C, K. OGDEN COLLECTION 
 
A CMILD5 CAKDCNOr VdKSE'D, 
 
 BY 
 
 THE CHILD 
 
 5X CABRICL 5CTOVN 
 
 5Y n.D 
 
 LWLLABV-L.AND .t^^^S^ 
 
 BY CVGCNt 
 
 KING LONCDEAKD 
 
 By DARLINGTON 
 
LuDabv- 
 ftnd. 
 
 U.C 
 
 RARY 
 
of CbMdncoa. 
 
 KENNCTH 
 
 GRAHAME,,4^dr of- 
 "The Golden A^e'! ant 
 illvsfafof f>r CHARLES 
 ROBINSON. 
 
 TT^RAKY 
 
WILLIAM BREN00N AND SON, LTD., PLYMOUTH, ENGLAND 
 
THERE is a sort of a garden 
 or rather an estate, of park 
 and fallow and waste nay, 
 perhaps we may call it a kingdom, albeit a 
 nomarfs-land and an everymari s-land which lies 
 so close to the frontier of our work-a-day world 
 that a step will take us therein. Indeed, some will 
 have it that we are there all the time, that it is the 
 real fourth dimension, and that at any moment if 
 we did but know the trick we might find ourselves 
 trotting along its pleasant alleys, without once 
 quitting our arm-chair. Nonsense-Land is one of 
 the names painted up on the board at the frontier- 
 station; and there the custom-home officers are 
 9 
 
PREFACE 
 
 "Very strict. You may take as much tobacco as you 
 please, any quantity of spirits, and fripperies of 
 every sort, new and old ; but all common- sense, all 
 logic, all serious argument, must strictly be declared, 
 and is promptly confiscated. Once safely across 
 the border, it is with no surprise at all that you 
 greet the Lead Soldier strutting somewhat stiffly to 
 meet you, the Dog with eyes as big as mill-wheels 
 following affably at his heel ; on the banks of the 
 streams little Johnny -head -in-air is perpetually 
 being hauled out of the water ; while the plaintive 
 voice of the Gryphon is borne inland from the 
 margin of the sea. 
 
 Most people, at one time or another, have 
 travelled in this delectable country, if only in 
 young and irresponsible days. Certain unfortu- 
 nates, unequipped by nature for a voyage in such 
 latitudes, have never visited it at all, and assuredly 
 never will. A happy few never quit it entirely at 
 any time. Domiciled in that pleasant atmosphere, 
 they peep into the world of facts but fitfully, at 
 moments ; and decline to sacrifice their high 
 privilege of citizenship at any summons to a low 
 conformity. 
 
 Of this fortunate band was Eugene Field. 
 He knew the country thoroughly, its highways 
 10 
 
PREFACE 
 
 and its byways alike. Its language was the one 
 he was fondest of talking ; and he always refused 
 to emigrate and to settle down anywhere else. As 
 soon as he set himself to narrate the goings-on 
 there, those of us who had been tourists in bygone 
 days, bid had lost our return-tickets, pricked up 
 our ears, and listened, and remembered, and knew. 
 The Dinkey-Bird, we recollected at once, had been 
 singing, the day we left, in the amfalula-tree ; and 
 there, of course, he must have been singing ever 
 since, only we had forgotten the way to listen. 
 Eugene Field gently reminded us, and the Dinkey- 
 Bird was vocal once more, to be silent never again. 
 Shut-Eye Train had been starting every night 
 with the utmost punctuality; it was we who had 
 long ago lost our way to the booking-office (I 
 really do not know the American for booking- 
 office). Now we can hurry up the platform when- 
 ever we please, and hear the doors slam and the 
 whistle toot as we sink back on those Jirst-class 
 cushions! And the Chocolate Cat, why, of course 
 the cats were all chocolate then! And how 
 pleasantly brittle their tails were, and how swiftly, 
 though culled and sucked each day, they sprouted 
 afresh ! 
 
 It is an engaging theory, that we are all of us 
 11 
 
PREFACE 
 
 just as well informed as the gi'eat philosophers 9 
 poets, wits, who are getting all the glory; only 
 unfortunately our memories are not equally good 
 we forget, we forget so terribly ! Those belauded 
 gentlemen, termed by our fathers "makers" 
 creators, to wit they are only reminders after all: 
 flappers, Gulliver would have called them. The 
 parched peas in their gaily-painted bladders rattle 
 with reminiscences as they flap us on the ears ; and 
 at once we recall what we are rightly abashed 
 beyond measure to have for one instant forgotten. 
 At any rate, it is only when the writer comes along 
 who strikes a new clear note, who does a thing 
 both true and fresh, that we say to ourselves, not 
 only " How I wish I had done that myself! " but 
 also "And I would have done it, too if only I 
 had remembered it in time ! " Perhaps this is one 
 of the tests of originality. 
 
 Of course I am touching upon but one side 
 of Eugene Field the writer. An American of 
 Americans, much of his verse was devoted to the 
 celebration of what we may call tlie minor joys 
 which go to make social happiness in the life he 
 lived with so frank and rounded a completion a 
 celebration which appealed to his countrymen no 
 
 less keenly, that the joys were of a sort which, 
 12 
 
PREFACE 
 
 perhaps from some false sense of what makes 
 fitness in subject had hitherto lacked their poet 
 on that side at least. This, of course, was the 
 fault of the poets. And though I spoke just now 
 of minor joys, there are really no such things as 
 minor joys or minor thrushes and blackbirds. 
 Fortunately this other aspect does not need to be 
 considered here. I say fortunately ', because it is 
 not given to a writer to know more than one Land 
 to know it intimately, that is to say, so as to 
 dare to write about it. This is the Law and the 
 Prophets. Even that most native utterance, which 
 sings of " the clink of the ice in the pitcher that 
 the boy brings up the hall," appeals to us but 
 faintly, at second-hand. That pitcher does not 
 clink in England. 
 
 In this spheral existence all straight lines, 
 sufficiently prolonged, prove to be circles: and a 
 line of thought is no exception. We are back at 
 the point we started from the consideration of 
 Eugene Field as a citizen , of a sort of a cloud- 
 country, to start with ; and later, of a land more 
 elemental. In either capacity we Jind the same 
 note, of the joy of life. We find the same honest 
 resolve, to accept the rules and to play out the 
 game accordingly; the same conviction, that the 
 13 
 
PREFACE 
 
 game is in itself a good one, well worth the play- 
 ing. And so, with no misgiving, he takes his 
 America with just the same heartiness as his 
 Nonsense-land. 
 
 The little boy who should by rights have been 
 lost in the forest, by the white pebbles he had 
 warily dropped found his way back safely to sun- 
 light and to home ; and to keep in touch with earth 
 is at least to ensure progression in temperate and 
 sweet-breathed atmosphere, as well as in a certain 
 zone, and that no narrow one, of appreciation ; the 
 appreciation of our fellows, the world over ; those 
 who, whatever their hemisphere, daily find them- 
 selves pricked by a common sun, with the same 
 stimulus for every cuticle, towards pleasures sur- 
 prisingly similar. 
 
 KENNETH GRAHAME. 
 
 14 
 
CONTENTS- 
 
 x ^J / ^ I= cIy^ a *g= :> ^s=_ ^ | i iiihrfi**^) ""g^^gg^BBpfcr-j, , -*i**^^ c ' ef '' ..'.-'' 
 
 The Rock-a-By Lady 
 Garden and Cradle 
 The Night Wind 
 
 15 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 The Dinkey-Bird 
 
 So, so, Rock-a-by so 
 
 The Duel 
 
 Good-Children Street 
 
 The Bottle Tree 
 
 Lady Button- Eyes 
 
 The Ride to Bumpville 
 
 Shriffle-Shoon and Amber-Locks 
 
 The Shut-Eye Train 
 
 Little-Oh-Dear 
 
 The Fly -Away Horse 
 
 Fiddle-Dee-Dee 
 
 Page 41 
 4-7 
 53 
 59 
 65 
 71 
 77 
 83 
 89 
 97 
 103 
 111 
 
 The Sugar-Plum Tree 
 
 Krinken 
 
 Pittypat and Tippytoe 
 
 Little Blue Pigeon 
 
 Teeny -Weeny 
 
 16 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Buttercup, Poppy, Forget-me-not Page 153 
 
 Wynken, Blynken, and Nod 159 
 
 Little Mistress Sans-Merci 167 
 
 Hi-Spy 173 
 
 Little Boy Blue 177 
 
 . Heigho, my Dearie 183 
 
 Fairy and Child 187 
 
 Child and Mother 193 
 
 Ganderfeathers Gift 197 
 
 /rvm The jecond Book of "Verxe!^; 
 
 Telling the Bees Page 207 
 
 'Tfiie Lonesome lirrle 
 
 Contentment Page 215 
 
 17 
 
POEMS FROM ''LOVE 
 JONGS OF CHILDHOOD 
 
The Rock-a?-Jby 
 
THE. ROCK-A- 
 DY LADY 
 
 THE Rock-a-By Lady from Hushaby street 
 Comes stealing ; comes creeping ; 
 The poppies they hang from her head to her feet, 
 23 
 
THE ROCK-A-BY LADY 
 
 And each hath a dream that is tiny and fleet 
 She bringeth her poppies to you, my sweet, 
 When she findeth you sleeping! 
 
 There is one little dream of a beautiful drum 
 
 " Rub-a-dub ! " it goeth ; 
 There is one little dream of a big sugar-plum, 
 
 24 
 
"THERE is ONE LITTLE DREAM 
 
 OF A BEAUTIFUL DRUM* 7 
 
THE ROCK- A- BY LADY 
 / 
 
 And lo! thick and fast the other dreams come 
 Of popguns that bang, and tin tops that hum, 
 And a trumpet that bloweth ! 
 
 And dollies peep out of those wee little dreams 
 
 With laughter and singing; 
 And boats go a-floating on silvery streams, 
 And the stars peek-a-boo with their own misty 
 
 gleams, 
 And up, up, and up, where the Mother Moon 
 
 beams, 
 The fairies go winging! 
 
 26 
 
THE ROCK-A-BY LADY 
 
 Would you dream all these dreams that are tiny 
 
 and fleet? 
 
 They'll come to you sleeping ; 
 So shut the two eyes that are weary^ my sweet, 
 For the Rock-a-By Lady from Hushaby street, 
 With poppies that hang from her head to her 
 
 feet, 
 Comes stealing; comes creeping. 
 
WHEN our babe he goeth walking in his 
 garden, 
 
 Around his tinkling feet the sunbeams play ; 
 31 
 
GARDEN AND CRADLE 
 
 The posies they are good to him, 
 And bow them as they should to him, 
 
 As fareth he upon his kingly way; 
 And birdlings of the wood to him 
 
 Make music, gentle music, all the day, 
 When our babe he goeth walking in his garden. 
 
 When our babe he goeth swinging in his cradle, 
 Then the night it looketh ever sweetly down; 
 The little stars are kind to him, 
 The moon she hath a mind to him 
 And layeth on his head a golden crown ; 
 
 And singeth then the wind to him 
 A song, the gentle song of Bethlem-town, 
 When our babe he goeth swinging in his cradle. 
 
 32 
 
NIGHT W1MD 
 
 HAVE you ever heard the wind go " Yooooo " ? 
 'Tis a pitiful sound to hear ! 
 It seems to chill you through and through 
 
 With a strange and speechless fear. 
 'Tis the voice of the night that broods outside 
 
 When folk should be asleep, 
 And many and many 's the time I've cried 
 To the darkness brooding far and wide 
 Over the land and the deep : 
 37 
 
THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 "Whom do you want, O lonely night, 
 
 That you wail the long hours through ? " 
 And the night would say in its ghostly way : 
 " Yoooooooo ! 
 Yoooooooo ! 
 Yoooooooo ! " 
 
 My mother told me long ago 
 
 (When I was a little tad) 
 That when the night went wailing so, 
 
 Somebody had been bad ; 
 And then, when I was snug in bed, 
 
 Whither I had been sent, 
 With the blankets pulled up round my head, 
 I'd think of what my mother 'd said, 
 
 And wonder what boy she meant ! 
 And " Who's been bad to-day ? " I'd ask 
 
 Of the wind that hoarsely blew, 
 And the voice would say in its meaningful way 
 " Yoooooooo ! 
 Yoooooooo ! 
 Yoooooooo ! " 
 
 That this was true I must allow 
 You'll not believe it, though ! 
 
 Yes, though I'm quite a model now, 
 I was not always so. 
 
 And if you doubt what things I say, 
 Suppose you make the test; 
 38 
 
THE NIGHT WIND 
 
 Suppose, when you've been bad some day 
 And up to bed are sent away 
 From mother and the rest 
 Suppose you ask, "Who has been bad?" 
 
 And then you'll hear what's true ; 
 For the wind will moan in its ruefullest tone 
 " Yoooooooo ! 
 Yoooooooo ! 
 Yoooooooo ! " 
 
 40 
 
TJic 
 
 Bird 
 
N an ocean, 'way out yonder 
 (As all sapient people know), 
 43 
 
THE DINKEY-BIRD 
 
 Is the land of Wonder- Wander, 
 Whither children love to go ; 
 
 It's their playing, romping, swinging, 
 That give great joy to me 
 
 While the Dinkey-Bird goes singing 
 In the amfalula tree ! 
 
 There the gum-drops grow like cherries, 
 
 And taffy 's thick as peas 
 Caramels you pick like berries 
 
 When, and where, and how you please ; 
 Big red sugar-plums are clinging 
 
 To the cliffs beside that sea 
 Where the Dinkey- Bird is singing 
 
 In the amfalula tree. 
 
 So when children shout and scamper 
 And make merry all the day, 
 
 When there's naught to put a damper 
 To the ardour of their play ; 
 44 
 
THE DINKEY-BIRD 
 
 When I hear their laughter ringing, 
 Then I'm sure as sure can be 
 
 That the Dinkey-Bird is singing 
 In the amfalula tree. 
 
 For the Dinkey-Bird's bravuras 
 
 And staccatos are so sweet 
 His roulades, appoggiaturas, 
 
 And robustos so complete, 
 That the youth of every nation 
 
 Be they near or far away 
 Have especial delectation 
 
 In that gladsome roundelay. 
 
 Their eyes grow bright and brighter, 
 
 Their lungs begin to crow, 
 Their hearts get light and lighter, 
 
 And their cheeks are all aglow; 
 For an echo cometh bringing 
 
 The news to all and me, 
 That the Dinkey-Bird is singing 
 
 In the amfalula tree. 
 
 I'm sure you like to go there 
 To see your feathered friend 
 
 And so many goodies grow there 
 You would like to comprehend ! 
 45 
 
THE DINKEY-BIRD 
 
 Speed, little dreams, your winging 
 To that land across the sea 
 
 Where the Dinkey-Bird is singing 
 ?n the amf alula tree! 
 
So, so, 
 
 ! i 
 
 Roc(^a\by sol 
 
SO, so, rock-a-by so ! 
 Off to the garden where dreamikins grow; 
 And here is a kiss on your winkyblirik eyes. 
 And here is a kiss on your dimpledown cheek 
 
 49 D 
 
SO, SO, ROCK-A-BY SO 
 
 And here is a kiss for the treasure that lies 
 In the beautiful garden 'way up in the skies 
 
 Which you seek. 
 
 Now mind these three kisses wherever you go 
 So, so, rock-a-by so! 
 
 There's one little fumfay who lives there, I know, 
 For he dances all night where the dreamikins 
 
 grow; 
 I send him this kiss on your droopydrop eyes, 
 
 I send him this kiss on your rosy-red cheek. 
 And here is a kiss for the dream that shall rise 
 When the fumfay shall dance in those far-away 
 skies 
 
 Which you seek. 
 
 Be sure that you pay those three kisses you owe 
 So, so, rock-a-by so! 
 
 , , 
 
 And, by-low, as you rock-a-by go, 
 
 Don't forget mother who loveth you so ! 
 
 And here is her kiss on your weepydeep eyes. 
 
 And here is her kiss on your peachypink cheek, 
 And here is her kiss for the dreamland that lies, 
 Like a babe on the breast of those far-away skies 
 
 Which you seek 
 
 The blinkywink garden where dreamikins grow 
 So, so, rock-a-by so! 
 
 50 
 
The 
 
 fittel. 
 
 J 
 
THEM 
 X. DUEL 
 
 THE gingham dog and the calico cat 
 Side by side on the table sat; 
 'Twas half-past twelve, and (what do you think!) 
 Nor one nor t'other had slept a wink! 
 
 The old Dutch clock and the Chinese plate 
 Appeared to know as sure as fate 
 There was going to be a terrible spat. 
 (/ wasn't there; I simply state 
 What was told to me by the Chinese plate!) 
 
 55 
 
THE DUEL 
 
 The gingham dog went " bow-wow-wow ! " 
 And the calico cat replied "mee-ow!" 
 The air was littered, an hour or so, 
 With bits of gingham and calico, 
 
 While the old Dutch clock in the chimney 
 place 
 
 Up with its hands before its face, 
 For it always dreaded a family row ! 
 
 (Now mind : I'm only telling you 
 
 What the old Dutch clock declares is true!) 
 
 The Chinese plate looked very blue, 
 And wailed, "Oh, dear! what shall we do?" 
 But the gingham dog and the calico cat 
 Wallowed this way and tumbled that, 
 
 Employing every tooth and claw 
 
 In the awfullest way you ever saw 
 And, oh ! how the gingham and calico flew ! 
 
 (Don't fancy I exaggerate ! 
 
 I got my news from the Chinese plate /) 
 
 Next morning, where the two had sat, 
 They found no trace of dog or cat; 
 And some folks think unto this day 
 That burglars stole that pair away ! 
 
 But the truth about the cat and pup 
 
 Is this : they ate each other up ! 
 Now what do you really think of that ! 
 
 (The old Dutch clock it told me so, 
 
 And that is how I came to know.) 
 56 
 
Good 
 Children Street. 
 
GOOD- 
 CHILDREN fS 
 s&23 STREET. 
 
 THERE'S a dear little 
 home in Good-Chil- 
 dren Street 
 My heart turneth fondly 
 
 to-day 
 Where tinkle of tongues 
 
 and patter of feet 
 Make sweetest of music 
 
 at play ; 
 Where the sunshine of love 
 
 illumines each face 
 And warms every heart 
 in that old-fashioned 
 place. 
 
 61 
 
GOOD-CHILDREN STREET 
 
 For dear little children go romping about 
 With dollies and tin tops and drums, 
 
 And, my! how they frolic and scamper and shout 
 Till bedtime too speedily comes ! 
 
 Oh, days they are golden and days they are fleet 
 
 With little folk living in Good-ChUdren Street. 
 
GOOD-CHILDREN STREET 
 
 See, here comes an army with guns painted red, 
 And swords, caps, and plumes of all sorts; 
 
 The captain rides gaily and proudly ahead 
 On a stick-horse that prances and snorts ! 
 
 Oh, legions of soldiers you're certain to meet 
 
 Nice make - believe soldiers in Good - children 
 Street. 
 
 And yonder Odette wheels her dolly about 
 
 Poor dolly ! I'm sure she is ill, 
 For one of her blue china eyes has dropped out 
 
 And her voice is asthmatic' ly shrill. 
 Then, too, I observe she is minus her feet, 
 Which causes much sorrow in Good - Children 
 Street. 
 
 'Tis so the dear children go romping about 
 With dollies and banners and drums. 
 
 And I venture to say they are sadly put out 
 When an end to their jubilee comes : 
 
 Oh, days they are golden and days they are fleet 
 
 With little folk living in Good-Children Street. 
 
 63 
 
The 
 Dotty Tree, 
 
THE 
 
 A BOTTLE TREE bloometh in Winkyway 
 land 
 
 Heigh-ho for a bottle, I say ! 
 A snug little berth in that ship I demand 
 That rocketh the Bottle-Tree babies away 
 Where the Bottle Tree bloometh by night and 
 
 by day 
 
 And reacheth its fruit to each wee, dimpled hand ; 
 You take of that fruit as much as you list, 
 For colic 's a nuisance that doesn't exist ! 
 So cuddle me close, and cuddle me fast, 
 
 And cuddle me snug in my cradle away, 
 For I hunger and thirst for that precious repast 
 Heigh-ho for a bottle, I say ! 
 
 67 
 
THE BOTTLE TREE 
 
 The Bottle Tree bloometh by night and by day 
 Heigh-ho for Winkyway land ! 
 
 Heigh-ho 
 for a bottle, 
 I say ! 
 
 And Bottle-Tree fruit (as I've heard people say) 
 Makes bellies of Bottle-Tree babies expand 
 And that is a trick I would fain understand ' 
 
 Heigh-ho for a bottle to-day! 
 
 68 
 
THE BOTTLE TREE 
 
 And heigh-ho for a bottle to-night 
 
 A bottle of milk that is creamy and white ! 
 
 of bottle 
 tree babies 
 expand. 
 
 So cuddle me close, and cuddle me fast, 
 And cuddle me snug in my cradle away, 
 
 For I hunger and thirst for that precious repast 
 Heigh-ho for a bottle, I say ! 
 69 
 
Lady 
 
BUTTON-EYE} 
 
 W 
 
 HEN the busy day is done, 
 And my weary little one 
 73 
 
LADY BUTTON-EYES 
 
 Rocketh gently to and fro ; 
 When the night winds softly blow, 
 And the crickets in the glen 
 Chirp and chirp and chirp again ; 
 When upon the haunted green 
 Fairies dance around their queen- 
 Then from yonder misty skies 
 Cometh Lady Button-Eyes. 
 
 Through the murk and mist and gloam 
 To our quiet, cosy home, 
 Where to singing, sweet and low, 
 Rocks a cradle to and fro ; 
 Where the clock's dull monotone 
 Telleth of the day that 's done ; 
 Where the moonbeams hover o'er 
 Playthings sleeping on the floor 
 Where my weary wee one lies 
 Cometh Lady Button-Eyes. 
 
 Cometh like a fleeting ghost 
 From some distant eerie coast ; 
 Never footfall can you hear 
 As that spirit fareth near 
 Never whisper, never word 
 From that shadow-queen is heard. 
 In ethereal raiment dight, 
 From the realm of fay and sprite 
 In the depth of yonder skies 
 Cometh Lady Button-Eyes. 
 74 
 
"THEN FROM YONDER MISTY SKIKS 
 COMETH LADY BUTTON-EYES " 
 
LADY BUTTON-EYES 
 
 Layeth she her hands upon 
 
 My dear weary little one, 
 
 And those white hands overspread 
 
 Like a veil the curly head, 
 
 Seem to fondle and caress 
 
 Every little silken tress; 
 
 Then she smooths the eyelids down 
 
 Over those two eyes of brown 
 
 In such soothing, tender wise 
 
 Cometh Lady Button-Eyes. 
 
 Dearest, feel upon your brow 
 That caressing magic now ; 
 For the crickets in the glen 
 Chirp and chirp and chirp again, 
 While upon the haunted green 
 Fairies dance around their queen, 
 And the moonbeams hover o'er 
 Playthings sleeping on the floor 
 Hush, my sweet ! from yonder skies 
 Cometh Lady Button-Eyes ! 
 
 76 
 
The Rkie 
 
 tolkimpville 
 
THL RIDE 
 TO BUMFVILLE. 
 
 PLAY that my knee was a calico mare 
 Saddled and bridled for Bumpville ; 
 Leap to the back of this steed if you dare, 
 
 And gallop away to Bumpville ! 
 I hope you'll be sure to sit fast in your seat, 
 For this calico mare is prodigiously fleet, 
 And many adventures you're likely to meet 
 As you journey along to Bumpville. 
 
THE RIDE TO BUMPVILLE 
 
 This calico mare both galbps and trots 
 While whisking you off to Sumpville ; 
 She paces, she shies, and she stumbles, in spots, 
 
 In the tortuous road to Bumpville ; 
 And sometimes this strangely mercurial steed 
 Will suddenly stop and refuse to proceed, 
 Which, all will admit, is vexatious indeed, 
 When one is en route to Bumpville ! 
 
 She's scared of the cars when the engine goes 
 
 "Toot!" 
 
 Down by the crossing at Bumpville ; 
 You'd better look out for that treacherous brute 
 
 Bearing you off to Bumpville ! 
 With a snort she rears up on her hindermost 
 
 heels, 
 
 And executes jigs and Virginia reels 
 Words fail to explain how embarrassed one feels 
 Dancing so wildly to Bumpville ! 
 80 
 
THE RIDE TO BUMPVILLE 
 
 It's bumpytybump and it's jiggityjog, 
 
 Journeying on to Bumpville ; 
 It's over the hilltop and down through the bog 
 
 You ride on your way to Bumpville ; 
 It's rattletybang over boulder and stump. 
 There are rivers to ford, there are fences to jump, 
 Arid the corduroy road it goes bumpytybump, 
 
 Mile after mile to Bumpville ! 
 
 Perhaps you'll observe it's no easy thing 
 
 Making the journey to Bumpville, 
 So I think, on the whole, it were prudent to 
 bring 
 
 An end to this ride to Bumpville ; 
 For, though she has uttered no protest or plaint, 
 The calico mare must be blowing and faint 
 What's more to the point, I'm blowed if I ain't ! 
 
 So play we have got to Bumpville ! 
 
 81 
 
Shuffk-Shoon 
 and Amber-Lock*, 
 
T^^P 
 
snumx-snooN AMD 
 
 AMBER-LOCKS. 
 
 QHUFFLE-SHOON and Amber-Locks 
 vj Sit together,, building blocks ; 
 Shuffle-Shoon is old and grey, 
 Amber- Locks a little child, 
 But together at their play 
 
 Age and Youth are reconciled, 
 And with sympathetic glee 
 Build their castles fair to see. 
 
 "When I grow to be a, man" 
 (So the wee one's prattle ran), 
 "I shall build a castle so 
 
 With a gateway broad and grand ; 
 Here a pretty vine shall grow, 
 
 There a soldier guard shall stand; 
 And the tower shall be so high, 
 Folks will wonder, by-and-by!" 
 
 85 
 
SHUFFLE-SHOON 
 
 Shuffle-Shoon quoth : "Yes, I know 
 Thus I builded long ago ! 
 
 Here a gate and there a wall, 
 Here a window, there a door ; 
 
 Here a steeple wondrous tall 
 Riseth ever more and more 
 But the years have levelled low 
 What I build e,d long ago ! " 
 
AND AMBER-LOCKS 
 
 So they gossip at their play, 
 Heedless of the fleeting day ; 
 One speaks of the Long Ago 
 
 Where his dead hopes buried lie ; 
 
 One with chubby cheeks aglow 
 Prattleth of the By-and-By ; 
 Side by side, they build their blocks 
 Shuffle-Shoon and Amber-Locks. 
 
 87 
 
Tnun. 
 
THE 5HUTLYL 
 TRAIN. 
 
 C 
 
 OME, my little one, with me! 
 There are wondrous sights to see 
 91 
 
THE SHUT-EYE TRAIN 
 
 As the evening shadows fall ; 
 In your pretty cap and gown, 
 Don't detain 
 The Shut-Eye train 
 " Ting-a-ling ! " the bell it goeth, 
 "Toot-toot!" the whistle bloweth, 
 And we hear the warning call : 
 "ALL aboard for Shut-Eye Town!" 
 
 Over hill and over plain 
 
 Soon will speed the Shut-Eye train ! 
 
 Through the blue where bloom the stars 
 
 And the Mother Moon looks down 
 We'll away 
 To land of Fay 
 
 Oh, the sights that we shall see there ; 
 
 Come, my little one., with me there 
 'Tis a goodly train of cars 
 All aboard for Shut-Eye Town / 
 
 Swifter than a wild bird's flight, 
 Through the realms of fleecy light 
 We shall speed and speed away! 
 Let the Night in envy frown 
 What care we 
 How wroth she be ! 
 To the Balow-land above us, 
 To the Balow-folk who love us, 
 Let us hasten while we may 
 All aboard for Shut-Eye Town! 
 92 
 
THE SHUT-EYE TRAIN 
 
 Shut-Eye Town is passing fair 
 
 GoJdeii dreams await us there ; 
 
 We shall dream those dreams, my deai 
 Till the Mother Moon goes down 
 
 "TO THE BALOW-FOLK WHO LOVE US ' 
 
 See unfold 
 Delights untold! 
 And in those mysterious places 
 We shall see beloved faces 
 93 
 
THE SHUT-EYE TRAIN 
 
 And beloved voices hear 
 
 In the grace of Shut-Eye Town. 
 
 Heavy are your eyes, my sweet, 
 Weary are your little feet 
 Nestle closer up to me 
 In your pretty cap and gown ; 
 
THE SHUT-EYE TRAIN 
 
 Don't detain 
 The Shut-Eye train 
 " Ting-a-ling ! " the bell it goeth, 
 "Toot-toot!" the whistle bloweth 
 Oh, the sights that we shall see ! 
 All aboard for Shut-Eye Toivn ! 
 
Little 
 
 Ob-ear. 
 
LITTLE-OH-DEAR 
 
 SEE, what a wonderful garden is here, 
 Planted and trimmed for my Little-Oh-Dear, 
 Posies so gaudy and grass of such brown 
 Search ye the country and hunt ye the town 
 And never ye'll meet with a garden so queer 
 As this one I've made for my Little-Oh-Dear ! 
 99 
 
LITTLE-OH-DEAR 
 
 Marigolds white and buttercups blue, 
 Lilies all dabbled with honey and dew, 
 The cactus that trails over trellis and wall, 
 Roses and pansies and violets all 
 Make proper obeisance and reverent cheer 
 When into her garden steps Little-Oh-Dear ! 
 
 And up at the top of that lavender-tree 
 
 A silver-bird singeth as only can she ; 
 
 For, ever and only, she singeth the song 
 
 t( I love you I love you ! " the happy day long ; 
 
 Then the echo the echo that smiteth me here ! 
 
 " I love you, I love you," my Little-Oh-Dear ! 
 
 The garden may wither, the silver-bird fly 
 
 But what careth my little precious, or I ? 
 
 From her pathway of flowers that in spring-time 
 
 upstart 
 
 She walketh the tenderer way in my heart ; 
 And, oh, it is always the summer-time here 
 With that song of "I love you," my Little-Oh 
 
 Dear! 
 
 100 
 
A SILVER -BIRD SINGETH 
 AS ONLY CAN SHE'' 
 
The 
 
 y Horse. 
 
me 
 
 HORSE . 
 
 OH, a wonderful horse is the Fly -Away 
 Horse- 
 Perhaps you have seen him before; 
 Perhaps, while you slept, his shadow has swept 
 Through the moonlight that floats on the floor. 
 
 105 
 
THE FLY-AWAY HORSE 
 
 For it's only at night, when the stars twinkle 
 
 bright, 
 
 That the Fly- Away Horse, with a neigh 
 And a pull at his rein and a toss of his mane, 
 Is up on his heels and away ! 
 The Moon in the sky, 
 As he gallopeth by, 
 
 Cries: "Oh! what a marvellous sight!" 
 And the Stars in dismay 
 Hide their faces away 
 In the lap of old Grandmother Night. 
 
 It is yonder, out yonder, the Fly Away Horse 
 
 Speedeth ever and ever away 
 Over meadows and lanes, over mountains and 
 
 plains, 
 
 Over streamlets that sing at their play; 
 And over the sea like a ghost sweepeth he, 
 
 While the ships they go sailing below, 
 And he speedeth so fast that the men at the 
 
 mast 
 
 Adjudge him some portent of woe. 
 "What ho there!" they ciy, 
 As he flourishes by 
 With a whisk of his beautiful tail; 
 And the fish in the sea 
 Are as scared as can be, 
 From the nautilus up to the whale ! 
 
 1 06 
 
"THE MOON IN THE SKY, 
 
 AS HE GALLOPETH BY, 
 CRIES: 'OH! WHAT A MARVELLOUS SIGHT !'" 
 
THE FLY-AWAY HORSE 
 
 And the Fly -Away Horse seeks those far-away 
 lands 
 
 You little folk dream of at night 
 Where candy-trees grow, and honey-brooks flow, 
 
 And corn-fields with popcorn are white ; 
 And the beasts in the wood are ever so good 
 
 To children who visit them there 
 
 What glory astride of a lion to ride, 
 Or to wrestle around with a bear! 
 The monkeys, they say : 
 "Come on, let us play." 
 And they frisk in the cocoa-nut trees 
 While the parrots, that cling 
 To the peanut-vines, sing 
 Or converse with comparative ease ! 
 
 108 
 
THE FLY-AWAY HORSE 
 
 Off ! scamper to bed you shall ride him to-night ! 
 
 For, as soon as you've fallen asleep, 
 With a jubilant neigh he shall bear you away 
 
 Over forest and hillside and deep ! 
 But tell us, my dear, all you see and you hear 
 
 In those beautiful lands over there, 
 
 Where the Fly -Away Horse wings his far-away 
 
 course 
 
 With the wee one consigned to his care. 
 Then grandma will cry 
 In amazement: "Oh, my!" 
 And she'll think it could never be so; 
 And only we two 
 Shall know it is true 
 You and I, little precious ! shall know. 
 
 109 
 
Fiddle - 
 
 Dec -Dee; 
 
FIDDIX- DEL -DEES 
 
 HHHERE once was a bird that lived up in a 
 1 tree, 
 
 And all he could whistle was Fiddle-dee-dee " 
 A very provoking, unmusical song 
 For one to be whistling the summer day long ! 
 Yet always contented and busy was he 
 With that vocal recurrence of " Fiddle-dee-dee." 
 
 Hard by lived a brave little soldier of four, 
 
 That weird iteration repented him sore ; 
 
 "I prithee, Dear-Mother-Mine! fetch me my gun, 
 
 For, by our St. Didy, the deed must be done 
 
 That shall presently rid all creation and me 
 
 Of that ominous bird and his ' Fiddle-dee-dee ' ! " 
 
 113 
 
BY 
 
 our S>tDidy! 
 
 the deed 
 
 mu5t l> done ,' 
 
'Tbe 
 
 bang 1 " if caiwe out 
 Vbere the 
 
 bullef Vent m-* 
 
FIDDLE-DEE-DEE 
 
 Then out came Dear - Mother - Mine, bringing her 
 
 son 
 
 His awfully truculent little red gun ; 
 The stock was of pine and the barrel of tin, 
 The "bang" it came out where the bullet went 
 
 in 
 
 The right kind of weapon I think you'll agree 
 For slaying all fowl that go " Fiddle-dee-dee " ! 
 
 The brave little soldier quoth never a word, 
 But he up and he jlrew a straight bead on that 
 
 bird ; 
 
 And, while that vain creature provokingly sang, 
 The gun it went off with a terrible bang ! 
 Then loud laughed the youth "By my Bottle," 
 
 cried he, 
 "I've put a quietus on < Fiddle-dee-dee '!" 
 
 Out came then Dear-Mother-Mine, saying: "My 
 
 son, 
 Right well have you wrought with your little red 
 
 gun! 
 
 Hereafter no evil at all need I fear, 
 With such a brave soldier as You-My-Love here ! " 
 She kissed the dear boy. 
 
 [The bird in the tree 
 Continued to whistle his " Fiddle-dee-dee " !] 
 
 116 
 
n 
 
 BY 
 
 iy Boirle" 
 cried foe, * 
 
POEMS 
 
 TRUMPET AND DRUM? 
 
The 
 Sugar FlunjTfcev 
 
vfLUM TREE , 
 
 HAVE you ever heard of the Sugar- Plum Tree ? 
 'Tis a marvel of great renown ! 
 It blooms on the shore of the Lollipop sea 
 In the garden of Shut-Eye Town ; 
 
 123 
 
youVe &ot to 
 the free 
 
THE SUGAR-PLUM TREE 
 
 The fruit that it bears is so wondrously sweet 
 (As those who have tasted it say) 
 
 That good little children have only to eat 
 Of that fruit to be happy next day. 
 
 When you've got to the tree, you would have 
 
 hard time 
 
 To capture the fruit which I sing; 
 The tree is so tall that no person could climb 
 To the boughs where the sugar-plums swing ! 
 125 
 
THE SUGAR-PLUM TREE 
 
 But up in that tree sits a chocolate cat. 
 And a gingerbread dog prowls below 
 
 And this is the way you contrive to get at 
 Those sugar-plums tempting you so : 
 
 You say but the word to that gingerbread dog. 
 
 And he barks with such terrible zest 
 That the chocolate cat is at once all agog, 
 
 As her swelling proportions attest. 
 And the chocolate cat goes cavorting around 
 
 From this leafy limb unto that, 
 And the sugar -plums tumble, of course, to the 
 ground 
 
 Hurrah for that chocolate cat 1 
 
 There are marshmallows, gumdrops, and pepper- 
 mint canes, 
 
 With stripings of scarlet or gold, 
 And you carry away of the treasure that rains 
 
 As much as your apron can hold ! 
 So come, little child, cuddle closer to me 
 
 In your dainty white nightcap and gown, 
 And I'll rock you away to that Sugar-Plum Tree 
 
 In the garden of Shut-Eye Town. 
 
 126 
 
"AS MUCH AS YOUR 
 APRON CAN HOLD ! ' 
 
\ 
 
 Krirjkcr>- 
 
RINKEN was a little child, 
 1 v It was summer when he smiled. 
 
 131 
 
KRINKEN 
 
 Oft the hoary sea and grim 
 Stretched its white arms out to him, 
 Calling: " Sun-child, come to me; 
 Let me warm my heart with thee ! " 
 But the child heard not the sea. 
 
 Krinken on the beach one day 
 Saw a maiden Nis at play; 
 Fair, and very fair, was she, 
 Just a little child was he. 
 "Krinken," said the maiden Nis, 
 "Let me have a little kiss, 
 Just a kiss, and go with me 
 To the summer-lands that be 
 Down within the silver sea." 
 
 Krinken was a little child 
 By the maiden Nis beguiled; 
 Down into the calling sea 
 With the maiden Nis went he. 
 
 But the sea calls out no more; 
 It is winter on the shore, 
 Winter where that little child 
 Made sweet summer when he smiled. 
 Though 'tis summer on the sea 
 Where with maiden Nis went he, 
 Summer, summer evermore, 
 It is winter on the shore, 
 Winter, winter evermore. 
 132 
 
KRINKEN 
 
 Of the summer on the deep 
 Come sweet visions in my sleep; 
 His fair face lifts from the sea, 
 His dear voice calls out to me, 
 These my dreams of summer be. 
 
 Krinken was a little child, 
 By the maiden Nis beguiled; 
 Oft the hoary sea and grim 
 Reached its longing arms to him, 
 Crying, " Sun-child, come to me ; 
 Let me warm my heart with thee ! 
 But the sea calls out no more ; 
 It is winter on the shore, 
 Winter, cold and dark and wild ; 
 Krinken was a little child, 
 It was summer when he smiled ; 
 Down he went into the sea, 
 And the winter bides with me. 
 Just a little child was he. 
 
 133 
 
pmypat 
 
 /and Tippyfoe 
 
y 
 
PITTYPAT- 
 
 AND 
 
 TIFFYTOE. 
 
 ALL day long they come and go 
 Pittypat and Tippytoe ; 
 Footprints up and down the hall, 
 
 Playthings scattered on the floor, 
 Finger-marks along the wall, 
 
 Tell-tale smudges on the door 
 By these presents you shall know 
 Pittypat and Tippytoe. 
 
 137 
 
'Only 
 
 buffered bread 
 
 will do; 
 
* Inches 
 
 thick with 
 
 Sugar roo? 
 
PITTYPAT AND TIPPYTOE 
 
 How they riot at their play ! 
 And a dozen times a day 
 
 In they troop, demanding bread 
 
 Only buttered bread will do, 
 And that butter must be spread 
 
 Inches thick with sugar too ! 
 And I never can say " No, 
 Pittypat and Tippy toe !" 
 
 Sometimes there are griefs to soothe, 
 Sometimes ruffled brows to smooth ; 
 For (I much regret to say) 
 
 Tippytoe and Pittypat 
 Sometimes interrupt their play 
 
 With an internecine spat; 
 Fie, for shame ! to quarrel so 
 Pittypat and Tippytoe ! 
 
 Oh, the thousand worrying things 
 Every day recurrent brings ! 
 
 Hands to scrub and hair to brush, 
 
 Search for playthings gone amiss, 
 Many a wee complaint to hush, 
 
 Many a little bump to kiss ; 
 Life seems one vain, fleeting show 
 To Pittypat and Tippytoe! 
 
 140 
 
PITTYPAT AND TIPPYTOE 
 
 And when day is at an end, 
 There are little duds to mend : 
 Little frocks are strangely torn, 
 
 Little shoes great holes reveal, 
 Little hose, but one day worn, 
 
 Rudely yawn at toe and heel! 
 Who but you could work such woe, 
 Pittypat and Tippytoe ! 
 
 On the floor and down the hall, 
 Rudely smutched upon the wall, 
 There are proofs in every kind 
 
 Of the havoc they have wrought, 
 And upon my heart you'd find 
 
 Just such trade-marks, if you sought ; 
 Oh, how glad I am 'tis so, 
 Pittypat and Tippytoe! 
 
 141 
 
Liftfe Blue 
 
 Pigeop. 
 
LITTLE BLUE 
 PIGEON. 
 
 SLEEP, little pigeon, and fold your wings 
 Little blue pigeon with velvet eyes ; 
 Sleep to the singing of mother-bird swinging 
 Swinging the nest where her little one lies. 
 
 145 
 
TEOY-WELNY. 
 
 EVERY evening, after tea, 
 Teeny -Weeny comes to me, 
 And, astride my willing knee, 
 Plies his lash and rides away; 
 
 149 
 
WYNKEN, BLYNKEN, AND NOD 
 
 Wynken and Blynken are two little eyes, 
 
 And Nod is a little head; 
 And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies 
 
 Is a wee one's trundle-bed. 
 So shut your eyes while mother sings 
 
 Of wonderful sights that be, 
 And you shall see the beautiful things 
 As you rock in the misty sea,. 
 Where the old shoe rocked the fishermen three 
 Wynken, 
 Blynken, 
 And Nod. 
 
 164 
 
WYNKEN, Blynken, and Nod one night 
 Sailed off in a wooden shoe- 
 Sailed on a river of crystal light, 
 
 Into a sea of dew. 
 "Where are you going, and what do you wish? 
 
 The old moon asked the three. 
 "We have come to fish for the herring fish 
 That live in this beautiful sea; 
 Nets of silver and gold have we ! " 
 Said Wynken, 
 Blynken, 
 And Nod. 
 
 161 
 
TEENY-WEENY 
 
 On a time he went away, 
 Just a little while to stay, 
 And I'm not ashamed to say 
 
 I was very lonely then; 
 Life without him was so sad, 
 You can fancy I was glad 
 And made merry when I had 
 
 Teeny -Weeny back again ! 
 
 So of evenings, after tea, 
 When he toddles up to me 
 And goes tugging at my knee, 
 
 You should hear his palfrey neigh ! 
 You should see him prance and shy, 
 When, with an exulting cry, 
 Teeny -Weeny, vaulting high, 
 
 Plies his lash and rides away ! 
 
 152 
 
Buffered^, Foppy, 
 
 A Forget-me-not 
 
HI-SPY 
 
 I hear their voices in the street, 
 
 Yet 'tis so different now from then ! 
 
 Come, brother! from your winding-sheet, 
 And let us two be boys again ! 
 
 176 
 
HI-SPY- 
 
BUTTERCUP, POPPY, 
 
 And once, all merry with song and play, 
 A little one heard three voices say : 
 
 " Shine and shadow, summer and spring, 
 
 O thou child with the tangled hair 
 And laughing eyes ! we three shall bring 
 
 Each an offering passing fair." 
 The little one did not understand, 
 But they bent and kissed the dimpled hand. 
 
 Buttercup gambolled all day long, 
 Sharing the little one's mirth and song; 
 Then, stealing along on misty gleams, 
 Poppy came bearing the sweetest dreams. 
 Playing and dreaming and that was all 
 Till once a sleeper would not awake ; 
 Kissing the little face under the pall, 
 
 We thought of the words the third flower 
 
 spake ; 
 
 And we found betimes in a hallowed spot 
 The solace and peace of Forget-me-not. 
 
 Buttercup share th the joy of day, 
 
 Glinting with gold the hours of play; 
 
 Bringeth the poppy sweet repose, 
 
 When the hands would fold and the eyes would 
 
 close ; 
 
 And after it all the play and the sleep 
 Of a little life what cometh then ? 
 
 156 
 
FORGET-ME-NOT 
 
 To the hearts that ache and the eyes that weep 
 
 A new flower bringeth God's peace again. 
 Each one serveth its tender lot 
 Buttercup, Poppy, Forget-me-not. 
 
 157 
 
LITTLE MISTRESS SANS-MERCI 
 
 Shall outpour a soothing song 
 For its best beloved one 
 All its tenderness for thee, 
 Little Mistress Sans-Merci ! 
 
 172 
 
LITTLE 
 MISTRESS SAN5 
 
 EITLE Mistress Sans-Merci 
 Fareth world-wide, fancy free 
 169 
 
WYNKEN, 
 
 BLTNKEIsU/F/7 
 
 WYNKEN, Blynken, and Nod one night 
 Sailed off in a wooden shoe 
 Sailed on a river of crystal light, 
 
 Into a sea of dew. 
 "Where are you going, and what do you wish? 
 
 The old moon asked the three. 
 "We have come to fish for the herring fish 
 That live in this beautiful sea; 
 Nets of silver and gold have we!" ^ / 
 Said Wynken, 
 Blynken, 
 And Nod. 
 
 161 
 
WYNKEN, BLYNKEN, AND NOD 
 
 The old moon laughed and sang a song, 
 
 As they rocked in the wooden shoe. 
 And the wind that sped tKem all night long 
 
 Ruffled the waves of dew. 
 The little stars were the herring fish 
 
 That lived in that beautiful sea 
 "Now cast your nets wherever you wish 
 Never afeard are we " ; 
 So cried the stars to the fishermen three; 
 Wynkeiv, 
 Blynken, 
 And Nod. 
 
 All night long their nets they threw 
 
 To the stars in the twinkling foam 
 Then down from the skies came the wooden shoe, 
 
 Bringing the fishermen home ; 
 'Twas all so pretty a sail it seemed 
 
 As if it could not be. 
 And some folks thought 'twas a dream they'd 
 
 dreamed 
 
 Of sailing that beautiful sea 
 But I shall name you the fishermen three : 
 
 Wynken, 
 * Blynken, 
 
 And Nod. 
 
 162 
 
WYNKEN, BLYNKEN, AND NOD 
 
 Wynken and Blynken are two little eyes, 
 
 And Nod is a little head,, 
 And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies 
 
 Is a wee one's trundle bed. 
 So shut your eyes while mother sings 
 
 Of wonderful sights that be., 
 And you shall see the beautiful things 
 As you rock in the misty sea, 
 Where the old shoe rocked the fishermen three 
 Wynken, 
 Blynken, 
 And Nod. 
 
 164 
 
Liflfe 
 
LITTLE 
 MISTRESS SAMS' 
 MERCIJ 
 
 L r 
 
 ITTLE Mistress Sans-Merci 
 
 Fareth world-wide, fancy free 
 169 
 
LITTLE MISTRESS SANS-MERCI 
 
 Trotteth cooing to and fro, 
 
 And her cooing is command 
 Never ruled there yet, I trow, 
 Mightier despot in the land. 
 And my heart it lieth where 
 Mistress Sans-Merci doth fare. 
 
 Little Mistress Sans-Merci 
 She hath made a slave of me ! 
 "Go," she biddeth, and I go 
 
 "Come," and I am fain to come 
 Never mercy doth she show, 
 
 Be she wroth or frolicsome, 
 Yet am I content to be 
 Slave to Mistress Sans-Merci ! 
 
 170 
 
LITTLE MISTRESS SANS-MERCI 
 
 Little Mistress Sans-Merci 
 Hath become so dear to me 
 That I count as passing sweet 
 All the pain her moods impart, 
 
 And I bless the little feet 
 
 That go trampling on my heart 
 Ah, how lonely life would be 
 But for little Sans-Merci! 
 
 Little Mistress Sans-Merci, 
 Cuddle close this night to me, 
 
 And the heart, which all day long 
 Ruthless thou hast trod upon, 
 171 
 
LITTLE MISTRESS SANS-MERCI 
 
 Shall outpour a soothing song 
 For its best beloved one 
 All its tenderness for thee, 
 Little Mistress Sans-Merci ! 
 
 172 
 
re-Spy. 
 
STRANGE that the city thoroughfare, 
 Noisy and bustling all the day, 
 Should with the night renounce its care 
 And lend itself to children's play ! 
 
 Oh. girls are girls^ and boys are boys, 
 And have been so since Abel's birth, 
 
 And shall be so till dolls and toys 
 
 Are with the children swept from earth. 
 
 The selfsame sport that crowns the day 
 Of many a Syrian shepherd's son, 
 
 Beguiles the little lads at play 
 By night in stately Babylon. 
 
 175 
 
HI-SPY 
 
 I hear their voices in the street, 
 
 Yet 'tis so different now from then ! 
 
 Come, brother! from your winding-sheet. 
 And let us two be boys again ! 
 
 176 
 
Little Boy/Blue. 
 
 M 
 
LITTLE 
 BLUE. 
 
 THE little toy dog is covered with dust. 
 But sturdy and stanch he stands ; 
 And the little toy sddier is red with rust, 
 
 And his musket moulds in his hands. 
 Time was when the little toy dog was new, 
 
 And the soldier was passing fair ; 
 And that was the time when our Little Boy Blue 
 Kissed them and put them there. 
 
 179 
 
LITTLE BOY BLUE 
 
 "Now, don't you go till I come/' he said, 
 
 " And don't you make any noise ! " 
 So, toddling off to his trundle-bed, 
 
 He dreamt of the pretty toys ; 
 And, as he was dreaming, an angel song 
 
 Awakened our Little Boy Blue 
 Oh ! the years are many, the years are long, 
 
 But the little toy friends are true ! 
 
 Aye, faithful to Little Boy Blue they stand, 
 
 Each in the same old place 
 Awaiting the touch of a little hand, 
 
 The smile of a little face ; 
 
 And they wonder, as waiting the long years 
 through 
 
 In the dust of that little chair, 
 What has become of our Little Boy Blue, 
 
 Since he kissed them and put them there. 
 
 -ifi 
 
 180 
 

A MOONBEAM floateth from the skies, 
 /~\ Whispering : " Heigho, my dearie ; 
 I would spin a web before your eyes 
 A beautiful web of silver light 
 Wherein is many a wondrous sight 
 Of a radiant garden leagues away, 
 Where the softly tinkling lilies sway 
 And the snow-white lambkins are at play 
 Heigho, my dearie!" 
 185 
 
HEIGHO, MY DEARIE 
 
 A brownie stealeth from the vine, 
 
 Singing : " Heigho, my dearie ; 
 And will you hear this song of mine 
 A song of the land of murk and mist 
 Where bideth the bud the dew hath kist? 
 Then let the moonbeam's web of light 
 Be spun before thee silvery white, 
 And I shall sing the livelong night 
 Heigho, my dearie ! " 
 
 The night wind speedeth from the sea, 
 Murmuring: "Heigho, my dearie; 
 
 I bring a mariner's prayer for thee ; 
 
 So let the moonbeam veil thine eyes, 
 
 And the brownie sing thee lullabies 
 
 But I shall rock thee to and fro, 
 
 Kissing the brow he loveth so. 
 
 And the prayer shall guard thy bed, I trow 
 Heigho, my dearie!" 
 
Fairr oj)d Child. 
 
 A <23l /\f 
 
OH, listen, little Dear-My-Soul, 
 To the fairy voices calling, 
 For the moon is high in the misty sky 
 And the honey dew is falling; 
 189 
 
FAIRY AND CHILD 
 
 To the midnight feast in the clover bloom 
 
 The bluebells are a-ringing, 
 And it's "Come away to the land of fay' 
 
 That the katydid is singing. 
 
 Oh, slumber, little Dear-My-Soul, 
 
 And hand in hand we'll wander 
 Hand in hand to the beautiful land 
 
 Of Balow, away off yonder ; 
 Or we'll sail along in a lily leaf 
 
 Into the white moon's halo 
 Over a stream of mist and dream 
 
 Into the land of Balow. 
 
 Or, you shall have two beautiful wings 
 
 Two gossamer wings and airy, 
 And all the while shall the old moon smile 
 
 And think you a little fairy; 
 And you shall dance in the velvet sky, 
 
 And the silvery stars shall twinkle 
 And dream sweet dreams as over their beams 
 
 Your footfalls softly tinkle. 
 
 1.90 
 
INTO THE WHITE MOOD'S HALO '* 
 
Cbiid and 
 
 >fber. 
 
 V 
 
ICfflLD AND MOTHER .SMI 
 
 OMOTHER-MY-LOVE, if you'll give me your 
 hand, 
 
 And go where I ask you to wander, 
 I will lead you away to a beautiful land 
 
 The Dreamland that's waiting out yonder. 
 We'll walk in a sweet posie garden out there, 
 
 Where moonlight and starlight are streaming, 
 And the flowers and the birds are filling the air 
 With the fragrance and music of dreaming, 
 
 There'll be no little tired-out boy to undress, 
 No questions or cares to perplex you ; 
 
 There'll be no little bruises or bumps to caress, 
 Nor patching of stockings to vex you. 
 195 
 
CHILD AND MOTHER 
 
 For I'll rock you away on a silver-dew stream, 
 And sing you asleep when you're weary, 
 
 And no one shall know of our beautiful dream 
 But you and your own little dearie. 
 
 And when I am tired I'll nestle my head 
 
 In the bosom that's soothed me so often, 
 And the wide-awake stars shall sing in my stead 
 
 A song which our dreaming shall soften. 
 So, Mother-My-Love, let me take your dear hand, 
 
 And away through the starlight we'll wander 
 Away through the mist to the beautiful land 
 
 The Dreamland that's waiting out yonder ! 
 
 196 
 
&at. 
 
I WAS just a little thing 
 When a fairy came and kissed me; 
 Floating in upon the light 
 I Of a haunted summer night, 
 199 
 
GANDERFEATHER'S GIFT 
 
 Lo, the fairies came to sing 
 Pretty slumber songs and bring 
 
 Certain boons that else had missed me. 
 From a dream I turned to see 
 What those strangers brought for me, 
 When that fairy up and kissed me 
 Here, upon this cheek, he kissed me ! 
 
 Simmerdew was there, but she 
 
 Did not like me altogether; 
 Daisybright and Turtledove, 
 Pilfercurds and Honeylove, 
 Thistleblow and Amberglee 
 On that gleaming, ghostly sea 
 
 Floated from the misty heather, 
 And around my trundle-bed 
 Frisked, and looked, and whispering said 
 
 Solemnlike and all together: 
 
 "You shall kiys him, Ganderfeather ! " 
 
 Ganderfeather kissed me then 
 
 Ganderfeather, quaint and merry; 
 No attenuate sprite was he, 
 But as buxom as could be ; 
 Kissed me twice, and once again, 
 And the others shouted when 
 200 
 
GANDERFEATHER'S GIFT 
 
 On my cheek uprose a berry 
 Somewhat like a mole, mayhap, 
 But the kiss -mark of that chap 
 Ganderfeather, passing merry 
 Humoursome, but kindly, very ! 
 
 I was just a tiny thing 
 
 When the prankish Ganderfeather 
 Brought this curious gift to me 
 With his fairy kisses three ; 
 Yet with honest pride I sing 
 That same gift he chose to bring 
 
 Out of yonder haunted heather. 
 
 202 
 
GANDERFEATHER'S GIFT 
 
 Other charms and friendships fly- 
 Constant friends this mole and I, 
 Who have been so long together, 
 Thank you, little Ganderfeather ! 
 
 203 
 
FROM'THE 
 SECOND 
 BOOK. OF 
 
 
 
OUT of the house where the slumberer lay 
 Grandfather came one summer day, 
 And under the pleasant orchard trees 
 He spake this wise to the murmuring bees : 
 
 209 
 
TELLING THE BEES 
 
 "The clover-bloom that kissed her feet 
 
 And the posie-bed where she used to play, 
 Have honey store, but none so sweet 
 
 As ere our little one went away. 
 O bees, sing soft, and, bees, sing low; 
 For she is gone who loved you so." 
 
 A wonder fell on the listening bees 
 Under those pleasant orchard trees, 
 And in their toil that summer day, 
 Ever their murmuring seemed to say : 
 "Child, O child, the grass is cool, 
 
 And the posies are waking to hear the 
 
 song 
 Of the bird that swings by the shaded pool, 
 
 Waiting for one that tarrieth long." 
 Twas so they called to the little one then, 
 As if to call her back again. 
 
 O gentle bees, I have come to say 
 That grandfather fell asleep to-day, 
 And we know by the smile on grandfather's face 
 He has found his dear one's biding-place 
 So, bees, sing soft, and, bees, sing low, 
 As over the honey-fields you sweep 
 
 210 
 
TELLING THE BEES 
 
 To the trees abloom and the flowers ablow 
 
 Sing of grandfather fast asleep ; 
 And ever beneath these orchard trees 
 Find cheer and shelter, gentle bees. 
 
 211 
 
FROM 'THE LONE- 
 SOME LITTLE 5F1SE 
 
\ \ 
 
CONTENTMENT 
 
 ONCE on a time an old red hen 
 Went strutting round with pompous clucks, 
 For she had little babies ten, 
 
 A part of which were tiny ducks. 
 Tis very rare that hens," said she, 
 
 "Have baby ducks as well as chicks- 
 But I possess, as you can see, 
 
 Of chickens four and ducklings six ! " 
 
 217 
 
CONTENTMENT 
 
 A season later, this old hen 
 
 Appeared, still cackling of her luck, 
 For, though she boasted babies ten, 
 
 Not one among them was a duck ! 
 "Tis well/' she murmured, brooding o'er 
 
 The little chicks of fleecy down, 
 " My babies now will stay ashore, 
 
 And, consequently, cannot drown!" 
 
 The following spring the old red hen 
 Clucked just as proudly as of yore 
 
 But lo ! her babes were ducklings ten, 
 
 - Instead of chickens as before ! 
 
 "'Tis better," said the old red hen, 
 As she surveyed her waddling brood ; 
 
 " A little water now and then 
 
 Will surely do my darlings good ! " 
 
 218 
 
CONTENTMENT 
 
 But, oh ! alas, how very sad ! 
 
 When gentle spring rolled round again, 
 The eggs eventuated bad, 
 
 And childless was the old red hen ! 
 Yet patiently she bore her woe, 
 
 And still she wore a cheerful air, 
 And said : " 'Tis best these things are so, 
 
 For babies are a dreadful care ! " 
 
 I half suspect that many men, 
 
 And many, many women, too, 
 Could learn a lesson from the hen 
 
 With foliage of vermilion hue. 
 She ne'er presumed to take offence 
 
 At anj 7 fate that might befall, 
 But meekly bowed to Providence 
 
 She was contented that was all! 
 
 7\\f N ^S ,-.. 
 
 'TOf I \/r<rn . """-.> V .; 
 
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Love Affairs of a Bibliomaniac 
 
 BY EUGENE FIELD 
 
 Post 8vo. 33. 6d. net 
 LONDON: JOHN LANE 
 
 Press Notices 
 
 " Will go straight to the heart of all book-lovers who have 
 not grown into mere book-worms. The true, passionate, and 
 exclusive emotion of the romantic bibliomaniac speaks here." 
 
 The Sketch. 
 
 "The book is eminently pleasant, bright, kindly, enthusiastic, 
 and, as regards the main subject matter, full of a mellow wisdom 
 and humour." The Globe. 
 
 "Apart from its literary merit, the late Mr. Eugene Field's 
 ' Love Affairs of a Bibliomaniac ' has a pathetic interest. . . . 
 This little volume is an amiable monument of a kindly 
 humorist, a poet, and a good man." TJie Times. 
 
 "We have in this small volume one of the tragedies of 
 literature, the 'Denis Duval,' the 'Edwin Drood,' the 'Weir 
 of Hermiston,' of one of the most winning writers of the age. 
 Its rippling merriment, buoyancy, and good humour ought to 
 make it a favourite with the general reader." 
 
 The Publishers' Circular. 
 
 "An indefatigable collector himself, none could better 
 diagnose the disease of bibliomania than he ; none could touch 
 its half pathetic, half humorous side more lightly, more 
 enderly." The Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
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 Book Slip-Series 458