THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 MADISON CAWEIN 
 
The Giant and the Star 
 
The 
 
 Giant and the Star 
 
 Little Annals in Rhyme 
 
 By 
 
 Madison Cawein 
 
 . . 
 
 Boston 
 
 Small, Maynard & Company 
 Publishers 
 
Copyright, 1909 
 By Madison Cawein 
 
 The University Press, Cambridge, U.S.A. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Page 
 
 The Giant and the Star 3 
 
 Toyland 9 
 
 The Land of Candy 15 
 
 Sun and Flowers 24 
 
 Fairies 26 
 
 The Lubber Fiend 29 
 
 Toadstools 34 
 
 The Boy Next Door 38 
 
 Certain Truths about Certain Things 42 
 
 Bad Luck 48 
 
 The Lamplight Camp 50 
 
 The Scarecrow 52 
 
 Beetle and Moth 54 
 
 Old Man Rain 56 
 
 The Little Boy, the Wind, and the Rain .... 57 
 
 Sounds and Sights 59 
 
 Katydids and the Moon 61 
 
 Topsy Turvy 63 
 
 Little Girlie Good Enough 65 
 
 Frogs at Night 68 
 
 Ragamuffin 70 
 
 The Jack-o'-Lantern 73 
 
 Old Jack Frost 76 
 
 The Pond 79 
 
 The Charcoal Man 82 
 
 Old Sis Snow 86 
 
 The Birthday Party 88 
 
 V 
 
 346452 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Page 
 
 Santa Glaus. 91 
 
 Forerunners 94 
 
 The Christmas Tree 96 
 
 Christmas Eve 99 
 
 Nothing to Do 102 
 
 Old Man Winter 106 
 
 A Long, Long Way 110 
 
 Tomboy 112 
 
 The Boy on the Farm 116 
 
 Old Snake Doctor 119 
 
 The Devil's Race-Horse 122 
 
 The Little Boy and his Shadow 125 
 
 The Ghost 129 
 
 The Poppet-Show 132 
 
 Dough Face 136 
 
 Little Boy Bad and Little Girl Rude 139 
 
 Problems 143 
 
 What the Trees Said to the Little Boy .... 146 
 
 Little Boy Sleepy 147 
 
 Time to Get Up 149 
 
 Dilly Dally 151 
 
 Little Bird 153 
 
 Hey, Little Boy 155 
 
 Fiddledeedee and the Bumblebee 157 
 
 Happy-Go-Lucky 159 
 
 Winter Days 161 
 
 A Song for All Day 163 
 
 A Boy's Heart 165 
 
 Boyhood 168 
 
 Epilogue 171 
 
 VI 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
TO MY LITTLE SON PRESTON 
 
 , who are four years old; 
 You, with the eyes of blue; 
 You, with the age of gold 
 Young in the heart of you, 
 Boy with the eyes of blue: 
 
 You, wtth the face so fair, 
 Innocent-uttered words, 
 All the glad sunlight there > 
 Music of all the birds, 
 Boy, in your face and words: 
 
 Take you my sheaf of rhymes, 
 Sung for your childish ear; 
 Rhymes you have loved, at times 
 Begged for, and sat to hear, 
 Lending a loving ear. 
 
 Since you have listened, sweet, 
 They to some worth attained; 
 Since in your heart's young beat 
 They for a while remained, 
 They to some worth attained. 
 
The 
 
 Giant and the Star 
 
 THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 TTERE's the tale my father told, 
 
 ^ * Walking in the park one night, 
 
 When the stars shone big and bright, 
 
 And the autumn wind blew cold: 
 
 Once a giant lived of old 
 
 In a far-off country, far 
 
 As the moon is, where one star, 
 
 Golden bright and fair of ray, 
 
 Lit the people on their way, 
 
 In the darkness gone astray. 
 
 And this star was beautiful 
 As a baby's eyes of blue, 
 And as bright as they are, too, 
 Brighter, father said. And who'll 
 Ever guess what happened? You'll 
 Wonder when I tell you that 
 This great, ugly giant sat 
 In his den, among the bones 
 Of dead pilgrims, luckless ones, 
 Throwing at this star big stones. 
 3 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 By his side a lion crouched, 
 A great cub, who helped him catch 
 Men and women; keeping watch 
 Night and day: the giant slouched 
 In or out the cave and pouched 
 Travelers. His club, a tree, 
 Knotted, flung across his knee. 
 So he lounged or sat, his eyes, 
 Red as flames, fixed on the skies, 
 Watching for that star to rise. 
 
 For, you see, he 'd had no meat 
 
 For a week or two; the light 
 
 Of the star led people right; 
 
 He just gnashed his teeth and eat 
 
 Herbs; the lion at his feet 
 
 Huddled, mad with hunger, too; 
 
 Glaring, as all lions do, 
 
 Gaunt it crouched and whined and howled, 
 
 While the giant prowled and prowled, 
 
 Or sat sullen and just growled. 
 
 How he hated all mankind! 
 So he growled there all day long; 
 And his big voice, like a gong, 
 Made the mountain ring. And blind, 
 4 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 Like a bat, without a mind, 
 He could see no sense or use 
 In that star; so would abuse, 
 Curse it, all because its light, 
 Like a lamp, led pilgrims right, 
 And they were n't lost in night. 
 
 For, you see, the only food 
 Of this awful ogre was 
 Men and women; and because 
 They escaped him in the wood, 
 And it happened that he could 
 Never get enough to eat, 
 Waiting there for human meat, 
 Thus he thought, " If it were out, 
 Then they 'd come my way, no doubt, 
 Having night here all about. 
 
 " I '11 just blow it out," he said, 
 And heaved up his bulky bones, 
 And went grumbling up the stones 
 To the very mountain's head, 
 Shaking with his mighty tread 
 All the crags and pines around. 
 Then he sat there on the ground 
 And began to blow and blow, 
 Till at last, oh slow, so slow! 
 Duller grew that star's bright glow. 
 5 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 Then the giant stopped a bit, 
 And drew in another breath: 
 Saying, " This will be its death ! " 
 Bulged his cheeks and blew at it, 
 Blew and blew and never quit 
 Till the star was blown quite out. 
 Then he rose and, with a shout, 
 Back into his den again 
 He went lumbering; the plain 
 Groaned; the mountain felt the strain. 
 
 In his cave he squatted, grim, 
 Humped and ugly, with his club 
 Flung across his knees; his cub, 
 Mountain lion, close to him, 
 Glaring; both its eyes a rim 
 Of green smoulder. And that night, 
 Sure enough, the giant was right: 
 Since the star no longer shone, 
 People lost their way alone, 
 And he captured many a one. 
 
 And they squatted in their den, 
 He and his big lion cub, 
 By his side his bloody club; 
 Squatted, snarling, crunching men 
 6 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 That night must have brought them ten. 
 
 And when all were eaten he, 
 
 The old giant, groaningly 
 
 Raised himself and went, I think, 
 
 To a stream to get a drink, 
 
 Foaming at the mountain's brink. 
 
 He had clean forgotten now 
 All about that star, you know, 
 That had lit the world below : 
 Now it was so dark, I vow, 
 He got lost too; don't know how; 
 Cursed himself and said, " Odsblood ! 
 I 've got lost in this curst wood ! 
 Wish I had a torch. No doubt 
 That old star threw light about. 
 Sorry now I blew it out ! " 
 
 Hardly had he spoken when 
 Crash he went, huge club and all, 
 Headlong o'er the mountain wall, 
 Where he 'd thrown the bones of men, 
 Often, he had eaten. Then 
 How he bellowed! and the rocks 
 Echoed with loud breakbone knocks 
 As adown the mountain-side 
 Sheer he plunged; limbs sprawling wide, 
 Fell and broke his neck and died. 
 7 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 And the next day, father said, 
 Came a hunter with a bow, 
 Found that lion-cub, you know, 
 Crouching near that giant's head; 
 With his bow he shot it dead. 
 And that night, as broad as day, 
 Pilgrims journeying their way, 
 Saw a light grow, bar on bar, 
 Lighting them the road afar. 
 God had lit another star. 
 
TOYLAND 
 
 THERE 's a story no one knows, 
 But myself, about a rose 
 And a fairy and a star 
 Where the Toyland people are. 
 Once when I had gone to bed, 
 Mother said it was a dream, 
 From a rose above my head, 
 Growing by the window-beam, 
 Out there popped a fairy's head. 
 
 II 
 
 And he nodded at me: smiled: 
 Said, "You're fond of stories, eh? 
 Well, I know a star each child 
 Ought to know. It's far away 
 For your kind, but not for me. 
 I will take you to that star, 
 Where you'll hear new stories; see? 
 Close your eyes. It isn't far 
 That is, 't is n't far for me." 
 9 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 III 
 
 And he 'd hardly spoken when 
 From the rose there came a moth ; 
 And before you 'd counted ten 
 We were on it, and were both 
 Flying to that star that made 
 Silver sparkles in the air. 
 And, though I was not afraid, 
 I was glad when we were there, 
 And the moth was stabled white 
 In a lily-bud, and we 
 Went to find the fay or sprite 
 Who, he said, would welcome me. 
 
 IV 
 
 And we found her. 'T was n't long 
 Till we heard a twittering song, 
 And a toy-bird with white eyes 
 Flew before us from the skies, 
 Like those in my Noah's Ark, 
 And we followed it; and came 
 To the strangest land: our park 
 Is just like it, just the same. 
 Toy-trees, squirrels, birds and brooks, 
 And a castle on the hill, 
 Just like those in story-books; 
 And upon its windowsill 
 10 
 
TO YLA N D 
 
 Leaned a lovely Princess. She 
 Smiled at me, and that was all, 
 As a doll smiles; and to me 
 She was like a great big doll. 
 
 Then, before I knew it, I 
 Was inside her palace, there 
 In the room; and everywhere 
 Dolls and story-books and, my! 
 All the dolls began to sing 
 Rhymes, or read; and others told 
 Stories just like everything: 
 Better stories than the old 
 Ones my father reads me in 
 Mother Goose and books like Grimm, 
 That he hates so to begin: 
 Tales for which I bother him, 
 Since, he says, both tales and rhymes 
 He has read a thousand times. 
 
 VI 
 
 Blue Beard and the Yellow Dwarf, 
 And the lovely Rapunzel, 
 She whose hair was once a scarf 
 For a prince to climb by; Nell, 
 ii 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 Little Nell, or else her twin, 
 Who, somehow, had happened in, 
 And the Sleeping Beauty, who 
 Seemed asleep and sat there dumb; 
 Hansel and sweet Grethel too, 
 Snow-Drop and Hop-o'-my-Thumb ; 
 Rumpelstiltzkin, Riding Hood, 
 And the Babes-lost-in-the-Wood, 
 Met around a little table, 
 Where I sat beside a Queen, 
 Queen of Hearts, and, dressed in green, 
 Robin Hood, a-eating tarts, 
 While old JEsop told a fable, 
 Sitting by the King of Hearts. 
 
 VII 
 
 And the waiters were Bo Peep, 
 
 Knave of Hearts and Marjory Daw; 
 
 Boy Blue, slow as if asleep, 
 
 And the Woman who slept on Straw. 
 
 And the little dishes all, 
 
 Though they seemed so, were not small; 
 
 Painted blue and green and gold 
 
 With the stories I 'd heard told, 
 
 Pictures forming of themselves, 
 
 Of the Elf Queen and the Elves. 
 
 12 
 
T O Y L A N D 
 
 Never, never have I seen 
 
 Service like it. Then the talk! 
 
 All about the Fairy Queen 
 
 And the Land of Tarts and Pies, 
 
 Where those three fat brothers go, 
 
 Greedygut, with tiny eyes 
 
 Like a pig's; and Sleepyhead, 
 
 With his candle, going to bed; 
 
 And old creepy-footed Slow. 
 
 Of these three they made great talk, 
 
 And that Land where Scarecrows stalk, 
 
 And the Jack-o'-Lanterns grow, 
 
 Row on glaring goblin row. 
 
 VIII 
 
 Suddenly, among them there, 
 At my back, above my chair, 
 Cried a Cuckoo Clock, and why! 
 There I was back home; and I 
 Wasn't nowhere but in bed 
 And my mother standing by 
 Smiling at me. I could cry 
 When I think the things they said 
 That I can't remember now 
 Though I try and try and try. 
 13 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 But I know Ms anyhow: 
 I <was in that star, I know, 
 And in Toyland. Doesn't seem 
 Anything but true, although 
 Mother says it was a dream. 
 
THE LAND OF CANDY 
 
 I 
 
 HERE was once a little boy 
 So my father told me who 
 Never cared for any toy, 
 But just sweet things, as boys do, 
 Cakes and comfits, cream and ice, 
 All the things that boys think nice, 
 That they like, but ought not to; 
 Doctors say so, more or less, 
 And their parents, too, I guess: 
 But they don't know everything. 
 Boys know something, too, by jing. 
 
 II 
 
 Well, this little boy he cried 
 Day and night for sweet things; ate 
 Cake and candy soon and late 
 That is, if they did n't hide 
 All such things in some good place 
 Where he couldn't find them. So, 
 One day, when they didn't know, 
 In the park he met a man, 
 
 15 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 Funniest man you ever saw, 
 In a suit of red and tan, 
 Thin, and straighter than a straw, 
 Like a stick of candy; and 
 This old man just took his hand, 
 Led him off to Candyland. 
 
 Ill 
 
 First place that they came to, why, 
 
 Was a wood that reached the sky; 
 
 Forest of Stick Candy. My! 
 
 How the little boy made it fly! 
 
 Why, the tree trunks were as great, 
 
 Big around as, at our gate, 
 
 Are the sycamores; the whole 
 
 Striped like a barber's pole: 
 
 And the ground was strewn and strown 
 
 With the pieces winds had blown 
 
 From the branches: and as fast 
 
 As one fell another grew 
 
 In its place; and, through and through, 
 
 Each was better than the last. 
 
 IV 
 
 After this they came into 
 A great grove of Sugar-Plums, 
 And an orchard, such as few 
 Ever saw, of Creams and Gums, 
 16 
 
THE LAND OF CANDY 
 
 Marshmallow and Chocolate, 
 
 Where the boy just ate and ate 
 
 Till he was brimful and felt 
 
 As, I guess, a turkey feels 
 
 On Thanksgiving; to its belt 
 
 Stuffed with chestnuts. And the seals 
 
 At the circus, that I saw, 
 
 Looked just like that boy, I know, 
 
 When he'd eaten bushels pshaw! 
 
 Loads of all that candy. Oh! 
 
 He just lay down there and sighed 
 
 When he couldn't eat no more, 
 
 Though he'd eaten more than four 
 
 Boys could eat, yes, twenty-four, 
 
 And he just lay there and cried, 
 
 Cried to eat more. And the man, 
 
 The Stick-Candy Man, he said 
 
 Never a word; just smiled instead 
 
 Sweet as any candy can. 
 
 v 
 
 When they'd rested there awhile, 
 That old man with his sweet smile 
 Took him by the hand and said, 
 "Don't you think it's time for bed?" 
 But the boy he shook his head: 
 "I want cakes and ice-cream now; 
 17 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 Then I '11 go and not before." 
 Wish that I could show you how 
 Sweet that old man smiled then ! Sweet? 
 It was just like honeyed heat 
 Trickling down from head to feet, 
 Or just like a candy store 
 Flung right at you. But the boy, 
 At that smile, felt no great joy, 
 But as if he 'd eaten more 
 Than he ought to. "I feel ill," 
 Said he. " If I had a drink 
 I'd feel better. Say, I think 
 I smell water. What's that hill? 
 Is it snow? " The old man smiled, 
 Smiled that smile again, and, quick, 
 For it made him feel so sick, 
 From him turned the boy ; and, " Child," 
 Like some melting sugar-stick, 
 Drooled the old man, " I '11 be bent, 
 Or be eaten, it 's not snow : 
 But to me it's evident, 
 If you really want to know, 
 That hill's ice-cream. Feel the chill 
 On my neck now. ... If you will 
 We will go there." And they went : 
 Found a stranger country still, 
 Filled with greater wonderment. 
 18 
 
THE LAND OF CANDY 
 VI 
 
 The very ground was sugar there; 
 
 And all around them, everywhere, 
 
 Great cakes grew up like mushrooms; 
 
 some 
 
 No bigger than a baby's thumb, 
 And others huge as hats they wear 
 In picture books of pirate kings: 
 And some were jelly-cakes; great rings 
 Of reddest jelly; macaroons 
 And sponge-cakes like enormous moons: 
 And every kind of cake there is 
 Just overrun the premises. 
 And in the middle of the land 
 A mountain, they had seen afar, 
 Of Ice-Cream towered white and grand; 
 Such mountains as there only are 
 In Candyland. And from it fell 
 Two fountains: one of Lemonade, 
 The other Sodawater. Well, 
 The little boy just took a spade 
 And dag into that mountainside 
 And ate and ate, and cried and cried, 
 Because he couldn't eat it all, 
 Nor all the cakes that grew around, 
 Like mushrooms, from the sugary ground ; 
 19 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 Nor drink up every waterfall 
 Of Soda and of Lemonade. 
 (I wish that I 'd been there to aid ! 
 Don 't you? I know I 'd done my best. 
 And father said he knew, or guessed, 
 That that old man felt sorry, too, 
 Because the boy just had to rest. 
 And 7 felt sorry. Wouldn't you?) 
 
 VII 
 
 And that big hill would never melt: 
 Just stayed the same. No sooner than 
 One took a spoonful it began 
 To grow back in its place. One dealt 
 It out in shovelfuls and still 
 There was no less in that huge hill. 
 And fast yes, faster than one knew, 
 The mushroom-cakes around you grew; 
 Wherever one was taken, why, 
 Up came another, better by 
 A long ways: and it were no use 
 To try to drink the fountains dry: 
 They ran the more; a perfect sluice, 
 My father said, that played the deuce 
 With any little boy that 'd try. 
 20 
 
THE LAND OF CANDY 
 VIII 
 
 So in that land a long, long time, 
 At least a month, he stayed. Each day 
 Was like the other. (Sometime I 'm 
 A-going to Candyland and stay 
 A year, or longer; yes, you bet! 
 No matter what my parents say.) 
 What happened next? why, I forget. 
 But one day in the Orchard where 
 Cream Candies grew or was it in 
 The Woods of Candystick? or there 
 Where brown the Sugarlands begin 
 Of Mushroom-cakes? the old man found 
 The boy flat, lying on the ground, 
 The sugar-earth kicked up around, 
 And cakes and cream knocked all about 
 And broken into bits, and he 
 Just crying fit to kill; all out, 
 And sick of everything, you see. 
 And when the old man smiled and smiled 
 That smile again, the boy went wild, 
 And shook his fist right in his face 
 And shrieked out at him, "You Disgrace! 
 Get out ! You make me sick ! " A stone 
 (You see rock-candy strewed the place 
 Just like the stones that strew our own) 
 
 21 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 He picked and aimed and would have thrown 
 And knocked the old man's head right 
 
 off, 
 
 Had he not stopped him, with a cough, 
 Saying, " My boy ! why, this won't do ! 
 What ails you, eh?" The boy said, 
 
 " You! 
 
 Don't smile at me ! I '11 break your head ! 
 You sugar-coated pill! with this! 
 I 'm sick of sweets and you" he said, 
 "Your face so like a candy-kiss? 
 What ails me ? Eggs ! and bacon ! bread ! 
 And milk and toast and chicken-wings, 
 One never has here! things they fed 
 Me on at home ! those are the things ! 
 Take me back home where I can eat 
 The things I never wanted once 
 But now I want them ! bread and meat ! 
 Oh, was n't I an awful dunce ! 
 Now, you old sinner, take me back ! " 
 And with those words the old man's face 
 Fell in a frown that seemed to crack 
 It all to pieces. All grew black 
 About the little boy a space; 
 But when it lightened up once more 
 Why, there! he wasn't any place 
 But right in front of their big door 
 
 22 
 
THE LAND OF CANDY 
 
 His home. I say ! my ! he was glad ; 
 And hurried in, a different lad 
 From him who had gone out. And he, 
 From that time on, took toast and tea, 
 And milk and eggs, and never teased, 
 As once he used to tease, for cakes 
 And candy and such things ! My sakes ! 
 But weren't both his parents pleased! 
 
SUN AND FLOWERS 
 
 spring is coming! hear it blow! 
 The rain and wind have cleared the snow ; 
 And I am going to play my fill 
 With sunlight on the windy hill. 
 
 And I am going to laugh and run, 
 And be the comrade of the sun; 
 And, like the wildflowers, wink my eyes 
 At him and at the springtime skies. 
 
 And I am going to leap and shout 
 And toss my hair and arms about, 
 And fill my soul with sunshine as 
 The blossoms do and waving grass. 
 
 And I am going to dance and sing 
 And match the swallow on the wing, 
 And put my arms about each tree, 
 And kiss it as the sun does me. 
 
 And I am going to lie face down 
 Upon the hillside, far from town, 
 And hug it as the sunlight does, 
 And watch the pussy-willows fuzz. 
 24 
 
SUN AND FLOWERS 
 
 I wish I was as big and bright 
 As is the sunlight: then I might 
 Hold all the hillside in my joy 
 But I am just a little boy. 
 
 And I am only sweet and small 
 As are the wildflowers, that is all, 
 So mother says; and thus you see 
 The sun can get ahead of me. 
 
 Blow wind and rain! and sweep away 
 The snow and sleet of yesterday! 
 And bring the sunlight and the flowers 
 And all the laughing springtime hours. 
 
FAIRIES 
 
 a little fairy who 
 Peeps from every drop of dew 
 You can see him wink and shine 
 On the morning-glory vine, 
 Mischief in his eye of blue. 
 
 There's another fairy that 
 Rides upon the smallest gnat: 
 You can hear him tremolo 
 When the summer dusk falls slow, 
 Circling just above your hat. 
 
 And another one that sways 
 In the golden slanted rays 
 Of the sunlight where it floats: 
 Prosy people call them motes, 
 But they're fairies, father says. 
 
 But there 's one that no one sees, 
 Only, maybe, moths and bees ; 
 Who in lofts, where knot-holes are, 
 On the thin light of a star 
 Slides through crannied crevices. 
 26 
 
FAIRIES 
 
 You may hear him sigh and sing 
 Near a May-fly's captured wing 
 In a spider-web close by: 
 See him with a moonbeam pry 
 Moonflowers open where they swing. 
 
 Down the garden-ways he goes 
 On a beetle's back, and blows 
 Sullen music from a horn: 
 Or you'll hear him when 'tis morn 
 Buzzing bee-like by a rose. 
 
 And it 's he who, when 't is night, 
 Twinkles with a firefly light; 
 Shakes a katydid tambourine; 
 Or amid the mossy green 
 Rasps his cricket-fiddle tight. 
 
 He it is who heaves the dome 
 Of the mushroom through the loam, 
 Plumper than a baby's thumb: 
 Or who taps a tinder drum 
 In the dead wood's honeycomb. 
 
 He's that Robin Goodfellow, 
 Or that Puck who, long ago, 
 Used to marshlight-lead astray 
 People in old Shakespeare's day 
 That is, father told me so. 
 27 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 He's the one that, in the Fall, 
 Frisks the dead leaves round us all; 
 Herds them; drives them wildly past, 
 Dancing with them just as fast 
 As a boy can throw a ball. 
 
 Wonder what he looks like. Asked 
 Father once. He said he'd tasked 
 Mind and soul to find out, but 
 It was harder than a nut; 
 Just refused to be unmasked. 
 
 Though he thought, perhaps, he might 
 Find out some time, and delight 
 Telling me; but well he knew 
 He was like my questions, too, 
 Teasing and confusing quite. 
 
 28 
 
THE LUBBER FIEND 
 
 IN the woods, not long ago, 
 Met with Robin Goodfello'w ; 
 First we heard his horse-like laugh 
 In an ivy-bush near by; 
 Then we saw him, like a calf, 
 Or a frisky colt, just fly 
 Kicking high his frantic heels, 
 Squealing as a scared pig squeals. 
 
 Snorting, baaing, neighing too, 
 Through the woods he fairly flew; 
 Father followed him, but he 
 Couldn't catch him long of limb 
 As a grasshopper, you see, 
 There's no man could capture htm: 
 Then, besides, his color's green, 
 So he 's rarely ever seen. 
 
 Often when you're in the woods, 
 Just a-walking with your moods, 
 And not thinking; listening how 
 Still it is, right near your head 
 29 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 Breaks the bellow of a cow 
 And you drop scared nearly dead : 
 That 's old Robin you can't see 
 'Cause he's colored like a tree. 
 
 And I 've heard he calls and calls 
 In the woods for help, or falls, 
 Like an urchin, from a tree: 
 You jump up and shout and run 
 But there's nothing there to see; 
 Just a snickering as of fun 
 In the thicket, or somewhere, 
 And you're madder than a hare. 
 
 Sometimes in dark woods a light 
 Flashes in your eyes, as bright 
 As a firefly after rain; 
 And your eyes are dazzled so 
 That you shut them look again 
 Nothing's there. That's Goodfellow, 
 With his jack-o'-lantern; see? 
 Hiding in some hollow tree. 
 
 These are pranks he plays on men 
 When he feels all right; but when 
 He is out of humor, well! 
 Better keep away! he'll harm: 
 
 3 
 
THE LUBBER FIEND 
 
 Leads you with a heifer's bell, 
 Or horn-lantern, to some farm, 
 You suppose; but 't isn't! no! 
 Some old bog in which you go. 
 
 Sometimes he's called Puck, they say: 
 And it was the other day 
 Father read me from a book 
 That some people call him Lob 
 One who haunts the ingle-nook, 
 Or sits humped upon the hob 
 Whistling up the chimney-flue 
 Till the kettle whistles too. 
 
 He's the Lubber Fiend, that sweeps 
 Ashes in your face and creeps 
 Under cracks when north winds howl; 
 Hides behind the closet door 
 And peeps at you, like an owl, 
 Bumps you shrieking on the floor; 
 And at night he rides a mare 
 Round your bed and everywhere. 
 
 And he teases dogs that doze 
 By the fire; and, I suppose, 
 They must see him in their dreams 
 When they snarl and glare o'erhead: 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 And it's he, or so it seems, 
 Tumbles children out of bed, 
 Wakes the house and makes a fuss; 
 For he's awful mischievous. 
 
 That's what I heard father say, 
 And I know it's true. Some day 
 I'm a-going to be a boy 
 Just like Robin; romp and shout, 
 And kick up my heels for joy, 
 And scare people round about; 
 Just play tricks on every one. 
 Don't you think it would be fun? 
 
 Take an old cow-horn, that's harsh 
 As a frog that haunts the marsh, 
 And when folks are in their beds 
 Blow it at the windowsill 
 Till they cover up their heads; 
 And when all again is still, 
 Hear them wonder what it was 
 That was making all that fuss. 
 
 Or I'll make a pumpkin face; 
 Light, and hide it in some place 
 Where are bushes; and when men 
 Come along I'll grunt and groan 
 
 32 
 
THE LUBBER FIEND 
 
 Like an old pig in its pen; 
 When they run I'll throw a stone, 
 Or just vanish; and they'll say 
 " What tvos that, I wonder? eh? " 
 
 It would be a lot of fun, 
 Wouldn't it? to make folks run; 
 Jumping at them from the dark 
 Like a big black dog, oh my! 
 It would be the greatest lark! 
 Wonder why it is that I 
 Can't grow up at once like you 
 And do things I 'd like to do? 
 
 33 
 
TOADSTOOLS 
 
 ONCE when it had rained all night 
 And all day, the next day, why, 
 In our yard, a lot of white, 
 Dumpy toadstools grew close by 
 Our old peach tree: some were high, 
 Peak'd, like half-shut parasols; 
 Others round and low, like balls, 
 Little hollow balls; and I 
 Called my father to the tree: 
 And he said, " I tell you what : 
 Fairies have been here, you see. 
 This is just the kind of spot 
 Fairies lowe to live in. Those 
 Are their houses, I suppose. 
 
 II 
 
 "Yes, those surely are their huts! 
 Built of moon and mist and rain, 
 Such dim stuff as Elfland puts 
 In her buildings. Come again, 
 34 
 
TOADSTOOLS 
 
 And, like castles built in Spain, 
 They are nowhere. But to-night, 
 Sliding down the moon's slim light, 
 Or snail-straddled, in a train 
 You may see the elves, perhaps, 
 Clad in gossamer garments, come; 
 Some in morning-glory caps, 
 And in tulip bonnets some. 
 If you watch, I have no doubt, 
 You will see them all come out. 
 
 Ill 
 
 " Long of leg as grasshoppers, 
 
 Or as katydids, oh, ho! 
 
 Here they'll sit; the bachelors 
 
 By the spinsters, row on row, 
 
 Kissing when the moon is low: 
 
 You may hear their kisses sound 
 
 Faint as raindrops on the ground, 
 
 Dropped by flow'rs that overflow, 
 
 Flow'rs whose heads the rain weighs down. 
 
 Or, perhaps, to twinkling tunes, 
 
 Tiny as their tiny town, 
 
 See them dance wild rigadoons 
 
 Creaked by crickets; singing, too, 
 
 Serenades as thin as dew. 
 
 35 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 IV 
 
 " Or hobgoblins here may rise, 
 Snail-faced, spider-legged, you see; 
 Eyed with glowworm-glowing eyes, 
 Lidless slits of flame. . . . Maybe, 
 Gnarled of back and knobbed of knee, 
 Tadpole-paunched, you'll see the gnomes 
 Waddle from their toadstool homes; 
 While the frogs industriously 
 Twang their big bass-violins, 
 And the screech-owl's bagpipes shriek: 
 While their eyes, like points of pins, 
 Glitter, great-nosed beak to beak, 
 Here you'll see them squat and blink 
 Till it'd freeze your blood, I think." . . . 
 
 Won't hzve any goblins here! 
 With their eyes like upright slits, 
 Parrot-nosed and flopped of ear, 
 And a grin that cracks and splits 
 Wide their faces, never quits, 
 Faces all one wart or wen! 
 So I got a stick and then 
 Knocked those toadstools into bits. 
 36 
 
TOADSTOOLS 
 
 And my father said, "Well! well! 
 
 Now you've spoiled your only chance 
 
 It will never do to tell! 
 
 To behold the fairies dance, 
 
 And those grinning goblins, too. 
 
 Wonder what got into you ! " 
 
 37 
 
THE BOY NEXT DOOR 
 
 THERE'S a boy who lives next door; 
 And this boy is just as bad 
 As a boy can be; and poor! 
 He's so poor it makes me sad 
 When I see him. Out at knee; 
 And no shoes; and, more than that, 
 Hardly any shirt or hat. 
 He 's as poor as Poverty. 
 
 II 
 
 But I like him; yes, I do. 
 He can play 'most any game, 
 And tell fairy stories, too; 
 Funny stories, just the same 
 As my father does. And he 
 Told me one about a frog, 
 Living near a lake or bog, 
 Frog that married a bumblebee. 
 38 
 
THE BOY NEXT DOOR 
 III 
 
 And another of Jumping Joan 
 And Hink Minx, the old witch that 
 Sits before the fire alone 
 Frying fat for her black cat. 
 And of Craney Crow; her dog 
 And her chicken. But the best, 
 One I like more than the rest, 
 'S that one of the bee and frog. 
 
 IV 
 
 Well, the bumblebee would sing 
 All day long; and all the night 
 Sang the old frog; till the thing, 
 So folks said, was done in spite, 
 Just to keep the flowers awake: 
 One a rose, a brier-rose; 
 And the other, one of those 
 Lilies that grow in a lake. 
 
 All day long the bee would prod 
 At the rose and buzz and keep 
 Shaking it; it couldn't nod, 
 Much less ever go to sleep: 
 
 39 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 Humming to it, " Don't you hear? 
 I 'm so happy ! Can't you be 
 Just a little neighborly? 
 Ain't my froggie just a dear?" 
 
 VI 
 
 And the frog all night would sing 
 To the water-lily; while 
 On the pad he 'd sit or cling, 
 On his face an ear-wide smile, 
 Croaking, " Listen ! have you heard 
 All about my bouncing bee? 
 Don't you wish that you were she? 
 I 'm as happy as a bird ! " 
 
 VII 
 
 Then the water-lily 'd yawn, 
 And the rose would bat its eyes: 
 One would say, " It 's nearly dawn. 
 Better sleep. So I advise." 
 And the other, " Jumping Jim ! 
 That old frog's a wonder! made 
 Just for you. Can't I persuade 
 You to sing your songs to him? " 
 
 VIII 
 
 Finally it got so bad 
 
 That the rose and lily agreed 
 
 40 
 
THE BOY NEXT DOOR 
 
 They would fix them. Both were mad 
 And just dying to be freed 
 From this tuneful tyranny. 
 So the rose just took a thorn, 
 When the bee dropped in one morn, 
 Stabbed her; killed her dead, you see. 
 
 IX 
 
 That night by the yellow moon, 
 Sitting on the lily-pad, 
 Tuning up his old bassoon, 
 Didn't that old frog feel sad 
 When the lily told him! Cried 
 Fit to break one's heart; and, plunk! 
 In he plunged right there and sunk: 
 Drowned, committed suicide. 
 
CERTAIN TRUTHS ABOUT CERTAIN 
 THINGS 
 
 A ND the boy that lives next door 
 " Said to me one day, There's more 
 In those rhymes of Mother Goose 
 And those tales, I don't care whose, 
 Arabian Nights or Grimm's, or, well, 
 Any one's, than, I've no doubt, 
 You or I can ever tell, 
 Or can ever know about. 
 
 II 
 
 Why, there is a land, you know, 
 Where the world is so-and-so: 
 Where old Hick-a-Hack-a-more 
 Kicks the king right out his door 
 And sits on his throne and kills 
 Blackbirds as they fly from pies, 
 Pots them on the windowsills 
 I ain't telling you no lies. 
 42 
 
TRUTHS ABOUT CERTAIN THINGS 
 HI 
 
 For I met an old man once 
 And he was n't any dunce 
 Who just told me he had been 
 To that land and he had seen 
 All those people: even met 
 Handy Spandy in a shop; 
 And old Doctor Foster, wet, 
 Mad enough to make you hop. 
 
 IV 
 
 And he said that Miller, he 
 Who once lived on River Dee, 
 Told him that he was a wreck, 
 Mind and body, knee and neck, 
 Haunted by the memory of 
 That old flea whose bones he crackt 
 On the millstones. It was tough ! 
 And it killed him; it's a fact. 
 
 And he'd met that fellow, too, 
 Of St. Ives and all his crew, 
 Wives and sacks and cats; and he 
 Said it was a sight to see: 
 43 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 Wives a-scolding and the cats 
 Fighting in the sacks; the kits 
 Scratching like so many rats, 
 Yowling, too, to give you fits. 
 
 VI 
 
 And he said that Old King Cole 
 Was a fraud upon the whole: 
 Never had a fiddler 
 That could fiddle anywhere 
 By the side of him; and joked 
 While he drank the vilest brew 
 From a cracked old bowl; and smoked 
 Worse tobacco; smiling, too. 
 
 VII 
 
 And he said he knows of one 
 Oldtime town, all over-run 
 With old beggars, that at dark 
 Loosen dogs that bark and bark 
 Till the people, gone to bed, 
 Throw out anything they've got 
 Just to keep the peace. He said, 
 "Oughtn't they to all be shot?" 
 
 VIII 
 
 And he said that that old man 
 Clothed in leather was a ban 
 
 44 
 
TRUTHS ABOUT CERTAIN THINGS 
 
 On the whole community: 
 
 He was simply miserly, 
 
 Filthy, too: economized 
 
 Clothes and washing that way: and 
 
 This man simply loathed, despised 
 
 Him, his grin, and leather-band. 
 
 IX 
 
 Cinderella, too: why, she 
 Was a slomp; just naturally 
 Wouldn't work; and had big feet 
 Could have seen them 'cross the street. 
 Didn't marry a Prince at all, 
 But the ashman. Never at Court 
 Or a ball! She had her gall 
 To put that in her report! 
 
 Blue Beard was a much wronged man. 
 Think it was a well-laid plan 
 For his wife, her brothers there, 
 Just to kill him and to share 
 All his gold and silver. Then 
 Great Claus, too, was much abused. 
 Think that old Hans Andersen 
 Might have known it. He was used. 
 45 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 XI 
 
 Little Two Eyes ate her goat; 
 Was a glutton. If you'll note 
 All she did was eat and eat, 
 Thought of only bread and meat, 
 While her sisters, I 've heard since, 
 Scrubbed and labored day and night; 
 But, it 's true, she married a Prince 
 Fell in love with her appetite. 
 
 XII 
 
 Jack the Giant- Killer ; well! 
 He 's the worst, the sorriest sell. 
 This man met him, and he said 
 He was just a bully; bled 
 Folks by blackmail. Every one 
 Was afraid of him. But he, 
 This old man, once saw him run 
 From a boy not big as me. 
 
 XIII 
 
 Rudest girls he ever saw 
 Were Bo Peep and Marjory Daw; 
 Always careless in their dress, 
 Given over to idleness. 
 46 
 
TRUTHS ABOUT CERTAIN THINGS 
 
 Bobby Shafto and Boy Blue, 
 Worst boys in the world: the one, 
 Fishing when he ought not to; 
 The other sleeping in the sun. 
 
 XIV 
 
 Lots of other things he said 
 That, somehow, got out my head: 
 Something 'bout that girl contrary 
 Never had a garden! Mary; 
 And Miss Muffet that big spider 
 Never did sit down beside her; 
 And that Curly Locks the deuce! 
 Never had a curl. ... A few 
 Things he told of Mother Goose, 
 And I know they all are true. 
 
 47 
 
BAD LUCK 
 
 ONCE a rabbit crossed my road 
 When I went to see my aunt; 
 And another time a toad 
 Hopped right in my way. You can't 
 Kill toads, for that makes it rain, 
 And would spoil your day again. 
 
 But the rabbit if I could 
 I'd have killed him. For one day 
 Once a boy he told me, " Should 
 A wild rabbit cross your way, 
 Look out for bad luck that is, 
 If your fingers ain't cross-criss." 
 
 But if I had shot him dead 
 I 'd not been unlucky ; no ; 
 And not fallen out of bed 
 That same night; or stumped my toe 
 Playing " I Spy " ; nor the string 
 Broken when I went to swing. 
 48 
 
BAD LUCK 
 
 Talk about bad luck! I guess 
 That old rabbit brought it. Well; 
 Maudie had on her new dress, 
 And I pushed her, and she fell 
 In a creek-hole, where you 're bound 
 To get wet so Maudie found. 
 
 I I pulled her out that is, 
 Buddie helped me. Bud's a boy 
 Who was fishing there. And Liz, 
 Maud's old nurse, she took my toy, 
 My toy- whip, and she was mad 
 Whipped my legs and called me bad. 
 
 Then she said Maud might have drowned; 
 And the creek was full of "dumb 
 Polly wogs and snakes"; a sound 
 Whipping just might help me some: 
 Maybe Maud would catch a cold 
 And my mother should be told. 
 
 No, sir. I don't want to see 
 Any rabbits anyways 
 Cross my road. Why, gemenie! 
 (That 's a swear-word Maudie says) 
 If I saw one only one, 
 I would turn and run and run. 
 4 49 
 
THE LAMPLIGHT CAMP 
 
 WHENEVER on the windowpane 
 I hear the fingers of the rain, 
 And in the old trees, near the door, 
 The wind that whispers more and more, 
 Bright in the light made by the lamp 
 I make myself a hunter's camp. 
 
 The shadows of the desk and chairs 
 Are trees and woods; the corners, lairs 
 Where wolves and wildcats lie in wait 
 For any one who walks too late; 
 Upon my knees with my toy-gun 
 I hunt and slaughter many a one. 
 
 And now I rescue Riding Hood 
 From the great Wolf within the wood; 
 Now little Silver Locks, who flies 
 From the Three Bears with angry eyes; 
 And many a little girl who dwells 
 In story books, as mother tells. 
 50 
 
THE LAMPLIGHT CAMP 
 
 So up and down and all around 
 
 My wildwood camp I prowl or bound, 
 
 From corner unto corner till 
 
 I reach the door and windowsill, 
 
 Where Jack-o'-Lantern hides, I know, 
 
 Outside the lamplight's steady glow. 
 
 And he, the goblin-fiend, my nurse 
 Once scared me with, when I was worse 
 Than naughty; would not go to sleep, 
 But keep awake; and cry and creep 
 Out of my bed, the goblin black, 
 The foul fiend, Flibberty-Jibberty Jack. 
 
 And when I think perhaps that these 
 May catch me, on my father's knees 
 I climb and listen to the rain 
 And wind outside the windowpane, 
 And feel so safe with him that I 
 Go right to sleep, and never cry. 
 
THE SCARECROW 
 
 T\yrORE than cakes or anything 
 *'J I like tales of shivering. 
 Once a scarecrow on a hill 
 Tossed his ragged arms at me 
 That was when I went to see 
 Folks that live at Fisherville. 
 
 And my father said, " You know, 
 When it *s dark that old scarecrow 
 Gets down, rags and sticks and all, 
 And, like some old tramp, he goes, 
 Straw-wisps sticking from his toes, 
 Down the road, right past this wall. 
 
 "Wobble-legged and loose of arm, 
 Slow he shambles by the farm: 
 And if children are not good, 
 Snug in bed at eight o'clock, 
 On the window he will knock 
 With long knuckled hands of wood. 
 52 
 
THE SCARECROW 
 
 " Then his empty face pressed flat 
 To the pane, his tattered hat 
 Flopping in the wind, he '11 shake 
 His gaunt finger at them; and 
 Threaten them with head and hand, 
 And with teeth, too, like a rake. 
 
 "Then into the night he'll pack, 
 There to meet with bogie Jack, 
 Jack-o'-Lantern ; and the two, 
 Arm in arm, will wander on, 
 Scaring folks until it's dawn, 
 As all goblin people do. 
 
 " You may see them through the pane 
 Passing in the night and rain: 
 When you hear the watch-dogs bark, 
 Then along the weedy side 
 Of some garden dim they glide, 
 Where they grab you in the dark." 
 
 Sometime, when I can, for fun 
 I am going to take my gun; 
 Creep up on that hill and blow 
 That old scarecrow into bits 
 Then he can't scare into fits 
 Any children more, I know. 
 53 
 
BEETLE AND MOTH 
 
 a bug at night that goes 
 Drowsily down the garden ways; 
 Lumberingly above the rose, 
 And above the jasmine sprays; 
 Bumping, bungling, buzzing by, 
 Falling finally, to crawl 
 Underneath the rose and lie 
 Near its fairest bud. That's all. 
 And I ask my father why 
 This old bug goes by that way: 
 This is what he has to say: 
 
 "That's old Parson Beetle, sonny; 
 
 He 's in love with some rich flower ; 
 After her and all her honey 
 
 And he'll have them in an hour. 
 He is awkward, but, I say, 
 With the flowers he has a way; 
 
 And, I tell you, he's a power; 
 
 Never fails to get his flower: 
 He 's a great old Beetle, sonny." 
 54 
 
BEETLE AND MOTH 
 II 
 
 Then again, when it is wet, 
 
 And we sit around the lamp, 
 
 On the screen, near which it 's set, 
 
 Comes a fluttering, dim and damp, 
 
 Of white, woolly wings; and I 
 
 Go to see what 's there and find 
 
 Something like a butterfly, 
 
 Beating at the window-blind. 
 
 And I ask my father why 
 
 This strange creature does that way: 
 
 This is what he has to say: 
 
 "Lady Moth that; she's the fashion: 
 Falls in love with all bright things: 
 
 She has a consuming passion 
 
 For this light: will singe her wings. 
 
 Once it was a star, you know, 
 
 That she loved. I told you so I 
 
 Take her up. What lovely rings 
 
 On her scorched and dainty wings! 
 
 It 's a pity, but the fashion." 
 
 55 
 
OLD MAN RAIN 
 
 Man Rain at the windowpane 
 Knocks and fumbles and knocks again: 
 His long-nailed fingers slip and strain: 
 Old Man Rain at the windowpane 
 Knocks all night but knocks in vain. 
 Old Man Rain. 
 
 Old Man Rain at the windowpane 
 Reels and shambles along the lane: 
 His old gray whiskers drip and drain: 
 Old Man Rain with fuddled brain 
 Reels and staggers like one insane. 
 Old Man Rain. 
 
 Old Man Rain is back again, 
 With old Mis' Wind at the windowpane, 
 Dancing there with her tattered train: 
 Her old shawl flaps as she whirls again 
 In the wildman dance and is torn in twain. 
 Old Mis' Wind and Old Man Rain. 
 56 
 
THE LITTLE BOY, THE WIND, AND 
 THE RAIN 
 
 I 
 
 SOMETIMES, when I'm gone to-bed, 
 And it's all dark in the room, 
 Seems I hear somebody tread 
 Heavy, rustling through the gloom: 
 And then something there goes "boom," 
 Stumbling on the floor o'erhead; 
 And I cover eyes and ears: 
 Never dare to once look out, 
 But just cry till mother hears, 
 Says there 's naught to cry about : 
 " Old Mis' Wind is at her capers. 
 
 Shut your eyes and go to sleep. 
 She has got among those papers, 
 
 In the attic, with her sweep. 
 
 Shut your eyes and go to sleep." 
 
 II 
 
 Sometimes when the lamplight's flame 
 Flickers, fingers tap the pane; 
 
 57 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 Knuckled fingers, just the same, 
 
 Rapping with long nails again: 
 
 Bony hands then seem to strain, 
 
 Pulling at the window-frame: 
 
 And I cry, "Who's there?" And then 
 
 Sit bolt up in bed and call 
 
 Till my father drops his pen, 
 
 Saying to me from the hall: 
 
 " Old Man Rain is at his nonsense. 
 
 Close your eyes and go to sleep. 
 Makes a lot of noise. My conscience! 
 
 What a fuss his fingers keep! 
 
 Close your eyes and go to sleep." 
 
SOUNDS AND SIGHTS 
 
 I 
 
 OFTEN, when I wake at night, 
 I can hear the strangest sounds, 
 Stealthy noises, left and right, 
 As of some one going his rounds: 
 On the stairs there comes a crack 
 As if some one mounted there; 
 Then the door creaks; and the back 
 Settles of the rocking-chair, 
 As if some one had sat down. 
 Then I get up in my gown; 
 Run to mother; hide my head; 
 Snuggle down by her in bed. 
 
 And she says to me, " My dear, 
 There is nothing here to fear: 
 All the noises that you hear 
 Are the old house and the weather, 
 
 Dry old weather, 
 Having a little talk together. 
 You just heard the old house stretching, 
 Waking up to have a chat: 
 59 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 Seems to me that it is catching. 
 Don't wake up again for that." 
 
 II 
 
 And again I wake at night, 
 And can see the queerest things: 
 In the gas-jet's lowered light, 
 The tall mantle with its rings 
 And its mirror seems a face 
 With a monster eye and nose 
 And a mouth, the fireplace, 
 Making faces at me. Those 
 Chairs against the wall move out, 
 Limping, as if lame with gout: 
 And I 'm scared as scared can be, 
 Call, till father comes to me. 
 
 And he says, "There's nothing there; 
 Nothing that could hurt or scare. 
 And that mantle and that chair 
 Guess that they were only courting, 
 
 Queerly courting, 
 While the other was cavorting. 
 You just saw what these were thinking; 
 
 Longing there to hug and kiss: 
 Seems to me you caught them winking. 
 
 But don't wake again for this." 
 60 
 
KATYDIDS AND THE MOON 
 
 SUMMER evenings, when it's warm, 
 In the yard we sit and swing: 
 And it's better than a farm, 
 Watching how the fireflies swarm, 
 Listening to the crickets sing, 
 And the katydids that cry, 
 "Katy didn't! Katy did!" 
 In the trees and flowers hid. 
 So I ask my father, "Why? 
 What's the thing she didn't do?" 
 For he told me that he knew: 
 
 "Katy dtdn't like to worry; 
 
 But she did so like to talk; 
 
 Gossip of herself and talk; 
 Katy didn't like to hurry; 
 
 But she did so like to walk ; 
 
 Saunter by herself and walk. 
 How is that now for a story? " 
 61 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 II 
 
 And one night when it was fine, 
 
 And the moon peeped through the trees; 
 
 And the scented jessamine vine 
 
 Swung its blossoms in the breeze, 
 
 Full of sleeping honeybees: 
 
 " That 's Old Sister Moon," he said. 
 
 " She 's a perfect simpleton ; 
 
 Scared to death of Old Man Sun: 
 
 All day long she hides her head." 
 
 And I asked my father why, 
 
 And he made me this reply : 
 
 " Sister Moon's old eyes are weary ; 
 
 Her old eyes are very weak; 
 
 Poor and old and worn and weak: 
 And the old Sun, with his cheery 
 
 Looks, just makes them leak and leak, 
 
 Like an old can leak and leak. 
 That's the reason why, my dearie." 
 
 62 
 
TOPSY TURVY 
 
 TOPSY TURVY is her name; 
 She 's a curiosity : 
 Never sees the world the same 
 As it seems to you and me. 
 " All the world is upside down," 
 So she says; then, with a frown, 
 "If it's not it ought to be." 
 Topsy Turvy! Topsy Turvy! 
 
 Takes you to some old wood pool, 
 Or some well to prove she's right: 
 " There 's the real world, you fool ! 
 Something's wrong with people's sight. 
 There 's the sky, the clouds, the wood. 
 There you see them as you should. 
 If you don't it's out of spite." 
 Topsy Turvy! Topsy Turvy! 
 
 " You are walking on your heads, 
 And don't know it; but it's true. 
 You don't lie down in your beds, 
 But your beds lie down on you; 
 
 63 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 You are under them. The sun, 
 Moon, and stars are, every one, 
 Shining underneath you too." 
 Topsy Turvy! Topsy Turvy! 
 
 " Seems that no one else can see 
 As I see it. It 's a shame, 
 Or your own perversity. 
 But, good Lord ! 7 'm not to blame. 
 Don't know what you miss, you don't, 
 By not seeing things you won't. 
 My ! how fine they look to me ! " 
 Topsy Turvy! Topsy Turvy! 
 
 Then she runs away and hides 
 By a creek and looks for hours, 
 In the water where it slides, 
 At herself, the trees and flowers, 
 Sun and skies and clouds, and if 
 You just laugh, she gives a sniff, 
 Shakes her head and glares and glowers. 
 Topsy Turvy! Topsy Turvy! 
 
LITTLE GIRLIE GOOD ENOUGH 
 
 LTTLE Girlie Good Enough 
 Lives right there across the street; 
 Neater than a powder-puff, 
 Yes she is, and just as sweet: 
 Bows and ribbons on her hair, 
 And her frock just so. Declare, 
 Looks just like a doll, she does; 
 Best girl that there ever was. 
 
 Little Girlie Good Enough 
 Never answers people back. 
 Spick and span from shoe to cuff, 
 Brighter than a brand new tack. 
 Knows her lessons every day; 
 Never loiters on her way: 
 Teeth like two clean rows of pearls. 
 She 's the very best of girls. 
 
 Little Girlie Good Enough 
 Never goes with shoes untied; 
 Never, never 's rude or rough ; 
 She's her parents' joy and pride. 
 5 65 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 Never cries for candy, nor 
 For the things not good for her: 
 Hair is always combed and curled. 
 She 's the best girl in the world. 
 
 Little Girlie Good Enough 
 Never gets her dresses soiled; 
 Never plays with mud or stuff; 
 And her face looks like it 's oiled 
 It 's so clean and shiny. She 
 Never 's even out at knee ; 
 Stockings perfect, always so. 
 She 's the best girl that I know. 
 
 Little Girlie Good Enough 
 Wish I was as good as she! 
 Never flies into a huff, 
 Makes a scene like you or me. 
 Only speaks when spoken to; 
 Never talks like me and you 
 When there 's company to tea. 
 She 's a good girl ; yes sir-ee. 
 
 Little Girlie Good Enough 
 I don't like you, never could. 
 Think you 're nothing but a muff, 
 And that you are far too good. 
 66 
 
LITTLE GIRLIE GOOD ENOUGH 
 
 Never kissed a boy ! oh my ! 
 Never played the game Hi Spy, 
 Lost the Handkerchief, or such! 
 You're too good to even touch. 
 
 Little Girlie Good Enough, 
 Some one 's going to do for you ; 
 Going to treat you good and tough, 
 Spatter you from head to shoe; 
 Pull your hair and scratch your face, 
 Send you home in great disgrace; 
 Show you you're not up to snuff, 
 Little Girlie Good Enough. 
 
 67 
 
FROGS AT NIGHT 
 
 T HEARD the toads and frogs last night 
 ^ When snug in bed, and all was still; 
 I lay and listened there until 
 It seemed a church where one, with might, 
 Was preaching high and very shrill: 
 
 " The will of God! 
 
 The will of God!" 
 To which a voice, below the hill, 
 Basso-profundo'd deep, "The will!" 
 
 " The will of God! 
 
 The will of God! " 
 
 "The will! The will!" 
 They croaked and chorused hoarse or shrill. 
 
 It made me sleepy; sleepier 
 Than any sermon ever heard: 
 And so I turned upon my ear 
 And went to-sleep and never stirred: 
 But in my sleep I seemed to hear: 
 
 " The word of God! 
 
 The word of God! " 
 68 
 
FROGS AT NIGHT 
 
 Chanted and quavered, chirped and purred, 
 To which one deep voice croaked, " The word ! " 
 " The ^word of God! 
 The 'word of God! " 
 "The word! The word!" 
 And I slept on and never stirred. 
 
 69 
 
RAGAMUFFIN 
 
 I 
 
 > a boy that you must know, 
 Always ragged, dirty too; 
 Just a wretched sight and show 
 Worst boy that I ever knew; 
 Always hitting other boys 
 Smaller than himself. Annoys 
 People, too, by throwing stones. 
 Breaks more windows ! that 's his game. 
 Some one ought to break his bones. 
 Ragamuffin is his name. 
 
 Ragamuffin, Ragamuffin! 
 
 Some day some one '11 knock the stuffin* 
 
 Out of you and then, perhaps, 
 
 You won't bully little chaps. 
 
 II 
 
 Never goes to school, but plays 
 Hookey all the time. His hat 
 Slouched like some old drunken bat 
 Reeling through the evening haze, 
 
 70 
 
RAGAMUFFIN 
 
 Here he loafs and tries to scare 
 Little girls; yes, pulls their hair, 
 While he mouths at them and jeers: 
 Chews tobacco, too, the same 
 As these ragged grasshoppers. 
 Ragamuffin is his name. 
 
 Ragamuffin, Ragamuffin! 
 Some day you '11 go home a-snuffin* : 
 Some big brother 's going to fix 
 You for all your loafer tricks. 
 
 Ill 
 
 And at night he comes around, 
 Prying in the windows when 
 Children are alone: and then 
 Knocks and makes a dreadful sound, 
 Like a robber getting in; 
 Scares them till it is a sin, 
 Looking fierce as robbers do, 
 Cursing till it is a shame: 
 It would even frighten you. 
 Ragamuffin is his name. 
 
 Ragamuffin, Ragamuffin! 
 You had better quit your bluffin'; 
 Watchman sure will cross your trail, 
 Catch and lock you up in jail. 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 IV 
 
 But the worst thing that he does, 
 
 So I think, is poking fun 
 
 At poor beggars; never a one 
 
 Beggarly or villanous 
 
 As himself is. And he laughs, 
 
 Fit to kill, and apes and chaffs 
 
 Every cripple: lies in wait 
 
 Just to mock : pretends he 's lame : 
 
 Jeers then, "Say! why ain't you straight?" 
 
 Ragamuffin is his name. 
 
 Ragamuffin, Ragamuffin! 
 Some day you will get a cuffin'; 
 Man will kill you with a crutch 
 Hey ! we would n't miss you much. 
 
 72 
 
THE JACK-O'-LANTERN 
 
 T AST night it was Hallowe'en. 
 ' Darkest night I 've ever seen. 
 And the boy next door, I thought, 
 Would be glad to know of this 
 Jack-o'-lantern father brought 
 Home from Indianapolis. 
 
 And he was glad. Borrowed it. 
 Put a candle in and lit; 
 Hid among the weeds out there 
 In the side lot near the street. 
 I could see it, eyes aglare, 
 Mouth and nose red slits of heat. 
 
 My! but it looked scary! He 
 Perched an old hat on it, see? 
 Like some hat a scarecrow has, 
 Battered, tattered all around; 
 And he fanned long arms of grass 
 Up and down above the ground. 
 73 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 First an Irish woman, shawled, 
 With a basket, saw it; bawled 
 For her Saints and wept and cried, 
 "Is it you, Pat? Och! I knew 
 He would git you whin you died! 
 'Faith ! there 's little change in you ! " 
 
 Then the candle sputtered, flared, 
 And went out; and on she fared, 
 Muttering to herself. When lit, 
 No one came for longest while. 
 Then a man passed; looked at it; 
 On his face a knowing smile. 
 
 Then it scared a colored girl 
 
 Into fits. She gave a whirl 
 
 And a scream and ran and ran 
 
 Thought Old Nick had hold her skin; 
 
 And she ran into a man, 
 
 P'liceman, and he run her in. 
 
 But what pleased me most was that 
 It made one boy lose his hat; 
 A big fool who thinks he 's smart, 
 Brags about the boys he beat: 
 Knew he 'd run right from the start : 
 Biggest coward on the street. 
 74 
 
THE JACK- O' -LANTERN 
 
 Then a crowd of girls and boys 
 Gathered with a lot of noise. 
 When they saw the lantern, well! 
 They just took a hand: they thought 
 That they had him when he fell; 
 But he turned on them and fought. 
 
 He just took that lantern's stick, 
 Laid about him hard and quick, 
 And they yelled and ran away. 
 Then he brought me all he had 
 Of my lantern. And, I say, 
 Could have cried I was so mad. 
 
 75 
 
OLD JACK FROST 
 
 T AST night we were kept awake. 
 
 *~* Couldn't sleep for Old Jack Frost; 
 Wandering round like some old ghost. 
 Gave the door an awful shake; 
 Knocked against my bed's brass post. 
 Last night we were kept awake. 
 
 Couldn't sleep he made such noise; 
 Rapped and tapped and prowled around. 
 Once he made a snapping sound 
 Just like that of breaking toys. 
 You 'd been scared, too, I '11 be bound. 
 Couldn't sleep he made such noise. 
 
 All was dark and very still, 
 When, right at the window, "bing," 
 Came a rap that made me sing, 
 "Mother, I'm afraid!" until 
 Mother fussed like everything. 
 All was dark and very still. 
 76 
 
OLD JACK FROST 
 
 "Old Jack Frost is raising Ned. 
 And to-morrow, wish to state, 
 We '11 get even sure as fate ; 
 Cure him of his tricks," she said; 
 " Start a fire in the grate. 
 Old Jack Frost is raising Ned." 
 
 Then I heard my father's voice: 
 
 " You just let Jack Frost alone. 
 
 He 's good friends, you should have known, 
 
 With Old Santa. Little boys 
 
 Are not scared of him, my son." 
 
 Then I heard my father's voice. 
 
 So I went to sleep again: 
 Let him bang the furniture 
 All he cared to. I was sure 
 I 'd get even ; that was plain : 
 Old Man Fire would be his cure. 
 So I went to sleep again. 
 
 Once he rattled at my mug 
 Where was water: then he crept 
 Round the room and softly stept 
 Here and there upon the rug; 
 Felt his breath, but I just slept. 
 Once he rattled at my mug. 
 77 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 Well, you should have seen the things 
 That he painted on the panes 
 When 't was morning : towns and trains ; 
 Flowers and fairies; ropes and rings; 
 Stars and ribboned weather-vanes. 
 Well, you should have seen the things! 
 
 I just shouted when I saw. 
 Called to father: "Just look here! 
 Old Jack Frost is such a dear! 
 Wish he'd show me how to draw. 
 I 'd be good for one whole year." 
 I just shouted when I saw. 
 
THE POND 
 
 AND I told the boy next door 
 What Jack Frost had done; and he 
 Said, " Ah shucks I thai '5 nothing ; see ? 
 / have seen all that before. 
 You just come along with me; 
 I will show you something more." 
 
 And he took me to a lot 
 
 Where there was a shallow pool; 
 
 And this pool was frozen; full 
 
 Of the slickest ice. I got 
 
 On it, but he said, "You fool! 
 
 It will break. You'd better not." 
 
 And right then it broke. O my! 
 In I went above my knees. 
 Thought that I would surely freeze. 
 Old Jack Frost just caught me by 
 Both my legs; began to squeeze; 
 And then I began to cry. 
 79 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 I just helloed, and the boy 
 Helloed too; until a man, 
 With a dinner-pail or can, 
 Heard us, and cried out, " Ahoy ! 
 What 've you run into ? " Then ran 
 Till he got there, to our joy. 
 
 He just took me round the waist, 
 Lifted me as easy; so; 
 Then he said, " I think, by Joe ! 
 You two boys were both in haste 
 To go skating, don't you know? 
 Better wait till summer 's chased. 
 
 "Where you live, eh?" And I told. 
 " Well, we '11 have to hurry. Come. 
 Old Jack Frost has nipped my thumb. 
 I shall have an awful cold; 
 And suppose that you '11 have some. 
 Can't be helped. Hope Ma won't scold. 
 
 " My ! but you 're a mighty fine 
 Little boy! Remind me of 
 One at home my own I love. 
 Eyes just like yours clear as wine. 
 There now ! I have lost my glove. 
 You're just like that boy of mine. 
 80 
 
TH E POND 
 
 " Wish he knew you. Got blue eyes 
 Same as yours and same brown hair. 
 But he 's crippled. Has a chair 
 Where he sits all day, or lies. 
 ' He 's our only love and care ' 
 So his mother says, then cries. 
 
 " Here 's your street and here 's your home. 
 
 Run 'long to your mother. Then 
 
 I '11 be seeing you again. 
 
 So long. Hope the day will come 
 
 My boy '11 be like you young men, 
 
 Straight and strong and mettlesome." 
 
 Then he went and, man alive! 
 I felt sorrier for that man 
 With his battered dinner-can, 
 And his crippled boy, than I 've 
 Ever felt. And I began 
 Crying; and then made a dive 
 
 For the back-door. Won't forget 
 All the fuss there: first they told 
 Mother, and how she did scold! 
 Father said, " This getting wet 
 Will, I 'm sure, give you a cold." 
 But I haven't had it yet. 
 6 81 
 
THE CHARCOAL MAN 
 
 ONCE a charcoal wagon passed, 
 And an old black charcoalman, 
 " Blacker than a midnight blast," 
 Mother said. And he began 
 Crying, " Charcoal ! charcoal ! 
 Come and buy my charcoal." 
 And the boys they mocked him, too, 
 Just the same as parrots do: 
 "Charcoal! Charcoal! 
 Blacker than a cellar hole! 
 Charcoal ! Charcoal \ 
 Come and buy my charcoal! 
 Char-co-oal ! " 
 
 But he never looked at them, 
 Only cracked his blacksnake whip, 
 Sucking at his old pipe-stem, 
 Not much blacker than his lip: 
 Crying, " Charcoal ! charcoal ! 
 Come and buy my charcoal ! " 
 And the boys they mimicked him 
 While he rode on black and grim: 
 82 
 
THE CHARCOAL MAN 
 
 " Charcoal ! Charcoal ! 
 Blacker than your old pipe's bowl! 
 Charcoal ! Charcoal ! 
 Come and buy my charcoal! 
 Char-co-oal!" 
 
 Then he turned and shook his head 
 With a sort o' grimy smile; 
 "Wish you had my job," he said; 
 "Come and try it for a while, 
 Crying, 'Charcoal! charcoal! 
 Come and buy my charcoal ! ' ' 
 But the boys kept up the fun 
 Crying louder, every one, 
 " Charcoal ! Charcoal ! 
 Slower than an old black mole! 
 Charcoal! Charcoal! 
 Come and buy my charcoal! 
 Char-co-oal ! " 
 
 Down he got then from his team, 
 In his old patched coat and hat, 
 Rags and dirt at every seam, 
 Blacker than our old black cat: 
 Crying, " Charcoal ! charcoal ! 
 Come and buy my charcoal ! " 
 83 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 And the boys they stood far off, 
 Mocking him with gibe and scoff: 
 "Charcoal! Charcoal! 
 Leaner than an old bean pole! 
 Charcoal! Charcoal! 
 Come and buy my charcoal! 
 Char-co-oal!" 
 
 I felt sorry for him then: 
 And my mother called him in: 
 Bought a boxful. Gentlemen! 
 Ought to've seen him laugh and grin, 
 Crying, " Charcoal ! charcoal ! 
 Come and buy my charcoal ! " 
 And the boys they danced and laughed, 
 Pleased as he was, while they chaffed: 
 " Charcoal ! Charcoal ! 
 Shovel it and let it roll!" 
 And he answered them as droll: 
 "Charcoal! Charcoal! 
 Made enough to pay my toll. 
 Charcoal! Charcoal! 
 Run and tell your mothers, boys, 
 Here's the place to buy your choice 
 Charcoal! Charcoal! 
 Best they ever bought or stole. 
 Charcoal! Charcoal! 
 84 
 
THE CHARCOAL MAN 
 
 Bring your barrels here to fill! 
 You can bring them if you will! 
 Charcoal ! Charcoal ! 
 Help along a needy soul! 
 Charcoal ! charcoal ! 
 Come and buy my charcoal! 
 Char-co-oal!" 
 
OLD SIS SNOW 
 
 OLD Sis Snow, with hair ablow, 
 Down the road now see her go! 
 Her old gown pulled back and pinned 
 Round her legs by Wild-boy Wind 
 Oughtn't he to just be skinned? 
 Hear her shriek, now high, now low, 
 Tangled in her hair! my oh! 
 Is n't she a crazy show? 
 Old Sis Snow! 
 
 Old Sis Snow now to and fro 
 Ramps and wrestles and hollos " Whoa ! " 
 Sticks her long white fingers through 
 Every crack and cranny too, 
 Reaching after me and you: 
 Cold I and look how fast they grow! 
 Ghostly in the lamplight's glow, 
 Threatening you from head to toe! 
 Old Sis Snow! 
 
 86 
 
OLD SIS SNOW 
 
 Old Sis Snow! now you go slow! 
 You '11 get tired enough, I know : 
 Wild-boy Wind will drag you down; 
 Round your ears will tear your gown; 
 Strew its rags through field and town. 
 Now he *s at it, blow on blow, 
 Hitting hard as any hoe. 
 Hear them how they knock and throw! 
 Wild-boy Wind and Old Sis Snow! 
 
THE BIRTHDAY PARTY 
 
 HAD a birthday yesterday. 
 First one for, I think, a year. 
 Won't have one again, they say, 
 Till another year is here. 
 Funny, don't you think so? I 
 Can't just understand now why. 
 
 Anyhow my birthday came; 
 And I had, oh! lots of things 
 Birthday gifts I just can't name, 
 Even count them: toys and rings; 
 Hoops and books and hats. Indeed, 
 Everything that I don't need. 
 
 What I wanted wasn't suits; 
 Wooden toys and "Wonderland"; 
 But a hoe to dig up roots; 
 And a spade to shovel sand; 
 Rake to rake where father said 
 He has made a flower-bed. 
 88 
 
THE BIRTHDAY PARTY 
 
 But I didn't get them; and 
 Didn't get a box of paints, 
 Which I wanted. I raised sand, 
 Till my mother said, " My saints ! 
 If you don't behave yourself, 
 Party '11 be laid on the shelf." 
 
 So I did behave, and played 
 
 With the little girls and boys, 
 
 Who just stayed and stayed and stayed, 
 
 Played with me and with my toys; 
 
 Broke some, too; but, never mind, 
 
 Had the best time of its kind. 
 
 Had the dinner then. I bet 
 Y* never saw a finer sight. 
 A big birthday cake was set, 
 Thick with icing, round and white, 
 In the centre of the table, 
 Looking all that it was able. 
 
 On it four pink candles burned: 
 And we had a lot of fun 
 When a little girl there turned, 
 Blew them out, yes, every one, 
 And I kissed her for it yes 
 And she liked it, too, I guess. 
 89 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 When I saw my father, why, 
 All the children then were gone; 
 Only child around was I. 
 I was playing on the lawn 
 By myself when father came, 
 And he kissed me just the same. 
 
 And I asked my father where 
 Do the birthdays come from, while 
 He sat in his rocking-chair, 
 Looking at me with a smile. 
 Then I asked him where they go 
 When they 're gone. He did n't know. 
 
 90 
 
SANTA GLAUS 
 
 WHEN my mother isn't here, 
 And I just <won'i go to bed, 
 And it's cold outside and near 
 Christmas; and the kitchen-shed 
 'S covered thick with frost and snow; 
 Then my nurse she says, "Oh! oh! 
 Better get to bed! My Laws! 
 Think I hear Old Santa Glaus!" 
 
 Then I hurry; never kick, 
 Squirm or cry or anything: 
 But jump into bed right quick: 
 'Fraid to look around; and cling 
 Fast to nurse; and close my eyes 
 Tight: she looking just as wise! 
 Scared, too, don't you know? because 
 She just heard Old Santa Claus. 
 
 Why in goodness I 'm afraid 
 I don't know. For Santa 's good, 
 So they say, and brings much aid 
 To all folks. It 's understood 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 Specially to girls and boys, 
 Christmas-trees and cakes and toys; 
 But there mast be some good cause 
 Makes one 'fraid of Santa Claus. 
 
 It's his whiskers, I suppose; 
 Gray and big about his chin, 
 Where you just can see his nose 
 And his eyes, each like a pin: 
 And his clothes all made of hair 
 Twinkling thick with frost. Declare 
 If I saw him I 'd have cause 
 To be scared of Santa Claus. 
 
 One night, week from Christmas, I 
 Looked out through the window-pane; 
 And right in our back-yard, why, 
 Some one walked in wind and rain, 
 Swishing, splashing with a whip. 
 Didn't I just hop and skip 
 Into bed? because, because 
 Guess it was Old Santa Claus. 
 
 And I am all shivery 
 When I wake up winter nights, 
 And it 's dark and I can't see, 
 And the black wind fights and fights 
 92 
 
SANTA CLAUS 
 
 Round the chimney; then right quick 
 Under cover my head I stick, 
 Crying, " Mother ! wake up ! 'cause 
 Think I hear Old Santa Glaus!" 
 
 93 
 
FORERUNNERS 
 
 IS n't long till Christmas now. 
 
 First thing that you '11 know, U 's here. 
 Nurse can tell it, don't know how, 
 By the smell o* th' atmosphere, 
 Shivery and never clear. 
 'T is n't long till Christmas now. 
 
 'T is n't long till Christmas now. 
 Boy next door, he says he knows 
 By the ice at morning; <wo<v)l 
 And the way the old wind blows, 
 And the way it snows and snows. 
 'T is n't long till Christmas now. 
 
 'T is n't long till Christmas now. 
 Cook, she knows it by her aches, 
 So she says, or, anyhow, 
 By the many cakes she bakes, 
 Fruit-cakes, nut- and pepper-cakes. 
 'T is n't long till Christmas now. 
 94 
 
FORERUNNERS 
 
 'T is n't long till Christmas now. 
 
 And / know it, yes, I do, 
 
 By the rooms they won't allow 
 
 Me to go in; closets, too, 
 
 They keep locked I don't know who. 
 
 'T is n't long till Christmas now. 
 
 5 T is n't long till Christmas now. 
 Father says he knows it by 
 Money and his purse; and how 
 Much it takes for things, oh my! 
 Little boys come mighty high. 
 'T is n't long till Christmas now. 
 
 'T is n't long till Christmas now. 
 Mother knows it, she declares, 
 By the sounds at night; the row 
 In the parlor, on the stairs 
 Santa carrying in his wares. 
 'T is n't long till Christmas now. 
 
THE CHRISTMAS TREE 
 
 CHRISTMAS is just one week off, 
 And Old Santa 's in the house ; 
 In the attic heard a cough 
 Th' other day when not a mouse 
 Nor a rat, I know, was there. 
 Mother said, "You'd better be 
 Good, or else, I do declare! 
 There won't be a Christmas-tree." 
 
 Christmas is next week. And I 'm 
 
 So excited ! In the night 
 
 Hardly ever sleep. One time 
 
 Woke and heard strange footsteps, right 
 
 In the hall, go down the stair; 
 
 When I cried to mother, she 
 
 Said, " Lie down, now ! I declare 
 
 If you don't no Christmas-tree." 
 
 Yes; next week is Christmas. And 
 I heard some one laughing sure, 
 Low, half smothered by a hand, 
 In the parlor where the door 
 
THE CHRISTMAS TREE 
 
 'S always locked and, my! my hair 
 Fairly crept. And suddenly 
 Heard a hoarse voice say, " Take care ! 
 Or you '11 get no Christmas-tree." 
 
 Mother was a-lying down; 
 
 'T was n't she. And then the cook 
 
 And my nurse had gone in town. 
 
 Father, he was at a book. 
 
 Must have been Old Santa there 
 
 Just a-lying low to see 
 
 If I 'm good or I declare ! 
 
 Trimming up my Christmas-tree. 
 
 One night, huh! the kitchen door 
 Banged wide open. 'T was n't wind. 
 And three knocks, or was it four? 
 Shook the window. I just skinned 
 Out of there and up the stair 
 Where my mother was; and she 
 Smiled, "'Twas Santa, I'll declare! 
 Bringing in your Christmas-tree." 
 
 And I never pout or cry 
 When I have to go to bed; 
 Just get in my gown and lie 
 Quiet; listening for the tread 
 7 97 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 Of a foot upon the stair, 
 Or a voice it seems to me 
 Santa's saying, " I declare, 
 It 's a lovely Christmas-tree ! " 
 
 Every one just walks the chalk 
 Now it 's near to Christmas. Yes, 
 I 'm as careful in my talk 
 As a boy could be, I guess: 
 " For Old Santa 's everywhere," 
 Mother says mysteriously, 
 " And, unless you 're goody 'declare 
 You won't have a Christmas-tree." 
 
 98 
 
CHRISTMAS EVE 
 
 CHRISTMAS Eve is here at last. 
 And I 'm happy as can be. 
 Going to have a Christmas-tree, 
 And more toys than any past 
 Christmas saw or ever had, 
 So my mother says, for me. 
 And I 'm glad, am just as glad 
 As a little boy can be. 
 Christmas Eve is here at last. 
 
 Christmas Eve is here at last. 
 And I 'm going to-bed to-night 
 Early ; when it 's candlelight : 
 Christmas Day can't come too fast.- 
 I'll not go to-sleep, I think, 
 But be wide awake when, right 
 Here, Old Santa, with a wink, 
 Down the chimney comes to-night. 
 Christmas Eve is here at last. 
 
 Christmas Eve is here at last. 
 And the dining-room and hall, 
 Parlor too, I guess, and wall, 
 99 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 All are hung with holly; massed 
 With old mistletoe. A smell 
 Sniffs of cedar over all. 
 Every minute goes the bell; 
 Parcels pack and pile the hall. 
 Christmas Eve is here at last. 
 
 Christmas Eve is here at last. 
 And it has begun to snow. 
 Oh ! I'm so excited ! oh ! 
 Windows rattle and the blast 
 Shakes and mutters at the door. 
 But that 's not the wind I know; 
 I have heard him there before 
 Santa Claus all furred with snow. 
 Christmas Eve is here at last. 
 
 Christmas Eve is here at last. 
 How the folks go hurrying by; 
 I can see the snowflakes fly 
 By my window; whirling past 
 Everywhere; and our front yard 
 'S covered white: and my! oh my! 
 Hear the bells that jingle hard! 
 Must be Santa sleighing by. 
 Christmas Eve is here at last. 
 100 
 
C H R I S T M A S E V E 
 
 Christmas Eve is here at last. 
 Tell you what I 'm going to do, 
 Hang my stockings up yes, two! 
 My favo stockings; for, I asked 
 Mother and she said I might. 
 Then I '11 watch, and cry, " That you, 
 Santa ? " when he comes to-night 
 "Hello, Santa! Howdy do! 
 Christmas Eve is here at last." 
 
 101 
 
NOTHING TO DO 
 
 TTNON'T know what to do to-day. 
 -^ Got so many things to do 
 I can't do them. Want to play, 
 But my toys are all too new 
 I don't like to play with them: 
 Blocks and paints and dogs and guns; 
 Watch that winds up by the stem ; 
 And a train of cars that runs 
 Round a track and far away. 
 Don't know what to do to-day. 
 
 Don't know what to do to-day. 
 Whether just to stand and look 
 At my Christmas-tree, or stay 
 Looking at my picture-book 
 Full of fairy stories; or 
 Ask to have them read to me; 
 Or to bother mother for 
 Something off the Christmas-tree: 
 I don't know and I can't say 
 Don't know *whai to do to-day. 
 
 102 
 
NOTHING TO DO 
 
 Don't know what to do to-day. 
 Never can make up my mind. 
 I could take my new red sleigh 
 And go sleighing on behind 
 Some old wagon on the snow 
 As the other children do: 
 But, you see, I just don't know I 
 There's my brand new wagon, too; 
 It 'd be lonesome, me away. 
 Don't know what to do to-day. 
 
 Don't know what to do to-day. 
 There 's my fine new rocking-horse, 
 Long of tail and dapple-gray, 
 I might ride on him of course: 
 But my new velocipede 
 What would it do then? or what 
 Would that "fiery, untamed steed," 
 That I almost had forgot, 
 Hobbyhorse just think or say? 
 Don't know what to do to-day. 
 
 Don't know what to do to-day. 
 But I know what I could do: 
 I could make my donkey bray 
 By just twisting round a screw 
 
 103 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 In his stomach, and that 's all ; 
 I might make my rooster crow; 
 And my big mechanical doll 
 Play his music-box; and, oh! 
 I could make my old hen lay. 
 That 's what I could do to-day. 
 
 " Don't know what to do to-day ! " 
 Mother says. " Well, I suppose, 
 Better put your toys away. 
 You 've too many, heaven knows ! 
 Don't know what Old Santa meant 
 Bringing you a toy-store. You 
 Have too much, that's evident; 
 Give some to those children who 
 Have n't toys with which to play. 
 Thai 's what you could do to-day. 
 
 "Don't know what to do to-day? 
 That's just what you could do! take 
 Lot of these new toys, you say 
 You won't play with, and just make 
 Christmas visits to the poor: 
 Little boys and girls Old Kris 
 Skipped; just made his old sleigh soar 
 O'er their chimneys; seemed to miss 
 Every one along his way. 
 Thai 's what you could do to-day." 
 104 
 
NOTHING TO DO 
 
 That's what I could do to-day. 
 
 Then I helped her put some things, 
 
 Toys and cakes and fruit, away; 
 
 Parceled up and wrapped with strings, 
 
 In a basket. Then we went 
 
 And it was a lot of fun! 
 
 To an alley-tenement: 
 
 Made them happy, every one. 
 
 It was better than a play. 
 
 That was what I did to-day. 
 
 105 
 
OLD MAN WINTER 
 
 THERE is nothing at all to do to-day. 
 I can't go out and run and play; 
 For it 's raining and snowing and sleeting, too ; 
 And Old Man Winter he is to blame. 
 And I just sit here and think it a shame. 
 There is nothing at all to do. 
 
 I stand or sit at the windowpane, 
 
 And look at the snow and look at the rain, 
 
 And the old dead leaves go flying by; 
 
 For Wild Man Wind is making a din; 
 
 And mother says that it is a sin: 
 
 And 1 9 m almost ready to cry. 
 
 I carti go out in the wind and wet, 
 And it 's a long time yet till the table 's set, 
 And we are ready for toast and tea: 
 It 's a long time too till the lamp is lit, 
 And my father's home and I can sit, 
 And he can read to me. 
 106 
 
OLD MAN WINTER 
 
 And I can not play or do a thing; 
 And there 's no one coming visiting, 
 For it's storming more and more: 
 But now and then there 's a rat-tat-tat, 
 And I ask my mother <what is thai, 
 And she says, "The wind at the door." 
 
 And she says, " Now what can the Old Wind 
 
 want 
 
 A-knocking there with his knuckles gaunt? 
 You can hear his old hat dripping rain, 
 And his ragged cloak that flaps and slaps. 
 Why, I guess he 's looking for little chaps, 
 To give them a cold again. 
 
 " You can see him there by the water-spout 
 
 With Old Man Rain just flapping about, 
 
 His long sharp nose an icicle, 
 
 And his fingers too; and his old, wild eyes 
 
 Small and gray as the winter skies, 
 
 Or ice in a winter well." 
 
 And then she comes to my side and sits 
 And says, "Just listen how he hits! 
 But he can't get in and you can't get out: 
 And by and by he '11 be out of breath, 
 And grumble and growl himself to death, 
 Or leave with a mighty shout." 
 107 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 Right then there comes a step on the stair, 
 And I run to see ; and my father 's there ; 
 With snow and rain on his coat and hat. 
 Now Old Man Winter can break his cane, 
 Can crack his cane on the windowpane 
 I don't care a rap for that. 
 
 For my father's home! "It's a wild old 
 
 night. 
 
 The Wind and the Snow are having a fight," 
 He says, " and are mauling each other around : 
 First Old Man Snow rips out a curse; 
 Then Wild Man Wind says something worse; 
 Then both are on the ground. 
 
 " And Old Man Snow is underneath, 
 And he snarls like a wolf and shows his teeth, 
 While Wild Man Wind just hits and hits: 
 Then round they wrestle ; and Old Snow reels, 
 His long wild whiskers around his heels, 
 And his gray cloak torn in bits. 
 
 " And before you know it he 's up with a bound, 
 And it 's Wild Man Wind that hits the ground, 
 And Old Man Snow holds down his arm: 
 You can see them there by the window-light, 
 Wrangling, wrestling out in the night, 
 Out in the night and storm." 
 108 
 
OLD MAN WINTER 
 
 Then I look and see how the wind and snow 
 Just fight it out and thrash and blow; 
 Their windy rags through the ghostly black 
 Go whistling past the windowpane: 
 Then I run to the fire and lamp again, 
 And reach a book from the rack. 
 
 The lamp is lit, and my father's knee 
 And the fairy tales are ready for me: 
 And I sit, and he holds me by the hand: 
 Now Wild Man Wind and Old Man Snow 
 Can do their worst and bluster and blow, 
 I am far in Fairyland. 
 
 109 
 
A LONG, LONG WAY 
 
 F T 's a long, long way to the country, where 
 * I wade and splash in the creek; 
 And a long, long way to the Ferncreek Fair, 
 
 The Fair where I was last week: 
 It 's a long, long way to the end of the world, 
 
 Where the sun blows out his beams; 
 But the way is short, in your warm bed curled, 
 
 To the old, old Land of Dreams. 
 
 II 
 
 It 's a long, long way to go up stairs 
 
 When you 're down in the yard below ; 
 And a long, long way where no boy cares 
 
 To ever want to go: 
 It 's a long, long way to the world's far end, 
 
 Where the stars sit down with God; 
 But the way is short, so I comprehend, 
 
 To the wonderful Land of Nod. 
 no 
 
A LONG, LONG WAY 
 III 
 
 It 's a long, long way when you have to be 
 dressed, 
 
 When you'd very much rather play; 
 And a long, long way, let it be confessed, 
 
 To leave where you 'd rather stay : 
 It 's a long, long way to the end of the Earth, 
 
 Where the night rolls dark and deep; 
 But the way is short, in your cozy berth, 
 
 To the far, far Land of Sleep. 
 
 IV 
 
 It 's a short, short way when you go to school, 
 
 But a long, long way back home; 
 And my teacher says you can find a fool 
 
 No matter where you roam: 
 It's a long, long way, so my father says, 
 
 Till some folks see a jest; 
 But the longest way of all the ways 
 
 Is the way to the Land of Rest. 
 
 in 
 
TOMBOY 
 
 HERE'S a little girl I know 
 And we call her So-and-So. 
 She is neither good nor bad 
 Good enough for me although ! 
 Never saw a girl that had 
 More real life in her, or more 
 Of what people christen go; 
 Pretty too as she is poor. 
 
 So-and-So is not her name 
 But her nickname. She 's to blame 
 For it being named that way: 
 For she often starts some game, 
 And, when asked what 't is we play, 
 She just answers, " I don't know. 
 It's a good game just the same; 
 And I call it So-and-So." 
 
 Other girls don't like her, no; 
 Just because she's So-and-So; 
 Call her names like Tomboy, or 
 Wildcat, just as girls will do 
 112 
 
TOMBOY 
 
 When a girl is popular 
 With the boys and doesn't care 
 Much for girls, and 's pretty, too, 
 With blue eyes and golden hair. 
 
 I would give most anything 
 Just to hear her laugh and sing, 
 Dance, too. She is funnier 
 Than a circus and its ring; 
 And no boy can out-run her, 
 Or out-dare her. And, oh my! 
 You should see her in a swing, 
 Streaking it into the sky! 
 
 She's the girl that suits me; yes, 
 And suits all the boys, I guess : 
 Never backward; always in 
 For some picnic, more or less. 
 Take your top and wind and spin; 
 Or play marbles; fly a kite; 
 Or, if needs be, in a mess 
 She can just pitch in and fight. 
 
 Let some big boy dare to touch, 
 Bully some small boy or such, 
 She's right at him saying, " You 
 Great big coward I need a crutch 
 
 8 113 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 By the time that I get through ! " 
 And she 's bright at school, although 
 She don't have to study much 
 As some other girls I know. 
 
 Once two weeks went by and she 
 Had just disappeared; you see 
 Hadn't come to play or call: 
 She was sick apparently; 
 And we made it up that all 
 All the boys, or some, should go 
 And find out what it could be, 
 And report on So-and-So. 
 
 Well, what do you think! Declare, 
 When we rang the door-bell, there 
 At the door she stood as bright, 
 Brighter ev'n, with nice combed hair, 
 In an apron spotless white: 
 And she smiled and seemed so glad: 
 But about her was an air 
 Of importance she 'd not had. 
 
 Was the same yet not the same. 
 And when I began to blame, 
 She just stopped me with a bow, 
 Saying, " Boys, I Ve changed my name. 
 114 
 
TOMBOY 
 
 I Ve a little brother now 
 Baby-brother. Don't you know? 
 Takes the place of every game, 
 And I call him So-and-So." 
 
THE BOY ON THE FARM 
 
 OUT in Oldham County once 
 Met a boy who showed me how 
 He could milk an old red cow. 
 Yes ; he was n't any dunce. 
 Put me on an old gray mare; 
 Rode me to an old mill, where 
 They were grinding corn. He filled 
 A big sack and then we sat 
 By the dam and there he killed 
 A black snake, as long as that. 
 
 Then he showed me how to row 
 In an old flat boat that leaked, 
 Where the dam was stained and streaked 
 With big lilies, white as snow. 
 Then he showed me how to swim 
 Jumping from a sycamore limb: 
 While he splashed around, why, I 
 Waded up and down the shore; 
 Then, when he was dressed and dry, 
 Mounted that old mare once more. 
 116 
 
THE BOY ON THE FARM 
 
 And he took the bag of meal 
 " That 's for corn-cakes," so he said : 
 " And it makes the grandest bread ! 
 Cornbread. Ain't it heavy? Feel." 
 And he slung it on across 
 That old mare, who, with a toss 
 Of her tail, turned right for home. 
 On the way he showed me where 
 Hornets had their nest, like some 
 Foot-ball made of paper there. 
 
 And he showed me how to catch 
 Bumblebees and how to keep 
 Them from stinging; made a leap, 
 Caught one in a clover-patch; 
 And he showed me then where they 
 Stow their honey-bags away: 
 Caught two bees and wasn't stung: 
 Took one's bag and gave it me, 
 And I put it on my tongue: 
 Sweet! yes sir, and smelt of bee. 
 
 Then he caught a locust; took 
 Its two wings, like some queer toy's; 
 Showed me how it made its noise; 
 Held it up and shook and shook 
 
 117 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 Till it rattled. And that night 
 
 Showed me, with a lantern light, 
 
 How the pond-toads puffed their throats, 
 
 Each one like a toy-balloon, 
 
 Swelling, piping reedy notes, 
 
 Making music for the moon. 
 
 No ; he was n't any dunce ; 
 No, sir. Why, he 'd tell the time 
 By the sun, he could. And climb! 
 Climbed a great tall poplar once 
 Hundred feet or more, and straight 
 As the flag-pole at our gate. 
 When he's up there, took his hat, 
 Tossed it up and cried, "Hurrah!" 
 Bet you no man could do that; 
 No! not even my own Pa. 
 
 Lose him? Why, he'd tell his way 
 In the darkest night, he could; 
 In the deepest, darkest wood, 
 By the stars, he said: by day 
 Knew it by these lichens on 
 Trunks of trees. When I am grown 
 He 's a-going to teach me all 
 Everything he knows ; and I 'm 
 Going there again this Fall 
 Lite there, may be, all the time. 
 118 
 
OLD SNAKE-DOCTOR 
 
 I 
 
 ONCE I found an ant-lion's hole 
 And an ant-lion in it: nippers 
 Like a pair of rusty clippers. 
 And I saw a red ant roll 
 In its pit, and, quick as Ned, 
 This old ant-lion fanged its head, 
 Held it till the ant was dead. 
 
 II 
 
 And I told my father: he 
 
 Smiled and said, " He beats the dickens, 
 
 With his pinchers; even chickens 
 
 Have n't his voracity. 
 
 Think now what he would have done 
 
 Had you been an ant, my son, 
 
 Fallen in that pit like one. 
 
 Ill 
 
 " Daniel in the lion's den ! 
 Guess you 'd come home good and gory. 
 But now here 's another story : 
 You should see these ant-lions when 
 
 119 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 They have wings; and, blue and green, 
 Ponds and pools they fly between: 
 Prettiest things 7've ever seen. 
 
 IV 
 
 " Look just like the dragonflies ; 
 And perhaps they are snake-feeders; 
 Name you '11 never find in Readers 
 Read at school: but, I surmise, 
 Dragonflies are not the same 
 As these old snake-doctors; name 
 For which / am not to blame. 
 
 V 
 
 " Who 's to blame then? If it 's not 
 
 I or, say, the dictionary, 
 
 Since we two seem so contrary, 
 
 Must be that old ant-lion what 
 
 Can't content itself, that 's plain, 
 
 With its bug-estate; remain 
 
 Just a bug in sun and rain. 
 
 VI 
 
 " Has to get himself new clothes ! 
 Gauzy wings that shine and glitter; 
 Something that he thinks is fitter 
 His profession, I suppose, 
 120 
 
OLD SNAKE-DOCTOR 
 
 Doctoring things, like water-snakes; 
 
 Finery that often takes 
 
 Eyes of hungry ducks and drakes: 
 
 VII 
 
 " And of fishes, too, the fool. 
 Who his coat so bright and brassy, 
 Mirrored in the waters glassy, 
 Leap for, drag into the pool. 
 Old snake-doctor, flaunt your fill! 
 Feed the snakes or cure or kill 
 In the end you pay the bill." 
 
 121 
 
THE DEVIL'S RACE-HORSE 
 
 EVIL'S Race-Horse seems to me 
 
 Strangest thing I ever saw: 
 Up in our old maple-tree 
 They 're at home ; stand rearingly, 
 Lean of neck and long of claw. 
 Strangest thing I ever saw. 
 
 "Always praying," father says, 
 " For some bug it may devour ; 
 Insect that it grabs and slays, 
 Fly or moth that comes its ways, 
 Journeying from flower to flower: 
 Insect that it may devour." 
 
 And my nurse says : " I suppose 
 Little imps that devil sleep, 
 Tickle children on the nose, 
 Pull their hair and pinch their toes, 
 Ride these things around a heap: 
 Little imps that devil sleep. 
 
 122 
 
THE DEVIL'S RACE-HORSE 
 
 "They're their fly-by-nights, their steeds, 
 Door-knob eyed and weird of wing, 
 That they stable in the weeds 
 Of the garden, where it feeds, 
 Tiger-like, on everything: 
 Door-knob eyed and weird of wing. 
 
 " You can see the saddle there 
 Ready on its ugly back: 
 Or sometimes the imps ride bare, 
 Like the wind, with hair aflare, 
 Through the midnight deep and black, 
 Straddle of its ugly back. 
 
 "And they fly where little boys 
 Lie asleep within their beds: 
 Boys, who alt day make a noise, 
 Eat a lot, and break their toys, 
 Fight and stand upon their heads; 
 Urchins safe now in their beds. 
 
 "And they come to little girls 
 Who lie sleeping in their cribs; 
 Who all day have tossed their curls, 
 Nibbled like a lot of squirrels, 
 Torn their frocks and soiled their bibs; 
 Romps now safe within their cribs. 
 123 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 " And these imps just flutter round 
 On their Devil's Horses there; 
 And though you are sleeping sound, 
 You will hear them, I '11 be bound, 
 And soon feel them at your hair, 
 On their Devil's Horses there. 
 
 " Sometimes on your face they light, 
 And you feel their long claws rake 
 Right across your nose; or right 
 On your lip they prance and bite, 
 And you writhe and scream and wake, 
 When you feel their long claws rake. 
 
 " And your parents wake up, too ; 
 Turn the light on; come and say, 
 4 What's the matter now with you? 
 Dreaming? Had the nightmare? Knew 
 That you ate too much to-day.' 
 That 's what both your parents say." . . 
 
 Then I tell my nurse that I 
 Wish I was an imp, and those 
 Were my horses: how 7'd fly! 
 Yes, right to her bed, oh my I 
 And whizz round her head and nose! 
 Wish I was an imp like those! 
 124 
 
THE LITTLE BOY AND HIS SHADOW 
 
 's something now that no one 
 knows, 
 
 That never seems to mind me 
 Where is it that my shadow goes 
 That often walks behind me? 
 Where does it go when I come home; 
 For often I 'm without it ; 
 It's queer and very worrisome, 
 I 'd like to know about it. 
 
 When I go out on sunny days, 
 
 Why, there it is beside me: 
 
 And there it skips and there it plays, 
 
 And from it I can't hide me. 
 
 I cannot run away from it, 
 
 It runs as fast as Fido; 
 
 And if I stand or if I sit 
 
 It stands and sits as I do. 
 
 But if I run into a square 
 Where trees stand or a dwelling, 
 Why, then it 's gone ! I wonder where ! 
 Who knows? It's hard as spelling. 
 125 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 And then it never says a word; 
 
 It 's surely in a trance, or 
 
 Just deaf and dumb and never heard; 
 
 If not, why don'i it answer? 
 
 And in the moonlight, when I walk, 
 Why, then it walks before me 
 And mimics me, but will not talk, 
 But rather seems t' ignore me. 
 And I have noticed that at noon 
 I walk on it, it 's smaller, 
 But in the night-time, by the moon, 
 It's often ten times taller. 
 
 But at the door, both day and night, 
 It never fails to leave me, 
 That is, unless there is a light 
 By which it may perceive me. 
 Why don't it go to bed with me? 
 Why don't it lie beside me? 
 It seems to lack in courtesy, 
 And often can't abide me. 
 
 Why should it come to skip and run 
 Without a word or comment, 
 And stay with me in moon and sun, 
 Then quit me in a moment? 
 126 
 
THE LITTLE BOY AND HIS SHADOW 
 
 Why don't it come in-doors and play? 
 I 'm sure that it is able. 
 Why don't it stay with me all day, 
 And eat with me at table? 
 
 But that 's the way it is, you see, 
 
 When one is least expecting 
 
 It leaves or comes quite suddenly 
 
 From where there's no detecting. 
 
 Sometimes it 's short ; sometimes it 's long ; 
 
 Sometimes it 's just a glimmer ; 
 
 It acts so queer I know it 's wrong, 
 
 And puzzling as my primer. 
 
 For, sometimes, when by candlelight 
 
 I go to bed, it quivers 
 
 Upon the stairs, out of the night, 
 
 And scares me into shivers. 
 
 From ghostly corners, humped and gnarled, 
 
 It leaps, or down the ceiling, 
 
 Crabbed, crooked-kneed and knuckle-snarled, 
 
 Goes gesturing and reeling. 
 
 But where it goes when I 'm in bed 
 And fast asleep and dreaming 
 No one can tell me. Mother said 
 That I beat all for scheming 
 
 127 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 And bothering her with questions: that 
 
 She wished I was as quiet 
 
 As is my shadow or the cat : 
 
 Dear knows! she 'd profit by it. 
 
 My father said he'd come to find 
 
 That it is most bewild'rin'; 
 
 He had no doubt it changed its mind 
 
 As frequently as children. 
 
 " I can't," he said, " tell where it goes, 
 
 Or stays, when gone, denied you; 
 
 Unless it goes, as I suppose, 
 
 And lives and hides inside you." 
 
 128 
 
THE GHOST 
 
 'T^HERE's a house across the street 
 * That nobody goes into; 
 Say it 's haunted, yes, they do ; 
 Ghosts live there, they say, or meet: 
 Saw one in a winding-sheet 
 At a window once, and took 
 To my heels and ran and ran, 
 Never gave another look, 
 Till I met a nigger-man. 
 
 And I told him. And he said, 
 " Dat ole house am ha'nted sure. 
 'Deed it wuz a ghost! a pure 
 Sure nuff ghost, I am afred. 
 Better run home; git ter bed; 
 Or he '11 kotch yer. Lawzy me ! 
 I won't pass dat house ter-night. 
 Onct I pass dar: whut 'd I see? 
 Why, I seed a walking light. 
 
 " Yep ; an' it went up an' down 
 Like a fire-bug. I wuz skeer'd 
 Wus'n you wuz. An' I heer'd 
 9 129 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 Chains a-trompin' all aroun': 
 An* I laid dar on de groun* 
 Skeer'd to def. An' den I seed 
 Whut 'd yer reckon? seed my lands ! 
 Seed a skel'ton! yarse indeed! 
 Hulding up two skel'ton hands. 
 
 " Den I run'd jest like you did. 
 Ought ter t'ar dat ole house down. 
 Hit 's disgrace ter dis yere town 
 Dat 's my sintimints an* rid 
 Us ob all de ghosts, instid 
 Ob a-letting 'em cavort 
 'Roun', an* skeer folks lef an' right! 
 T'ing ter do would be ter start 
 Bonfire in it some dark night." 
 
 Then he turned and went away. 
 And I hurried home and told 
 Father, and he said, " That old 
 Negro-man has had his say; 
 Mine I '11 have another day. 
 Come with me now. Let us see 
 If that ghost of yours now goes: 
 If it 's a reality, 
 Or a fraud as I suppose." 
 130 
 
THE GHOST 
 
 And he took his walking-stick, 
 And I followed. Sure enough, 
 At the window was that stuff, 
 Sheet, or piece of old bed-tick, 
 Waving in the wind. And quick 
 In my father went. And why, 
 Heard him laughing; and I saw 
 That he had the old ghost by 
 A long string that he could draw. 
 
 Wasn't anything at all 
 But an old white window-blind, 
 That the folks had left behind, 
 In the window of the hall: 
 Had got loosened from the wall 
 And the wind kept flapping it. 
 I laughed, too; but was almost 
 Just put out a little bit 
 Wanted it to be a ghost. 
 
THE POPPET-SHOW 
 
 ONCE I gave a "poppa-show": 
 And I had the greatest fun! 
 Every boy and girl I know 
 That is, nearly every one, 
 Came to see it: I just put 
 Some old toys into a box; 
 Paper things that I had cut, 
 On a stage made out of blocks; 
 And the children came in flocks 
 When I called out, " Yo, ho, oh! 
 Pin to see the * poppa-show.' " 
 
 Boy who lives next door, he came; 
 Took a peep and said, " That clown 
 'S worth the money, just the same 
 As most any show in town." 
 Then he went away and brought 
 Lot of girls and boys to see; 
 Brought so many that they fought, 
 132 
 
THE POPPET-SHOW 
 
 And were bad as they could be: 
 It was like a Christmas-tree: 
 While I stood there shouting, " Ho ! 
 Pin to see the ' poppa-show/ " 
 
 Some just laughed ; and one or two 
 
 Said it wasn't worth a pin: 
 
 And another said, " He knew 
 
 When he had been taken in." 
 
 And a little girl, who paid 
 
 A gold pin right out her dress, 
 
 Cried and said she was afraid 
 
 She'd be spanked at home unless 
 
 She received it back. I guess 
 
 She was spanked. I said, " You know, 
 
 Pin to see the * poppa-show.' " 
 
 One boy tried to hit me then, 
 But the boy who lives next door 
 He got madder than a hen, 
 Knocked him down, right on the floor, 
 And then pulled him out and I 
 Helped him pull him. Then a girl 
 Laughed and one began to cry, 
 For, a boy, he pulled her curl: 
 Then the whole room was a whirl 
 While I shouted, "Oh, yo, ho! 
 Pin to see the ' poppa-show.' " 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 Then a big boy grabbed my box, 
 Threw it in the midst of all; 
 All the paper-dolls and blocks 
 Clattered on the floor or wall, 
 Made a mighty rumpus: one 
 Hit me on the head a slap, 
 And I yelled. But it was fun; 
 Didn't care a cent or rap. 
 Suddenly there came a tap 
 At the door, and I cried, " Ho ! 
 Pin to see the * poppa-show.' " 
 
 Then my mother and my nurse 
 Entered; and she said, " What boys! 
 Girls too ! Could n't be much worse. 
 Making such a lot of noise. 
 You should all be sent to bed, 
 Or be whipped. I never knew 
 Children that were so ill-bred, 
 Nor a wilder, rowdier crew. 
 Wonder what '11 become of you! 
 Now just pack yourselves and go! 
 No more pins or * poppa-show.' " 
 
 And they went, and mother, she, 
 When the last of them was gone, 
 Left me in the nursery, 
 Made me put my night-clothes on: 
 
THE POPPET-SHOW 
 
 And she took my pins away, 
 And I cried just fit to kill 
 But she gave them back next day, 
 When I promised I 'd be still, 
 And not play like Jack and Jill, 
 Tumbling round and to and fro 
 With a noisy " poppa-show. " 
 
 135 
 
DOUGH FACE 
 
 MADE a face of biscuit-dough, 
 Which our black cook gave me 
 
 once; 
 
 And this girl named So-and-So 
 Said 'twas funnier than a dunce. 
 And she took it; put it on 
 Like a false-face. Had it drawn 
 Over all her face. " Ain't it," 
 So she said, " a perfect fit? " 
 
 She looked funny as a clown; 
 And I called her Dough Face; she 
 Laughed and said, " Let 's saunter down 
 Where the people, too, can see. 
 Maybe one will recognize, 
 In these features, nose and eyes, 
 Some long-lost beloved child, 
 And for very joy go wild." 
 
 It was getting dusk; and there 
 At the corner stood some girls; 
 When they saw us, I declare, 
 They just hollered, tossed their curls, 
 136 
 
DOUGH FACE 
 
 Ran away; and Dough Face fast 
 After them. And running past 
 Came some boys who, when they saw, 
 Shouted at her, " Mardi Graw!" 
 
 And one said, " That looks to me 
 Like that Girlie Good Enough. 
 Just as dough-faced, isn't she? 
 Get some dirt. Let's treat her rough."- 
 And they got soft mud to throw. 
 Then she cried, "I'm So-and-So"; 
 And the boys all shouted; for 
 You must know she's popular. 
 
 Then we had great times, we did: 
 First one boy he tried it on, 
 Then another; and he hid 
 In a house where folks were gone; 
 Stood there at a window where 
 People passing in the square 
 Saw him; and a nigger-man, 
 Scared to death, just yelled and ran. 
 
 Then another fellow clomb 
 A back-fence, and put the face 
 Over his. My! he looked rum. 
 Like a scarecrow in a place 
 
 i37 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 Where he never ought to be. 
 
 And he rose up suddenly 
 
 By the window with a yell, 
 
 And the cook she shrieked and fell. 
 
 But the house-man, who was there 
 In the kitchen, was n't scared ; 
 He just jumped up from his chair, 
 Banged the door wide; out he flared, 
 Caught that boy and cried " police ! " 
 Tore the dough-mask, piece by piece, 
 From his face: then So-and-So 
 Screamed at him, " You let him go ! " 
 
 On the hydrant was a hose; 
 Quick she took it; turned it on; 
 Streamed it in his mouth and nose: 
 In a moment we were gone, 
 Left him spluttering at our backs 
 Blind with water. We made tracks 
 Home. And So-and-So just crowed, 
 " End of Dough Face ep-i-sode." 
 
 138 
 
LITTLE BOY BAD AND LITTLE 
 GIRL RUDE 
 
 nurse she tells me stories, too, 
 To make me good, she says; but I 
 She scares me so ! I want to cry : 
 And if my father ever knew, 
 I guess he 'd make things pretty hot, 
 And show her that she 'd better not. 
 
 Last night I couldn't sleep, because 
 She scared me with a story; yes, 
 Because I had been bad, I guess, 
 And said I hated Santa Claus 
 And everything: and then she told 
 This story that just made me cold: 
 
 Little Boy Bad, a way he had 
 Of making his father and mother mad; 
 Until one day he ran away 
 139 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 To a wood where the cats of the witches 
 
 stay. 
 
 And there he tarried awhile to play, 
 For a little while in the witches' way. 
 
 II 
 
 When night drew nigh he heard a cry, 
 And in every bush he saw an eye. 
 Then, three by three, from every tree 
 Big coal-black cats came stealthily, 
 With great green eyes that seemed to be 
 As big as the moon in a graveyard tree. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Upon the ground they ringed him round, 
 And glared at him without a sound; 
 And with the glare he felt his hair 
 Rise slowly, slowly in despair, 
 While hard he shook from feet to hair. 
 
 IV 
 
 Then down the gloom, upon her broom, 
 An old hag-witch came shrieking, " Room ! " 
 Then snarled, " Hold tight I You're mine 
 
 to-rigid I" 
 
 And grabbed and whisked him out of sight. 
 And no one's seen him since that night. 
 140 
 
LITTLE BOY BAD, LITTLE GIRL RUDE 
 V 
 
 Little Girl Rude was never good, 
 
 And never did the thing she should. 
 
 And so one day she ran away 
 
 To a wood where the owls of the goblins stay : 
 
 And there for a while she stopped to play, 
 
 For a little while in the goblins' way. 
 
 VI 
 
 When night drew near she seemed to hear 
 
 A noise of wings in the ivy sere; 
 
 Then a hooting cry went shuddering by; 
 
 And in every tree she saw an eye, 
 
 A great round eye in each tree near by. 
 
 VII 
 
 Then, two by two, from the ivy flew 
 Gaunt ghost-gray owls with eyes steel-blue: 
 And, wing to wing, within a ring, 
 Around her they began to swing, 
 And made the woods with hootings ring. 
 
 VIII 
 
 And, as the brood tu-whit-tu-whooed, 
 Oh, how she wished she had been good! 
 Her hair arose; from head to toes 
 Her marrow slowly, slowly froze, 
 While hard she shivered, teeth and toes. 
 141 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 IX 
 
 And then she saw a hairy claw 
 Reach from beneath and clutch and draw, 
 Till in the ground her feet she found 
 While goblin laughter circled round. 
 And since that night she's not been found. 
 
 142 
 
PROBLEMS 
 
 are some things I call riddles, 
 No one can explain or tell: 
 What 's the sound that comes from fiddles, 
 
 Or the noise made by a bell? 
 What is silence? what is thunder? 
 
 And why do we laugh and weep? 
 But the strangest thing I wonder 
 Where we go when we go to-steep? 
 
 What are words? What makes our voices? 
 
 What's the reason we're not dumb? 
 What is music? What are noises? 
 
 I have thought about them some. 
 I have often asked my father; 
 
 He just laughed and said, " You 're deep I " 
 But what's given me most bother 
 
 'S where we go when we go to-sleep. 
 
 There 's the wind ; no one can see it ; 
 
 Yet it 's stronger than a man : 
 Where's the boy that wouldn't be it? 
 
 Making all the noise it can. 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 What is it that makes it hover? 
 
 And what makes it roar and sweep? 
 But the thing 7've wondered over 
 
 'S where we go when we go to-sleep. 
 
 What makes leaves and what makes flowers, 
 
 Whence they come and where they go, 
 And what is it we call " hours," 
 
 Those are things I'd like to know. 
 What 's the scent of a morning-glory, 
 
 Or a rose, that none can keep? 
 But the thing that gives me worry 
 
 'S where we go when we go to-sleep. 
 
 What is sweet and what is sour? 
 
 What is taste and what is smell? 
 What is color in a flower? 
 
 Is there any one can tell? 
 Why is flavor in an apple? 
 
 And what is it? Asking's cheap. 
 But the question 7 would grapple 
 
 'S where we go when we go to-sleep. 
 
 And why do we walk? what makes us? 
 
 Trees don't, growing at our door: 
 And what is it in us wakes us 
 
 When we can't sleep any more? 
 144 
 
PROBLEMS 
 
 And what makes us grow and never 
 Stay just babies? crow and creep? 
 
 But the question is forever, 
 
 Where do we go when we go to-sleep? 
 
 What is that which we call feeling? 
 
 And what makes our eyes to see? 
 " Now," my father says, " you 're dealing 
 
 With some things too deep for me. 
 These things, son, you 'd best abandon. 
 
 They have muddled men a heap 
 Things I 'd like to lay my hand on ! 
 
 You had better go to-sleep." 
 
 10 
 
 145 
 
WHAT THE TREES SAID TO THE 
 LITTLE BOY 
 
 I 
 
 E when the park 
 Was very dark 
 
 I slipped out and went walking; 
 And heard the trees 
 To the summer breeze, 
 And to each other talking. 
 
 II 
 
 And I heard them say, 
 " We have stood all day 
 In one spot here, and worried 
 To keep the sun 
 From each little one 
 Who laughed at our feet or hurried. 
 
 Ill 
 
 " Now every boy 
 And girl and toy 
 Is safe at home, my patience! 
 Why! I and you, 
 As their parents do, 
 Can talk of our relations." 
 146 
 
LITTLE BOY SLEEPY 
 
 T ITTLE Boy Sleepy won't go to bed, 
 ^-^ Though the Sand Man came an hour ago, 
 And sand all under his eyelids spread: 
 Though his eyes are heavy and heavy his head, 
 And his little tired feet seem made of lead, 
 And he nods and yawns as he drags them 
 
 slow. 
 Little Boy Sleepy won't go to bed. 
 
 Little Boy Sleepy just has to play, 
 Though his toys are tired as he, I know: 
 His little toy-horse in its little toy-dray 
 Just seems to beg to be put away; 
 It has worked so hard all day, all day, 
 Hauling the toy-blocks to and fro. 
 Little Boy Sleepy just has to play. 
 
 Little Boy Sleepy won't be undressed; 
 
 " Just one more minute to play, my oh ! " 
 
 His little lead soldier looks so distressed, 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 And his paper rooster hangs down his crest, 
 And the little wool-dog just begs for rest, 
 And the Jack-in-the-Box looks worlds of woe. 
 Little Boy Sleepy won't be undressed. 
 
 Little Boy Sleepy lifts up his voice : 
 " I want to play with my toys some mo ! 
 I am not sleepy! I want my toys! 
 My little toy-cat and my bears and boys, 
 And my little toy-train that makes a noise, 
 And the little tin-horn I blow and blow." 
 Little Boy Sleepy lifts up his voice. 
 
 Little Boy Sleepy just sighs and sighs; 
 
 And then he mutters, " It is n't so ! 
 
 It is n't night ! I must make some pies, 
 
 Some little mud pies ! " and then his eyes 
 
 Just seem to close and down he lies 
 
 In his mother's arms who rocks him slow. 
 
 Little Boy Sleepy just sighs and sighs. 
 
 148 
 
TIME TO GET UP 
 
 I 
 
 THERE 's nothing to do in the morning but 
 stew, 
 
 Till it's time to get up and dress; 
 Till my nurse comes in to button and pin, 
 
 And dress me more or less: 
 Then it 's time to get up, get up, you see, 
 And I am as happy as happy can be. 
 
 II 
 
 For there is my drum a-calling me " Come ! " 
 My clown a-shouting "Hooray!" 
 
 My dishes and table and little toy-stable 
 Just clattering " Come and play ! " 
 
 And my little wood-soldiers, with foot to foot, 
 
 Seem ready to fire a toy-salute. 
 
 in 
 And my spade and rake just seem to ache 
 
 For me to handle and use; 
 And the pile of sand it seems to expand 
 
 With joy when it feels my shoes. 
 But the gladdest of all, the maddest of all, 
 That leaps to my hand, is my little red ball. 
 149 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 IV 
 
 I bound and run and every one 
 
 Is happy almost as I; 
 With my whistle and whip I hop and skip, 
 
 And make my rocking-horse fly. 
 I take my horn and I make it say, 
 " Good morning to all ! It 's a very fine day ! " 
 
 V 
 There 's nothing to do in the morning but stew 
 
 Until it is time to rise; 
 Till my nurse comes in to button and pin, 
 
 A-rubbing the sleep from her eyes: 
 Then it 's time to get up, and hurry, you see, 
 Where all of my toys are waiting for me. 
 
 150 
 
DILLY DALLY 
 
 THERE is a little girl I know 
 Who takes her time to come and go. 
 If you should ask her please to hurry, 
 She tries her best then to be slow: 
 She gives her parents lots of worry; 
 But she, she never worries no. 
 Her name is Dilly Dally; 
 But some folks call her " Gallic." 
 
 From head to feet 
 
 She *s never neat, 
 But always shilly shally. 
 
 II 
 
 When it is time for her to rise, 
 
 She won't get up, but lies and lies, 
 
 Her head beneath the cover: 
 
 Then down she comes with sleepy eyes, 
 
 When breakfast-time is over; 
 
 Uncombed, with shoes she never ties. 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 Her name is Dilly Dally; 
 
 But some folks call her " Gallic." 
 
 From head to feet 
 
 She 's never neat, 
 But always shilly shally. 
 
 Ill 
 
 When it is time to go to bed, 
 
 She plays around or hangs her head, 
 
 And mopes in some dark corner, 
 
 And cries and wishes she were dead: 
 
 No girl could be forlorner 
 
 When off to bed at last she 's led. 
 
 Her name is Dilly Dally; 
 
 But some folks call her " Gallic." 
 
 From head to feet 
 
 She's never neat, 
 But always shilly shally. 
 
 152 
 
LITTLE BIRD 
 
 I 
 
 A LITTLE bird sits in our cottonwood tree, 
 And perks his head and sings; 
 And this is the song he pipes to me 
 While he flirts his tail and wings: 
 
 "Hello! hello! 
 You jolly little fellow! 
 Hello! hello! I say! 
 Do you hear me every morning 
 How I try to give you warning? 
 With my little song adorning 
 Every day, every day; 
 With my little song adorning every day. 
 I want to tell you this, sir: 
 You are sweeter than a kiss, sir, 
 You are fairer than a posy, 
 With your face so fresh and rosy; 
 Oh, I love to see you merry at your play, 
 
 Every day; 
 I love to see you laughing at your play. 
 
 Hello! hello! 
 You merry little fellow ! " 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 II 
 
 And I run to the tree where he sings and sits, 
 High up on the topmost limb; 
 And he cocks his eye and flirts and flits 
 While I reply to him : 
 
 "Hello! hello! 
 You cunning little fellow! 
 Hello! hello! I say! 
 You are complimenting early; 
 And your song is clear and pearly 
 As the dewdrop dripping nearly 
 From the spray, from the spray; 
 As the dewdrop dripping nearly from the spray. 
 Your singing is far sweeter 
 Than any rhyme or metre: 
 Oh, I love to hear you whistle, 
 Swinging lighter than a thistle, 
 And I hope you '11 come and see me every day, 
 
 Every day; 
 I hope you '11 come and see me every day. 
 
 Hello! hello! 
 You darling little fellow!" 
 
HEY, LITTLE BOY 
 
 'TTEY, little boy, little boy, come to me! 
 ** Hey, little boy, little boy, Andy! 
 Hey, little boy, little boy, can it be 
 Your mouth is crumbed with candy?" 
 
 "What's that to you? what's that to me? 
 What's that to you, nurse Mandy? 
 It well may be why, certainly 
 My mouth is crumbed with candy." 
 
 II 
 
 " Hey, little boy, little boy, go away ! 
 Hey, boy, on what you banking? 
 Hey, little boy, little boy, what you say? 
 You surely want a spanking ! " 
 
 "Not now, to-morrow, or to-day! 
 For that you have my thanking: 
 Come, wash these signs of sweets away, 
 And I won't get a spanking." 
 
 155 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 III 
 
 " Hey, little boy, little boy, don't you hear? 
 Hey, little boy, stop your running! 
 Hey, boy, come here, and tell me, dear, 
 Why you're so sweet and cunning." 
 
 " If I am sweet, if I am dear, 
 
 Now don't you go and tell, oh ! 
 
 The sweet things that one eats, you hear? 
 
 They sweeten up a fellow." 
 
 156 
 
FIDDLEDEEDEE AND THE 
 BUMBLEBEE 
 
 WAS Fiddledeedee who put to sea 
 With a rollicking buccaneer Bumblebee : 
 An acorn-cup was their hollow boat 
 A rakish craft was their acorn-boat 
 And their sail a butterfly's wing; 
 Their mast, a bit o' the stem of an oat, 
 A jaunty jib was this bit of an oat, 
 And their rudder a hornet's sting, 
 
 By jing! 
 
 Their rudder a hornet's sting. 
 In an acorn-cup they put to sea, 
 Did Fiddledeedee and the Bumblebee. 
 
 " We '11 sail to the Isles of Tweedledumdee," 
 
 Quoth Fiddledeedee to the Bumblebee: 
 
 So they steered past the Isles of Cream and 
 
 Ice 
 
 Oh, cold were the Isles of Cream and Ice 
 And came to the Sea of Ginger Beer; 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 And there, by the City of Sugar and Spice 
 The sweet, sweet City of Sugar and Spice 
 
 Their acorn-boat upset, my dear, 
 I hear 
 
 Their acorn-boat upset, my dear. 
 " Good-by to the Isles of Tweedledumdee," 
 Said Fiddledeedee to the Bumblebee. 
 
 158 
 
HAPPY-GO-LUCKY 
 
 I CAN'T get up with the chickens; 
 I can't get up at dark: 
 And what do I care for the early worm? 
 And what do I care for the lark? 
 
 I can't do this or that thing; 
 
 I can't do things like you; 
 And the thing that I do most frequent 
 
 Is the thing I never do. 
 
 I can't go where I would go, 
 
 Though I go from morn till eve; 
 
 But some place I go wherever I go 
 Whenever a place I leave. 
 
 For the law of the road is this law, 
 And the law is right and good: 
 
 Just go your ways and take no heed 
 Of how you get your food. 
 159 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 And the law of the road is this law, 
 And the law is one to keep: 
 
 It never matters, wherever you are, 
 So you have a place to sleep. 
 
 And the law of the road is this law, 
 
 And the law may it grow and grow! 
 
 Wherever you go and whatever you do 
 Let no one ever know. 
 
 160 
 
WINTER DAYS 
 
 winter days," my father says, 
 " When mornings blow and bite and 
 
 freeze, 
 
 And hens sit cackling in the straw, 
 Stiff with the frost as gates that wheeze, 
 Remind me of my youth when, raw, 
 The day broke and, beneath the trees, 
 
 Wild winds would twist, 
 I went to work with axe and saw, 
 
 Or stopped to blow my mittened fist. 
 
 " These winter noons," my father croons, 
 " When eggs, the hens have hardly laid, 
 Crack open with the cold; and cows 
 Drink through the hole a heel has made, 
 Some rustic in his huddled blouse, 
 Bring back the noons when, with a spade, 
 
 Down on the farm, 
 I pathed the snow from barn to house, 
 And beat my arms to keep me warm. 
 " 161 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 " These winter nights," so he recites, 
 " With those old nights are right in tune, 
 When cocks crew out the hours till dawn 
 And all night long the owlet's croon 
 Quavered and quivered far withdrawn; 
 And cold beneath the freezing moon 
 
 The old fox-hound 
 Bayed where the icicles glittered wan, 
 
 And all the old house slumbered sound." 
 
 162 
 
A SONG FOR ALL DAY 
 
 A ROLLICKING song for the morn, my 
 boy, 
 
 A rollicking song for the morn: 
 It J s up and out with a laugh and shout, 
 While the bright sun circles the world about, 
 And the dew is on the corn, my boy, 
 The dew is on the corn. 
 Barefoot, brown, with trousers torn, 
 It 's up and out with the morn. 
 
 A jolly good song for the noon, my boy, 
 
 A jolly good song for the noon: 
 It 's out and away where the wild woods sway, 
 And the wind and the birds have a holiday, 
 
 And whistle an oldtime tune, my boy, 
 
 And whistle an oldtime tune. 
 Healthy, happy, a heart of June, 
 
 It's out in the woods at noon. 
 
 A wonderful song for the eve, my boy, 
 A wonderful song for the eve: 
 163 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 The sunset's bars and a trail of stars, 
 And the falls of the creek a mine of spars, 
 
 Or a weft of crystal weave, my boy, 
 
 A weft of crystal weave. 
 Hungry, tired, with nothing to grieve, 
 
 It 's home again at eve. 
 
 A lullaby song for the night, my boy, 
 
 A lullaby song for the night: 
 When crickets cry and owlets fly, 
 And the house-hound bays the moon on high, 
 
 And the window-lamp shines bright, my 
 boy, 
 
 The window-lamp shines bright. 
 A drowsy kiss and a bed snow-white, 
 
 And a lullaby-song for the night. 
 
 164 
 
A BOY'S HEART 
 
 IT 's out and away at break of day, 
 To frolic and run in the sun-sweet hay: 
 It's up and out with a laugh and shout 
 Let the old world know that a boy 's about. 
 
 It 's ho for the creek that the minnows streak, 
 That the sunbeams dapple, the cattle seek; 
 For a fishing-pole and a swimming-hole, 
 Where a boy can loaf and chat with his soul. 
 
 It's oh to lie and look at the sky 
 
 Through the roof of the leaves that 's built 
 
 so high: 
 
 Where all day long the birds make song, 
 And everything 's right and nothing is wrong. 
 
 It 's hey to win where the breeze blows thin, 
 And watch the twinkle of feather and fin: 
 To lie all day and dream away 
 The long, long hours as a boy's heart may. 
 165 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 It 's oh to talk with the trees and walk 
 With the winds that whisper to flower and 
 
 stalk : 
 
 And it 's oh to look in the open book 
 Of your own boy-dreams in some leafy nook. 
 
 Away from the noise of the town, and toys, 
 To dream the dreams that are dreamed by 
 
 boys: 
 
 To run in the heat, with sun-tanned feet, 
 To the music of youth in your heart's young 
 
 beat. 
 
 To splash and wade in the light and shade 
 Of the league-long ripples the sunbeams braid : 
 In boyhood's wise to see with eyes 
 Of fancy hued as the butterflies. 
 
 To walk for hours and learn the flowers, 
 And things that haunt the woods and bowers : 
 To climb to a nest on a tree's top crest, 
 Where a bird, like your heart, is singing its 
 best. 
 
 To feel the rain on your face again, 
 Like the thirsty throats that the flowers strain : 
 To hear the call of the waterfall, 
 Like the voice of youth, a wonder-thrall. 
 1 66 
 
A BOY'S HEART 
 
 And it 's oh for me at last to see 
 
 The rainbow's end by the hillside tree: 
 
 On the wet hillside where the wild ferns hide, 
 
 Like a boy's bright soul to see it glide. 
 
 Then to laugh and run through shower and sun 
 In the irised hues that are arched and spun: 
 And, the rainbow's friend, to find and spend 
 The bag of gold at the rainbow's end. 
 
 167 
 
BOYHOOD 
 
 ODAYS that hold us ; and years that mold 
 us! 
 
 And dreams and mem'ries no time destroys! 
 Where lie the islands, the morning islands, 
 And where the highlands we knew when boys? 
 
 Oh, tell us, whether the happy heather 
 Still purples ways we used to roam; 
 And mid its roses, its oldtime roses, 
 The place reposes we knew as home. 
 
 Oh, could we find him, that boy, and bind 
 
 him, 
 
 The boy we were that never grew, 
 By whom we're haunted, our hearts are 
 
 haunted, 
 What else were wanted by me and you? 
 
 Again to see it! Again to knee it! 
 
 The pond we waded, the brook we swum; 
 
 That held more pleasures, more priceless 
 
 pleasures, 
 
 Than all the treasures to which we come. 
 1 68 
 
BOYHOOD 
 
 Again to follow through wood and hollow 
 A cowbell's tinkle, a bird's wild call, 
 To where they yellow, the daisies yellow, 
 And lights lie mellow at evenfall. 
 
 To be the leaders of oaks and cedars, 
 The giant hosts of worlds at war; 
 Or princes airy, proud princes airy, 
 Of Lands of Faery that lie afar. 
 
 Through scents of yarrow, where paths are 
 
 narrow, 
 
 To foot the way we only know, 
 That leads to places, old orchard places, 
 And garden spaces of Long Ago. 
 
 To climb rail fences, when dusk commences, 
 With young Adventure, tanned hand in hand; 
 And lead by starlight, by dewy starlight, 
 To one farm's far light a campaign planned. 
 
 Where she, our princess, mid blossoming 
 
 quinces, 
 
 The first dear girl for whom we cared, 
 And got a rating, her father's rating, 
 Stands sweetly waiting, brown-eyed, brown- 
 haired. 
 
 169 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 
 Or, in the morning, without a warning, 
 With health for luggage and love for spur, 
 To make invasion, divine invasion, 
 As suits occasion, of worlds for her. 
 
 With her, as eager, again beleaguer 
 
 The forest's fortress of leaf and log; 
 
 And pierce its vastness, its gloomy vastness, 
 
 And storm its fastness with stick and dog. 
 
 And from its shadows' rich Eldorados 
 The untold gold of blossoms bring: 
 And, as in story, in song and story, 
 Beard Wildness hoary, like some old king. 
 
 Or lead lost legions through unknown regions, 
 The pirate kings of isles unfound: 
 On haystacks golden, our galleons golden, 
 Sail oceans olden of meadow ground. 
 
 And from those caitiffs, the hideous natives, 
 Invisible tribes that swarm the wood, 
 To rescue Molly, or Peg, or Polly, 
 With her dear dolly as pirates should. . . . 
 
 O tanned and freckled and sunbeam-speckled! 
 O barefoot joy that romped the years! 
 O reckless rapture! O long-lost rapture! 
 Beyond the capture of all our tears! 
 170 
 
EPILOGUE 
 
 T T THEN dusk falls cool as a rained-on rose, 
 * * And a tawny tower the twilight shows, 
 With the crescent moon, the silver moon, the 
 curved new moon in a space that glows, 
 A turret window that grows a-light; 
 There is a path that my Fancy knows, 
 A glimmering, shimmering path of night, 
 That far as the Land of Faery goes. 
 
 II 
 
 And I follow the path, as Fancy leads, 
 
 Over the mountains, into the meads, 
 
 Where the firefly cities, the glowworm cities, 
 
 the fairy cities are strung like beads, 
 Each city a twinkling star: 
 And I live a life of valorous deeds, 
 And march with the Fairy King to war, 
 And ride with his knights on milk-white steeds. 
 171 
 
THE GIANT AND THE STAR 
 III 
 
 Or it 's there in the whirl of their life I sit, 
 Or dance in their houses with starlight lit, 
 Their blossom houses, their flower houses, 
 
 their elfin houses, of fern-leaves knit, 
 With fronded spires and domes: 
 And there it is that my lost dreams flit, 
 And the ghost of my childhood, smiling, roams 
 With the fairy children so dear to it. 
 
 IV 
 
 And it 's there I hear that they all come true, 
 
 The fairy-stories, whatever they do 
 
 Elf and goblin, dear elf and goblin, loved elf 
 
 and goblin and all the crew 
 Of witch and wizard and gnome and fay, 
 And prince and princess, that wander through 
 The storybooks we have put away, 
 The fairytales that we loved and knew. 
 
 The face of Adventure lures you there, 
 And the eyes of Danger bid you dare, 
 While ever the bugles, the silver bugles, the 
 far-off bugles of Elfland blare, 
 172 
 
EPILOGUE 
 
 The fairy trumpets to battle blow; 
 And you feel their thrill in your heart and hair, 
 And you fain would follow and mount and go 
 And march with the Fairies anywhere. 
 
 VI 
 
 And she she rides at your side again, 
 Your little sweetheart whose age is ten: 
 She is the princess, the fairy princess, the 
 
 princess fair that you worshipped when 
 You were a prince in a fairytale; 
 And you do great deeds as you did them then, 
 With your magic spear, and enchanted mail, 
 Braving the dragon in his den. 
 
 VII 
 And you ask again, " Oh, where shall we 
 
 ride, 
 
 Now that the monster is slain, my bride ? " 
 "Back to the cities, the firefly cities, the 
 
 glowworm cities where we can hide, 
 The beautiful cities of Faeryland. 
 And the light of my eyes shall be your guide, 
 The light of my eyes and my snow-white 
 
 hand 
 And there forever we two will abide." 
 
 173 
 

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 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY