the rosebush stands + A dripping rooster on one leg. + +[Illustration: A Sudden Shower--Tailpiece] + + + + +GRANDFATHER SQUEERS + +[Illustration: Grandfather Squeers--Title] + +"My grandfather Squeers," said The Raggedy Man, +As he solemnly lighted his pipe and began-- + +"The most indestructible man, for his years, +And the grandest on earth, was my grandfather Squeers! + +"He said, when he rounded his three-score-and-ten, +'I've the hang of it now and can do it again!' + +"He had frozen his heels so repeatedly, he +Could tell by them just what the weather would be; + +"And would laugh and declare, 'while the _Almanac_ would +Most falsely prognosticate, _he_ never could!' + +"Such a hale constitution had grandfather Squeers +That, 'though he'd used '_navy_' for sixty odd years, + +"He still chewed a dime's-worth six days of the week, +While the seventh he passed with a chew in each cheek: + +"Then my grandfather Squeers had a singular knack +Of sitting around on the small of his back, + +"With his legs like a letter Y stretched o'er the grate +Wherein 'twas his custom to ex-pec-tor-ate. + +"He was fond of tobacco in _manifold_ ways, +And would sit on the door-step, of sunshiny days, + +"And smoke leaf-tobacco he'd raised strictly for +The pipe he'd used all through The Mexican War." + +And The Raggedy Man said, refilling the bowl +Of his own pipe and leisurely picking a coal + +From the stove with his finger and thumb, "You can see +What a tee-nacious habit he's fastened on me! + +"And my grandfather Squeers took a special delight +In pruning his corns every Saturday night + +"With a horn-handled razor, whose edge he excused +By saying 'twas one that his grandfather used; + +"And, though deeply etched in the haft of the same +Was the ever-euphonious Wostenholm's name, + +"'Twas my grandfather's custom to boast of the blade +As 'A Seth Thomas razor--the best ever made!' + +"No Old Settlers' Meeting, or Pioneers' Fair, +Was complete without grandfather Squeers in the chair + +"To lead off the programme by telling folks how +'He used to shoot deer where the Court-House stands now'-- + +[Illustration: And smoke leaf-tobacco] + +"How 'he felt, of a truth, to live over the past, +When the country was wild and unbroken and vast, + +"'That the little log cabin was just plenty fine +For himself, his companion, and fambly of nine!-- + +"'When they didn't have even a pump, or a tin, +But drunk surface-water, year out and year in, + +"'From the old-fashioned gourd that was sweeter, by odds, +Than the goblets of gold at the lips of the gods!'" + +Then The Raggedy Man paused to plaintively say +It was clockin' along to'rds the close of the day-- + +And he'd _ought_ to get back to his work on the lawn,-- +Then dreamily blubbered his pipe and went on: + +"His teeth were imperfect--my grandfather owned +That he couldn't eat oysters unless they were 'boned'; + +"And his eyes were so weak, and so feeble of sight, +He couldn't sleep with them unless, every night, + +"He put on his spectacles--all he possessed,-- +Three pairs--with his goggles on top of the rest. + +"And my grandfather always, retiring at night, +Blew down the lamp-chimney to put out the light; + +"Then he'd curl up on edge like a shaving, in bed, +And puff and smoke pipes in his sleep, it is said: + +"And would snore oftentimes as the legends relate, +Till his folks were wrought up to a terrible state,-- + +"Then he'd snort, and rear up, and roll over; and there, +In the subsequent hush they could hear him chew air. + +"And so glaringly bald was the top of his head +That many's the time he has musingly said, + +"As his eyes journeyed o'er its reflex in the glass,-- +'I must set out a few signs of _Keep Off the Grass!_' + +"So remarkably deaf was my grandfather Squeers +That he had to wear lightning-rods over his ears + +"To even hear thunder--and oftentimes then +He was forced to request it to thunder again." + +[Illustration: Grandfather Squeers--Tailpiece] + + + + +THE PIXY PEOPLE + +[Illustration: The Pixy People--Title] + +It was just a very + Merry fairy dream!-- +All the woods were airy + With the gloom and gleam; +Crickets in the clover + Clattered clear and strong, +And the bees droned over + Their old honey-song. + +In the mossy passes, + Saucy grasshoppers +Leapt about the grasses + And the thistle-burs; +And the whispered chuckle + Of the katydid +Shook the honeysuckle + Blossoms where he hid. + +Through the breezy mazes + Of the lazy June, +Drowsy with the hazes + Of the dreamy noon, +Little Pixy people + Winged above the walk, +Pouring from the steeple + Of a mullein-stalk. + +One--a gallant fellow-- + Evidently King,-- +Wore a plume of yellow + In a jewelled ring +On a pansy bonnet, + Gold and white and blue, +With the dew still on it, + And the fragrance, too. + +One--a dainty lady,-- + Evidently Queen,-- +Wore a gown of shady + Moonshine and green, +With a lace of gleaming + Starlight that sent +All the dewdrops dreaming + Everywhere she went. + +[Illustration: Winged above the walk] + +One wore a waistcoat + Of roseleaves, out and in, +And one wore a faced-coat + Of tiger-lily-skin; +And one wore a neat coat + Of palest galingale; +And one a tiny street-coat, + And one a swallow-tail. + +And Ho! sang the King of them, + And Hey! sang the Queen; +And round and round the ring of them + Went dancing o'er the green; +And Hey! sang the Queen of them, + And Ho! sang the King-- +And all that I had seen of them + --Wasn't anything! + +It was just a very + Merry fairy dream!-- +All the woods were airy + With the gloom and gleam; +Crickets in the clover + Clattered clear and strong, +And the bees droned over + Their old honey-song! + + + + +A LIFE-LESSON + +[Illustration: A Life-Lesson--Title] + +There! little girl; don't cry! + They have broken your doll, I know; + And your tea-set blue, + And your play-house, too, + Are things of the long ago; + But childish troubles will soon pass by.-- + There! little girl; don't cry! + +There! little girl; don't cry! + They have broken your slate, I know; + And the glad, wild ways + Of your school-girl days + Are things of the long ago; + But life and love will soon come by.-- + There! little girl; don't cry! + +There! little girl; don't cry! + They have broken your heart, I know; + And the rainbow gleams + Of your youthful dreams + Are things of the long ago; + But Heaven holds all for which you sigh.-- + There! little girl; don't cry! + +[Illustration: But Heaven hold all for which you sigh] + + + + +A HOME-MADE FAIRY-TALE + +[Illustration: A Home-made Fairy-Tale--Title] + +Bud, come here to your Uncle a spell, +And I'll tell you something you mustn't tell-- +For it's a secret and shore-nuff true, +And maybe I oughtn't to tell it to you!-- +But out in the garden, under the shade +Of the apple-trees where we romped and played +Till the moon was up, and you thought I'd gone +Fast asleep.--That was all put on! +For I was a-watchin' something queer +Goin' on there in the grass, my dear! +'Way down deep in it, there I see +A little dude-Fairy who winked at me, +And snapped his fingers, and laughed as low +And fine as the whine of a mus-kee-to! +I kept still--watchin' him closer--and +I noticed a little guitar in his hand, +Which he leant 'ginst a little dead bee--and laid +His cigarette down on a clean grass-blade; +And then climbed up on the shell of a snail-- +Carefully dusting his swallowtail-- +And pulling up, by a waxed web-thread, +This little guitar, you remember, I said! +And there he trinkled and trilled a tune-- +"My Love, so Fair, Tans in the Moon!" +Till presently, out of the clover-top +He seemed to be singing to, came k'pop! +The purtiest, daintiest Fairy face +In all this world, or any place! +Then the little ser'nader waved his hand, +As much as to say, "We'll excuse _you_!" and +I heard, as I squinted my eyelids to, +A kiss like the drip of a drop of dew! + +[Illustration: A Little Dude-Fairy] + + + + +THE BEAR STORY + +THAT ALEX "IST MAKED UP HIS-OWN-SE'F" + +W'y, wunst they wuz a Little Boy went out +In the woods to shoot a Bear. So, he went out +'Way in the grea'-big woods--he did.--An' he +Wuz goin' along--an' goin' along, you know, +An' purty soon he heerd somepin' go "_Wooh!"_-- +Ist thataway--"_Woo-ooh!"_ An' he wuz _skeered_, +He wuz. An' so he runned an' clumbed a tree-- +A grea'-big tree, he did,--a sicka-_more_ tree. +An' nen he heerd it ag'in: an' he looked round, +An' _'t'uz a Bear!--a grea'-big shore-nuff Bear!_-- +No: 't'uz _two_ Bears, it wuz--two grea'-big Bears-- +_One_ of 'em wuz--ist _one's_ a _grea'-big_ Bear.-- +But they ist _boff_ went "_Wooh!_"--An' here _they_ come +To climb the tree an' git the Little Boy +An' eat him up! + + An' nen the Little Boy +He 'uz skeered worse'n ever! An' here come +The grea'-big Bear a-climbin' th' tree to git +The Little Boy an' eat him up--Oh, _no!_-- +It 'uzn't the _Big_ Bear 'at clumb the tree-- +It 'uz the _Little_ Bear. So here _he_ come +Climbin' the tree--an' climbin' the tree! Nen when +He git wite _clos't_ to the Little Boy, w'y nen +The Little Boy he ist pulled up his gun +An' _shot_ the Bear, he did, an' killed him dead! +An' nen the Bear he falled clean on down out +The tree--away clean to the ground, he did-- +_Spling-splung!_ he falled _plum_ down, an' killed him, too! +An' lit wite side o' where the _Big_ Bear's at. + +An' nen the Big Bear's awful mad, you bet!-- +'Cause--'cause the Little Boy he shot his gun +An' killed the _Little_ Bear.--'Cause the _Big_ Bear +He--he 'uz the Little Bear's Papa.--An' so here +_He_ come to climb the big old tree an' git +The Little Boy an' eat him up! An' when +The Little Boy he saw the _grea'-big Bear_ +A-comin', he uz badder skeered, he wuz, +Than _any_ time! An' so he think he'll climb +Up _higher_--'way up higher in the tree +Than the old _Bear_ kin climb, you know.--But he-- +He _can't_ climb higher 'an old _Bears_ kin climb,-- +'Cause Bears kin climb up higher in the trees +Than any little Boys in all the Wo-r-r-ld! + +An' so here come the grea'-big-Bear, he did,-- +A-climbin' up--an' up the tree, to git +The Little Boy an' eat him up! An' so +The Little Boy he clumbed on higher, an' higher, +An' higher up the tree--an' higher--an' higher-- +An' higher'n iss-here _house_ is!--An' here come +Th' old Bear--clos'ter to him all the time!-- +An' nen--first thing you know,--when th' old Big Bear +Wuz wite clos't to him--nen the Little Boy +Ist jabbed his gun wite in the old Bear's mouf +An' shot an' killed him dead!--No; I _fergot_,-- +He didn't shoot the grea'-big Bear at all-- +'Cause _they 'uz no load in the gun_, you know-- +'Cause when he shot the _Little_ Bear, w'y, nen +No load 'uz anymore nen _in_ the gun! + +But th' Little Boy clumbed _higher_ up, he did-- +He clumbed _lots_ higher--an' on up _higher_--an' higher +An' _higher_--tel he ist _can't_ climb no higher, +'Cause nen the limbs 'uz all so little, 'way +Up in the teeny-weeny tip-top of +The tree, they'd break down wiv him ef he don't +Be keerful! So he stop an' think: An' nen +He look around--An' here come th' old Bear! + +An' so the Little Boy make up his mind +He's got to ist git out o' there _some_ way!-- +'Cause here come the old Bear!--so clos't, his bref's +Purt 'nigh so's he kin feel how hot it is +Ag'inst his bare feet--ist like old "Ring's" bref +When he's ben out a-huntin' an's all tired. +So when th' old Bear's so clos't--the Little Boy +Ist gives a grea'-big jump fer '_nother_ tree-- +No!--no he don't do that!--I tell you what +The Little Boy does:--W'y, nen--w'y, he--Oh, _yes_-- +The Little Boy _he finds a hole up there +'At's in the tree_--an' climbs in there an' _hides_-- +An' _nen_ th' old Bear can't find the Little Boy +At all!--But, purty soon th' old Bear finds +The Little Boy's _gun_ 'at's up there--'cause the _gun_ +It's too _tall_ to tooked wiv him in the hole. +So, when the old Bear fin' the _gun_, he knows +The Little Boy's ist _hid_ 'round _somers_ there,-- +An' th' old Bear 'gins to snuff an' sniff around, +An' sniff an' snuff around--so's he kin find +Out where the Little Boy's hid at.--An' nen--nen-- +Oh, _yes!_--W'y, purty soon the old Bear climbs +'Way out on a big limb--a grea'-long limb,-- +An' nen the Little Boy climbs out the hole +An' takes his ax an' chops the limb off!... Nen +The old Bear falls _k-splunge!_ clean to the ground +An' bust an' kill hisse'f plum dead, he did! + +An' nen the Little Boy he git his gun +An' 'menced a-climbin' down the tree ag'in-- +No!--no, he _didn't_ git his _gun_--'cause when +The _Bear_ falled, nen the _gun_ falled, too--An' broked +It all to pieces, too!--An' _nicest_ gun!-- +His Pa ist buyed it!--An' the Little Boy +Ist cried, he did; an' went on climbin' down +The tree--an' climbin' down--an' climbin' down!-- +_An'-sir!_ when he 'uz purt'-nigh down,--w'y, nen +_The old Bear he jumped up ag'in_--an' he +Ain't dead at all--ist _'tendin'_ thataway, +So he kin git the Little Boy an' eat +Him up! But the Little Boy he 'uz too smart +To climb clean _down_ the tree.--An' the old Bear +He can't climb _up_ the tree no more--'cause when +He fell, he broke one of his--he broke _all_ +His legs!--an' nen he _couldn't_ climb! But he +Ist won't go'way an' let the Little Boy +Come down out of the tree. An' the old Bear +Ist growls 'round there, he does--ist growls an' goes +"_Wooh!--woo-ooh!"_ all the time! An' Little Boy +He haf to stay up in the tree--all night-- +An' 'thout no _supper_ neether!--On'y they +Wuz _apples_ on the tree!--An' Little Boy +Et apples--ist all night--an' cried--an' cried! +Nen when 'tuz morning th' old Bear went _"Wooh!"_ +Ag'in, an' try to climb up in the tree +An' git the Little Boy.--But he _can't_ +Climb t'save his _soul_, he can't!--An' _oh!_ he's _mad!_-- +He ist tear up the ground! an' go _"Woo-ooh!"_ +An'--_Oh, yes!_--purty soon, when morning's come +All _light_--so's you kin _see_, you know,--w'y, nen +The old Bear finds the Little Boy's _gun_, you know, +'At's on the ground.--(An' it ain't broke at all-- +I ist _said_ that!) An' so the old Bear think +He'll take the gun an' _shoot_ the Little Boy:-- +But _Bears they_ don't know much 'bout shootin' guns; +So when he go to shoot the Little Boy, +The old Bear got the _other_ end the gun +Ag'in' his shoulder, 'stid o' _th' other_ end-- +So when he try to shoot the Little Boy, +It shot _the Bear_, it did--an' killed him dead! +An' nen the Little Boy clumb down the tree +An' chopped his old woolly head off:--Yes, an' killed +The _other_ Bear ag'in, he did--an' killed +All _boff_ the bears, he did--an' tuk 'em home +An' _cooked_ 'em, too, an' _et_ 'em! + --An' that's all. + +[Illustration: ENVOY] + + + + +ENVOY + +Many pleasures of youth have been buoyantly sung-- + And, borne on the winds of delight, may they beat +With their palpitant wings at the hearts of the Young, + And in bosoms of Age find as warm a retreat!-- +Yet sweetest of all of the musical throng, + Though least of the numbers that upward aspire, +Is the one rising now into wavering song, + As I sit in the silence and gaze in the fire. + +'Tis a Winter long dead that beleaguers my door + And muffles his steps in the snows of the past: +And I see, in the embers I'm dreaming before, + Lost faces of love as they looked on me last:-- +The round, laughing eyes of the desk-mate of old + Gleam out for a moment with truant desire-- +Then fade and are lost in a City of Gold, + As I sit in the silence and gaze in the fire. + +And then comes the face, peering back in my own, + Of a shy little girl, with her lids drooping low, +As she faltering tells, in a far-away tone, + The ghost of a story of long, long ago.-- +Then her dewy blue eyes they are lifted again; + But I see their glad light slowly fail and expire, +As I reach and cry to her in vain, all in vain!-- + As I sit in the silence and gaze in the fire. + +Then the face of a Mother looks back, through the mist + Of tears that are welling; and, lucent with light, +I see the dear smile of the lips I have kissed + As she knelt by my cradle at morning and night; +And my arms are outheld, with a yearning too wild + For any but God in His love to inspire, +As she pleads at the foot of His throne for her child,-- + As I sit in the silence and gaze in the fire. + +O pathos of rapture! O glorious pain! + My heart is a blossom of joy over-run +With a shower of tears, as a lily with rain + That weeps in the shadow and laughs in the sun. +The blight of the frost may descend on the tree, + And the leaf and the flower may fall and expire, +But ever and ever love blossoms for me, + As I sit in the silence and gaze in the fire. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Riley Child-Rhymes, by James Whitcomb Riley + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RILEY CHILD-RHYMES *** + +This file should be named chrly10.txt or chrly10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, chrly11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, chrly10a.txt + +Produced by Maria Cecilia Lim and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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