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VERSE AND PROSE
FOR
BEGINNERS IN READING
SELECTED FROM ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE
1893
PREFACE.
The attentive reader of this little book will be apt to notice very soon that though its title is Verse and Prose for Beginners in Reading, the verse occupies nine tenths, the prose being confined to about two hundred proverbs and familiar sayings—some of them, indeed, in rhyme—scattered in groups throughout the book. The reason for this will be apparent as soon as one considers the end in view in the preparation of this compilation.
The Riverside Primer and Reader, as stated in its Introduction, "is designed to serve as the sole text-book in reading required by a pupil. When he has mastered it he is ready to make the acquaintance of the world's literature in the English tongue." In that book, therefore, the pupil was led by easy exercises to an intelligent reading of pieces of literature, both verse and prose, so that he might become in a slight degree familiar with literature before he parted with his sole text-book. But the largest space had, of necessity, to be given to practice work, which led straight to literature, indeed, though to a small quantity only. The verse offered in that book was drawn from nursery rhymes and from a few of the great masters of poetical form; the prose was furnished by a selection of proverbs, some of the simplest folk stories, and two passages, closing the book, from the Old and New Testaments.
The pupil, upon laying down his Primer and Reader and proposing to enter the promised land of literature, could find a volume of prose consisting of Fables and Folk Stories, into the pleasures of which he had already been initiated; but until now he could find no volume of poetry especially prepared for him which should fulfill the promise of the verse offered to him in his Primer and Reader. Be it remembered that he was not so much to read verse written expressly for him, as to overhear the great poets when they sang so simply, so directly, and yet with so penetrating a note that the burden of their song, full, it may be, to the child's elders, would have an awakening power for the child himself. As so often said, a child can receive and delight in a poem through the ear long before he is able to attain the same pleasure through the eye; and there are many poems in such a book, for example, as Miss Agnes Repplier's A Book of Famous Verse, wholly delightful for a child to listen to which yet it would be impossible for him to read to himself.
The agreeable task of the editor, therefore, was to search English and American literature for those poems which had fallen from the lips of poets with so sweet a cadence and in such simple notes that they would offer but slight difficulties to a child who had mastered the rudiments of reading. It was by no means necessary that such poems should have had an audience of children in mind nor have taken childhood for a subject, though it was natural that a few of the verses should prove to be suggested by some aspect of child-life. The selection must be its own advocate, but it may be worth while to point out that the plan of the book supposes an easy approach to the more serious poems by means of the light ditties of the nursery; that there is no more reason for depriving a child of honest fun in his verse than there is for condemning the child's elders to grave poetry exclusively; and that it is not necessary or even desirable for a poem to come at once within the reader's comprehension. To take an extreme case, Tennyson's lines "Break, Break, Break!" would no doubt be ruled out of such a book as this by many in sympathy with children; yet the unexplainable power of the poem is not beyond the apprehension of sensitive natures at an early age.
The contents have been gleaned from a number of sources, and the editor is glad to mingle with the names of the secure dwellers on Parnassus those of some living Americans and Englishmen. He does not pretend that he has made an exhaustive collection, but he hopes the book may be regarded as the nucleus for an anthology which cannot, in the nature of things, be very large.
The prose, as already intimated, is confined to groups of proverbs and familiar sayings. In one aspect these single lines of prose present difficulties to the young reader: they are condensed forms of expression, even though the words may be simple; but they offer the convenient small change of intellectual currency which it is well for one to be supplied with at an early stage of one's journey, and they afford to the teacher a capital opportunity for conversational and other exercises.
The order of this book is in a general way from the easy to the more difficult, with an attempt, also, at an agreeable variety. The editor has purposely avoided breaking up the book into lesson portions or giving it the air of a text-book. There is no reason why children should not read books as older people read them, for pleasure, and dissociate them from a too persistent notion of tasks. It is entirely possible that some teachers may find it out of the question to lead their classes straight through this book, but there is nothing to forbid them from judicious skipping, or, what is perhaps more to the point, from helping pupils over a difficult word or phrase when it is encountered; the interest which the child takes will carry him over most hard places. It would be a capital use of the book also if teachers were to draw upon it for poems which their pupils should, in the suggestive phrase, learn by heart. To this purpose the contents are singularly well adapted; for, from the single line proverb to a poem by Wordsworth, there is such a wide range of choice that the teacher need not resort to the questionable device of giving children fragments and bits of verse and prose to commit to memory. One of the greatest services we can do the young mind is to accustom it to the perception of wholes, and whether this whole be a lyric or a narrative poem like Evangeline, it is almost equally important that the young reader should learn to hold it as such in his mind. To treat a poem as a mere quarry out of which a particularly smooth stone can be chipped is to misinterpret poetry. A poem is a statue, not a quarry.
H.E.S.
BOSTON, October, 1893.
CONTENTS.
ALPHABET Mother Goose
A DEWDROP Frank Dempster Sherman
BEES Frank Dempster Sherman
RHYMES.
Baa, baa, black sheep
Bless you, bless you, burnie bee
Bow, wow, wow
Bye, baby bunting Mother Goose
STAR LIGHT Unknown
THE LITTLE MOON A.B. White
TO A HONEY-BEE Alice Gary
RHYMES.
A cat came fiddling
A dillar, a dollar
As I was going to St. Ives
As I was going up Pippen Hill
A swarm of bees in May Mother Goose
PROVERBS AND POPULAR SAYINGS
NONSENSE ALPHABET Edward Lear
THE EGG IN THE NEST Unknown
RHYMES
Hey! diddle diddle
Pussy sits beside the fire
Ding dong bell Mother Goose
DAISIES Frank Dempster Sherman
SPINNING TOP Frank Dempster Sherman
PROVERBS AND POPULAR SAYINGS
RHYMES.
Bobby Shafto's gone to sea
Every lady in this land
Great A, little a
Hark, hark
Sing a song of sixpence
Hickory, dickory dock
Hot-cross buns!
How does my lady's garden grow?
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
Hush-a-bye, baby, on the tree-top
Some little mice sat in a barn to spin
If all the world were apple-pie
If wishes were horses
I have a little sister Mother Goose
WHO STOLE THE BIRD'S NEST? Lydia Maria Child
RHYMES.
I saw a ship a-sailing
Jack and Jill went up the hill
Little Bo-peep
Little boy blue
Little girl, little girl
Little Jack Horner sat in the corner
Little Johnny Pringle had a little pig
Little Miss Muffet
There was a little man
Little Tommy Tacker Mother Goose
PROVERBS AND POPULAR SAYINGS
HAPPY THOUGHT Robert Louis Stevenson
THE SUN'S TRAVELS Robert Louis Stevenson
MY BED IS A BOAT Robert Louis Stevenson
THE SWING Robert Louis Stevenson
RHYMES
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
Mistress Mary, quite contrary
Old King Cole
Old Mother Hubbard Mother Goose
RUNAWAY BROOK Eliza Lee Fallen
BED IN SUMMER Robert Louis Stevenson
AT THE SEASIDE Robert Louis Stevenson
THE MEETING OF THE SHIPS Thomas Moore
PROVERBS AND POPULAR SAYINGS
Three little kittens
Once I saw a little bird
One misty, moisty morning
Peter Piper
Ride a cock-horse to Banbury-cross
Three wise men of Gotham
See, saw, sacradown
Simple Simon met a pieman Mother Goose
PRETTY COW Jane Taylor
THE STAR Jane Taylor
MARY'S LAMB Sara Josepha Hale
PROVERBS AND POPULAR SAYINGS
RHYMES
Solomon Grundy
The King of France
The man in the wilderness
There was a crooked man
Tom, Tom, the piper's son
There was a little boy
There was a man of our town
This pig went to market
Tom, Tom, of Islington Mother Goose
WEE WILLIE WINKIE William Miller
SINGING Robert Louis Stevenson
THE COW Robert Louis Stevenson
GOOD-NIGHT AND GOOD-MORNING Richard Monckton Milnes
MOTHER'S EYES Mary D.B.Hull
THE LAND OF NOD Robert Louis Stevenson
PROVERBS AND POPULAR SAYINGS
RHYMES
When I was a little boy
Where are you going, my pretty maid?
Who killed Cock Robin Mother Goose
EPITAPH FOR ROBIN REDBREAST Edith Matilda Thomas
PLAY WITH ME Edith Matilda Thomas
THE PIPER William Blake
INFANT JOY William Blake
THE LAMB William Blake
THE LITTLE BOY LOST William Blake
THE LITTLE BOY FOUND William Blake
ON THE VOWELS Jonathan Swift
LETTERS Ralph Waldo Emerson
ON A CIRCLE Jonathan Swift
ARIEL'S SONG William Shakespeare
PROVERBS AND POPULAR SAYINGS
SONG Thomas Hood
YOUTH AND AGE Thomas Hood
UPON SUSANNA'S FEET Robert Herrick
UPON A CHILD THAT DIED Robert Herrick
CHERRY-RIPE Robert Herrick
ANSWER TO A CHILD'S QUESTION Samuel Taylor Coleridge
PROVERBS AND POPULAR SAYINGS
"ONE, TWO, THREE!" Henry Cuyler Bunner
THE BIRD AND ITS NEST Alfred Tennyson
PROVERBS AND POPULAR SAYINGS
WINDY NIGHTS Robert Louis Stevenson
NONSENSE VERSES Edward Lear
PROVERBS AND POPULAR SAYINGS
SONG Robert Burns
SWEET AND LOW Alfred Tennyson
AGAINST IDLENESS AND MISCHIEF Isaac Watts
"BREAK, BREAK, BREAK" Alfred Tennyson
THE ARROW AND THE SONG Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
PROVERBS AND POPULAR SAYINGS
THE TABLE AND THE CHAIR Edward Lear
THE OWL Alfred Tennyson
THE OWL AND THE PUSSY-CAT Edward Lear
PROVERBS AND POPULAR SAYINGS
FABLE Ralph Waldo Emerson
WRITTEN IN MARCH William Wordsworth
THOSE EVENING BELLS Thomas Moore
TO A BUTTERFLY William Wordsworth
PROVERBS AND POPULAR SAYINGS
LUCY William Wordsworth
LUCY GRAY, OR SOLITUDE William Wordsworth
POOR SUSAN William Wordsworth
VERSE AND PROSE FOR BEGINNERS IN READING.
ALPHABET.
A was an apple-pie;
B bit it;
C cut it;
D dealt it;
E ate it;
F fought for it;
G got it;
H had it;
J joined it;
K kept it;
L longed for it:
M mourned for it;
N nodded at it;
O opened it;
P peeped into it;
Q quartered it;
R ran for it;
S stole it;
T took it;
V viewed it;
W wanted it;
X, Y, Z, and amperse-and,
All wished for a piece in hand.
A DEWDROP.
Little drop of dew,
Like a gem you are;
I believe that you
Must have been a star.
When the day is bright,
On the grass you lie;
Tell me then, at night
Are you in the sky?
BEES.
Bees don't care about the snow;
I can tell you why that's so:
Once I caught a little bee
Who was much too warm for me!
* * * * *
Baa, baa, black sheep,
Have you any wool?
Yes, marry, have I,
Three bags full;
One for my master,
And one for my dame,
But none for the little boy
Who cries in the lane.
* * * * *
Bless you, bless you, burnie bee;
Say, when will your wedding be?
If it be to-morrow day,
Take your wings and fly away.
* * * * *
Bow, wow, wow,
Whose dog art thou?
Little Tom Tinker's dog,
Bow, wow, wow.
* * * * *
Bye, baby bunting,
Daddy's gone a-hunting,
To get a little rabbit skin
To wrap the baby bunting in.
* * * * *
Star light, star bright,
First star I see to-night;
I wish I may, I wish I might,
Have the wish I wish to-night.
* * * * *
The little moon came out too soon,
And in her fright looked thin and white,
The stars then shone,
And every one
Twinkled and winked and laughed and blinked.
The great sun now rolled forth in might
And drove them all quite out of sight.
TO A HONEY-BEE.
"Busy-body, busy-body,
Always on the wing,
Wait a bit, where you have lit,
And tell me why you sing."
Up, and in the air again,
Flap, flap, flap!
And now she stops, and now she drops
Into the rose's lap.
"Come, just a minute come,
From your rose so red."
Hum, hum, hum, hum—
That was all she said.
"Busy-body, busy-body,
Always light and gay,
It seems to me, for all I see,
Your work is only play."
And now the day is sinking to
The goldenest of eves,
And she doth creep for quiet sleep
Among the lily-leaves.
"Come, just a moment come,
From your snowy bed."
Hum, hum, hum, hum—
That was all she said.
But, the while I mused, I learned
The secret of her way:
Do my part with cheerful heart,
And turn my work to play.
* * * * *
A cat came fiddling out of a barn,
With a pair of bag-pipes under her arm;
She could sing nothing but fiddle-de-dee,
The mouse has married the bumble-bee;
Pipe, cat,—dance, mouse,—
We'll have a wedding at our good house.
* * * * *
A dillar, a dollar,
A ten o'clock scholar,
What makes you come so soon?
You used to come at ten o'clock,
But now you come at noon.
* * * * *
As I was going to St. Ives,
I met a man with seven wives;
Every wife had seven sacks,
Every sack had seven cats,
Every cat had seven kits:
Kits, cats, sacks, and wives,
How many were there going to St. Ives?
* * * * *
As I was going up Pippen Hill,—
Pippen Hill was dirty,—
There I met a pretty miss,
And she dropped me a curtsy.
Little miss, pretty miss,
Blessings light upon you;
If I had half-a-crown a day,
I'd spend it all upon you.
* * * * *
A swarm of bees in May
Is worth a load of hay;
A swarm of bees in June
Is worth a silver spoon;
A swarm of bees in July
Is not worth a fly.
PROVERBS AND POPULAR SAYINGS.
As blind as a bat.
As broad as it is long.
As cross as two sticks.
As dark as pitch.
As dead as a door nail.
As dead as a herring.
As full as an egg is of meat.
As hot as toast.
As like as two peas.
As merry as a cricket.
As plain as the nose on a man's face.
As quiet as a mouse.
As sharp as a razor.
As straight as an arrow.
As sweet as honey.
As true as steel.
As weak as water.
NONSENSE ALPHABET.
A was an ant
Who seldom stood still,
And who made a nice house
In the side of a hill.
Nice little ant!
B was a bat,
Who slept all the day,
And fluttered about
When the sun went away.
Brown little bat!
C was a camel:
You rode on his hump;
And if you fell off,
You came down such a bump!
What a high camel!
D was a duck
With spots on his back,
Who lived in the water,
And always said "Quack!"
Dear little duck!
E was an elephant,
Stately and wise:
He had tusks and a trunk,
And two queer little eyes.
Oh, what funny small eyes!
F was a fish
Who was caught in a net;
But he got out again,
And is quite alive yet.
Lively young fish!
G was a goat
Who was spotted with brown:
When he did not lie still
He walked up and down.
Good little goat!
H was a hat
Which was all on one side;
Its crown was too high,
And its brim was too wide.
Oh, what a hat!
I was some ice
So white and so nice,
But which nobody tasted;
And so it was wasted.
All that good ice!
J was a jug,
So pretty and white,
With fresh water in it
At morning and night.
Nice little jug!
K was a kite
Which flew out of sight,
Above houses so high,
Quite into the sky.
Fly away, kite!
L was a lily,
So white and so sweet!
To see it and smell it
Was quite a nice treat.
Beautiful lily!
M was a man,
Who walked round and round;
And he wore a long coat
That came down to the ground.
Funny old man!
N was a net
Which was thrown In the sea
To catch fish for dinner
For you and for me.
Nice little net!
O was an orange
So yellow and round:
When it fell off the tree,
It fell down to the ground.
Down to the ground!
P was a polly.
All red, blue, and green,—
The most beautiful polly
That ever was seen.
Poor little polly!
Q was a quail
With a very short tail;
And he fed upon corn
In the evening and morn.
Quaint little quail!
R was a rabbit,
Who had a bad habit
Of eating the flowers
In gardens and bowers.
Naughty fat rabbit!
S was the sugar-tongs,
Nippity-nee,
To take up the sugar
To put in our tea.
Nippity-nee!
T was a tortoise,
All yellow and black:
He walked slowly away,
And he never came back.
Torty never came back!
U was an urn
All polished and bright,
And full of hot water
At noon and at night.
Useful old urn!
V was a veil
With a border upon it,
And a ribbon to tie it
All round a pink bonnet.
Pretty green veil!
W was a watch,
Where, in letters of gold,
The hour of the day
You might always behold.
Beautiful watch!
Y was a yew,
Which flourished and grew
By a quiet abode
Near the side of a road.
Dark little yew!
Z was a zebra,
All striped white and black;
And if he were tame,
You might ride on his back.
Pretty striped zebra!
THE EGG IN THE NEST.
There was a tree stood in the ground,
The prettiest tree you ever did see;
The tree in the wood, and the wood in the ground,
And the green grass growing all around.
And on this tree there was a limb,
The prettiest limb you ever did see;
The limb on the tree, and the tree in the wood,
The tree in the wood, and the wood in the ground,
And the green grass growing all around.
And on this limb there was a bough,
The prettiest bough you ever did see;
The bough on the limb, and the limb on the tree,
The limb on the tree, and the tree in the wood,
The tree in the wood, and the wood in the ground,
And the green grass growing all around.
Now on this bough there was a nest,
And in this nest there were some eggs,
The prettiest eggs you ever did see;
Eggs in the nest, and the nest on the bough,
The bough on the limb, and the limb on the tree,
The limb on the tree, and the tree in the wood,
The tree in the wood, and the wood in the ground,
And the green grass growing all around,
And the green grass growing all around.
* * * * *
Hey! diddle, diddle,
The cat and the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the moon;
The little dog laughed
To see such sport,
And the dish ran away with the spoon.
* * * * *
Pussy sits beside the fire,
How can she be fair?
In comes the little dog,
"Pussy, are you there?
So, so, dear Mistress Pussy,
Pray tell me how do you do?"
"Thank you, thank you, little dog,
I'm very well just now."
* * * * *
Ding dong bell,
The cat's in the well!
Who put her in?—
Little Johnny Green.
Who pulled her out?—
Big Johnny Stout.
What a naughty boy was that
To drown poor pussy cat,
Who never did him any harm,
But killed the mice in his father's barn!
DAISIES.
At evening when I go to bed
I see the stars shine overhead;
They are the little daisies white
That dot the meadow of the Night.
And often while I'm dreaming so,
Across the sky the Moon will go;
It is a lady, sweet and fair,
Who comes to gather daisies there.
For, when at morning I arise,
There's not a star left in the skies;
She's picked them all and dropped them down
Into the meadows of the town.
SPINNING TOP.
When I spin round without a stop
And keep my balance like the top,
I find that soon the floor will swim
Before my eyes; and then, like him,
I lie all dizzy on the floor
Until I feel like spinning more.
PROVERBS AND POPULAR SAYINGS.
Every dog has its day.
Every horse thinks his own pack heaviest.
Every little helps.
Every man for himself, and God for us all.
Faint heart never won fair lady.
Fair words butter no parsnips.
Fine feathers make fine birds.
Follow the river and you will get to the sea.
Fools build houses, and wise men live in them.
For every evil under the sun, there is a remedy, or there is none;
If there be one, try and find It; if there be none, never mind it.
For want of a nail the shoe is lost; for want of a shoe the horse is lost;
for want of a horse the rider is lost.
* * * * *
Bobby Shafto's gone to sea,
With silver buckles at his knee;
He'll come back and marry me,—
Pretty Bobby Shafto!
Bobby Shafto's fat and fair,
Combing out his yellow hair,
He's my love for evermore,—
Pretty Bobby Shafto!
* * * * *
Every lady in this land
Has twenty nails upon each hand
Five and twenty on hands and feet.
All this is true without deceit.
* * * * *
Great A, little a,
Bouncing B!
The cat's in the cupboard,
And she can't see.
* * * * *
Hark, hark,
The dogs do bark,
The beggars are coming to town;
Some in rags,
Some in jags,
And some in velvet gowns.
* * * * *
Sing a song of sixpence,
A pocket full of rye;
Four and twenty blackbirds
Baked in a pie;
When the pie was opened,
The birds began to sing;
Was not that a dainty dish
To set before the king?
The king was in the parlor,
Counting out his money;
The queen was in the kitchen,
Eating bread and honey;
The maid was in the garden,
Hanging out the clothes;
There came a little blackbird,
And snipped off her nose.
Jenny was so mad,
She didn't know what to do;
She put her finger in her ear,
And cracked it right in two.
* * * * *
Hickory, dickory, dock,
The mouse ran up the clock,
The clock struck one,
The mouse ran down;
Hickory, dickory, dock.
* * * * *
Hot-cross buns!
Hot-cross buns!
One a penny, two a penny.
Hot-cross buns!
Hot-cross buns!
Hot-cross buns!
If ye have no daughters,
Give them to your sons.
* * * * *
How does my lady's garden grow?
How does my lady's garden grow?
With cockle shells, and silver bells,
And pretty maids all of a row.
* * * * *
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall;
Threescore men and threescore more
Cannot place Humpty Dumpty as he was before.
* * * * *
Hush-a-bye, baby, on the tree-top,
When the wind blows, the cradle will rock,
When the bough bends, the cradle will fall,
Down will come baby, bough, cradle, and all.
* * * * *
Some little mice sat in a barn to spin;
Pussy came by, and popped her head in;
"Shall I come in, and cut your threads off?"
"Oh, no, kind sir, you would snap our heads off."
* * * * *
If all the world were apple-pie?
And all the sea were ink.
And all the trees were bread and cheese,
What should we have for drink?
* * * * *
If wishes were horses,
Beggars might ride;
If turnips were watches,
I would wear one by my side.
* * * * *
I have a little sister, they call her peep, peep;
She wades the waters deep, deep, deep;
She climbs the mountains high, high, high;
Poor little creature, she has but one eye.
WHO STOLE THE BIRD'S NEST?
"To-whit! to-whit! to-whee!
Will you listen to me?
Who stole four eggs I laid,
And the nice nest I made?"
"Not I," said the cow, "Moo-oo!
Such a thing I'd never do.
I gave you a wisp of hay,
But didn't take your nest away.
Not I," said the cow, "Moo-oo!
Such a thing I'd never do."
"To-whit! to-whit! to-whee!
Will you listen to me?
Who stole four eggs I laid,
And the nice nest I made?"
"Bob-o'-link! Bob-o'-link!
Now what do you think?
Who stole a nest away
From the plum-tree, to-day?"
"Not I," said the dog, "Bow-wow!
I wouldn't be so mean, any how!
I gave the hairs the nest to make,
But the nest I did not take.
Not I," said the dog, "Bow-wow!
I'm not so mean, anyhow."
"To-whit! to-whit! to-whee!
Will you listen to me?
Who stole four eggs I laid,
And the nice nest I made?"
"Bob-o'-link! Bob-o'-link!
Now what do you think?
Who stole a nest away
From the plum-tree? to-day?"
"Coo-coo! Coo-coo! Coo-coo!
Let me speak a word, too!
Who stole that pretty nest
From little yellow-breast?"
"Not I," said the sheep; "oh, no!
I wouldn't treat a poor bird so.
I gave wool the nest to line,
But the nest was none of mine.
Baa! Baa!" said the sheep; "oh, no,
I wouldn't treat a poor bird so."
"To-whit! to-whit! to-whee!
Will you listen to me?
Who stole four eggs I laid,
And the nice nest I made?"
"Bob-o'-link! Bob-o'-link!
Now what do you think?
Who stole a nest away
From the plum-tree, to-day?"
"Coo-coo! Coo-coo! Coo-coo!
Let me speak a word, too!
Who stole that pretty nest
From little yellow-breast?"
"Caw! Caw!" cried the crow;
"I should like to know
What thief took away
A bird's nest to-day?"
"Cluck! Cluck!" said the hen;
"Don't ask me again,
Why, I haven't a chick
Would do such a trick.
We all gave her a feather,
And she wove them together.
I'd scorn to intrude
On her and her brood.
Cluck! Cluck!" said the hen,
"Don't ask me again."
"Chirr-a-whirr! Chirr-a-whirr!
All the birds make a stir!
Let us find out his name,
And all cry 'for shame!'"
"I would not rob a bird,"
Said little Mary Green;
"I think I never heard
Of anything so mean."
"It is very cruel, too,"
Said little Alice Neal;
"I wonder if he knew
How sad the bird would feel?"
A little boy hung down his head,
And went and hid behind the bed,
For he stole that pretty nest
From poor little yellow-breast;
And he felt so full of shame,
He didn't like to tell his name.
* * * * *
I saw a ship a-sailing,
A-sailing on the sea;
And oh, it was all laden
With pretty things for thee!
There were comfits in the cabin,
And apples in the hold;
The sails were made of silk,
And the masts were made of gold!
The four and twenty sailors,
That stood between the decks,
Were four and twenty white mice,
With chains about their necks.
The captain was a duck,
With a packet on his back;
And when the ship began to move.
The captain said, "Quack! Quack!"
* * * * *
Jack and Jill went up the hill,
To fetch a pail of water;
Jack fell down, and broke his crown,
And Jill came tumbling after.
* * * * *
Little Bo-peep has lost her sheep,
And can't tell where to find them;
Leave them alone, and they'll come home,
And bring their tails behind them.
Little Bo-peep fell fast asleep,
And dreamed she heard them bleating;
But when she awoke, she found it a joke,
For they were still a-fleeting.
Then up she took her little crook,
Determined for to find them;
She found them indeed, but it made her heart bleed,
For they'd left all their tails behind 'em.
* * * * *
Little boy blue, come blow your horn,
The sheep's in the meadow, the cow's in the corn;
Where's the little boy that tends the sheep?
He's under the haycock, fast asleep.
Go wake him, go wake him. Oh, no, not I;
For if I awake him, he'll certainly cry.
* * * * *
Little girl, little girl, where have you been?
Gathering roses to give to the queen.
Little girl, little girl, what gave she you?
She gave me a diamond as big as my shoe.
* * * * *
Little Jack Horner sat in the corner,
Eating a Christmas pie;
He put in his thumb, and he took out a plum,
And said, "What a good boy am I!"
* * * * *
Little Johnny Pringle had a little pig;
It was very little, so was not very big.
As it was playing beneath the shed,
In half a minute poor Piggie was dead.
So Johnny Pringle he sat down and cried,
And Betty Pringle she lay down and died.
There is the history of one, two, and three,
Johnny Pringle, Betty Pringle, and Piggie Wiggie.
* * * * *
Little Miss Muffet
She sat on a tuffet,
Eating of curds and whey;
There came a black spider,
And sat down beside her,
Which frightened Miss Muffet away.
* * * * *
There was a little man,
And he had a little gun,
And his bullets were made of lead, lead, lead;
He went to the brook.
And he saw a little duck,
And shot it through the head, head, head.
He carried it home
To his wife Joan,
And bade her a fire to make, make, make,
To roast the little duck,
He had shot in the brook,
And he'd go and fetch the drake, drake, drake.
* * * * *
Little Tommy Tucker
Sing for your supper.
What shall I sing?
White bread and butter.
How shall I cut it
Without any knife?
How shall I marry
Without any wife?
PROVERBS AND POPULAR SAYINGS.
At sixes and sevens.
Beauty is but skin deep.
Half a loaf is better than no bread.
Better late than never.
Better live well than long.
Beware of no man more than thyself.
Birds of a feather will flock together.
Christmas comes but once a year;
And when it comes, it brings good cheer;
But when it's gone, it's never the near.
Brag is a good dog, but Holdfast is a better.
By fits and starts.
By and by is easily said.
Care will kill a cat.
Cats hide their claws.
Constant dropping wears the stone.
Count not your chickens before they are hatched.
Debt is the worst poverty.
Do not spur a free horse.
Don't cry till you are out of the wood.
Drive thy business; let not that drive thee.
Early to bed, and early to rise,
Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.
East or west, home is best.
Enough is as good as a feast.
Everybody's business is nobody's business.
HAPPY THOUGHT.
The world is so full of a number of things,
I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings.
THE SUN'S TRAVELS.
The sun is not abed, when I
At night upon my pillow lie;
Still round the earth his way he takes,
And morning after morning makes.
While here at home, in shining day,
We round the sunny garden play,
Each little Indian sleepy-head
Is being kissed and put to bed.
And when at eve I rise from tea,
Day dawns beyond the Atlantic Sea;
And all the children in the West
Are getting up and being dressed.
MY BED IS A BOAT.
My bed is like a little boat;
Nurse helps me in when I embark;
She girds me in my sailor's coat
And starts me in the dark.
At night, I go on board and say
Good-night to all my friends on shore;
I shut my eyes and sail away
And see and hear no more.
And sometimes things to bed I take,
As prudent sailors have to do;
Perhaps a slice of wedding-cake,
Perhaps a toy or two.
All night across the dark we steer;
But when the day returns at last,
Safe in my room, beside the pier,
I find my vessel fast.
THE SWING.
How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!
Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
Rivers and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside—
Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown—
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!
* * * * *
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John
Guard the bed that I lie on!
Four corners to my bed,
Four angels round my head;
One to watch, one to pray,
And two to bear my soul away.
* * * * *
Mistress Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With cockle-shells, and silver bells,
And pretty maids all in a row.
* * * * *
Old King Cole
Was a merry old soul,
And a merry old soul was he;
He called for his pipe,
And he called for his bowl,
And he called for his fiddlers three.
Every fiddler, he had a fiddle,
And a very fine fiddle had he;
Twee tweedle dee, tweedle dee, went the fiddlers.
Oh, there's none so rare,
As can compare
With old King Cole and his fiddlers three!
MOTHER HUBBARD AND HER DOG
Old Mother Hubbard
Went to the cupboard,
To get her poor dog a bone;
But when she came there,
The cupboard was bare,
And so the poor dog had none.
She went to the baker's
To buy him some bread;
But when she came back,
The poor dog was dead.
She went to the joiner's
To buy him a coffin;
But when she came back.
The poor dog was laughing.
She took a clean dish
To get him some tripe;
But when she came back,
He was smoking his pipe.
She went to the fishmonger's
To buy him some fish;
And when she came back,
He was licking the dish.
She went to the ale-house
To get him some beer;
But when she came back,
The dog sat in a chair.
She went to the tavern
For white wine and red;
But when she came back,
The dog stood on his head.
She went to the hatter's
To buy him a hat;
But when she came back,
He was feeding the cat.
She went to the barber's
To buy him a wig;
But when she came back,
He was dancing a jig.
She went to the fruiterer's
To buy him some fruit;
But when she came back,
He was playing the flute.
She went to the tailor's
To buy him a coat;
But when she came back,
He was riding a goat.
She went to the cobbler's
To buy him some shoes;
But when she came back,
He was reading the news.
She went to the seamstress
To buy him some linen;
But when she came back,
The dog was spinning.
She went to the hosiers
To buy him some hose;
But when she came back,
He was dressed in his clothes.
The dame made a curtsy,
The dog made a bow;
The dame said, Your servant,
The dog said; Bow, wow.
RUNAWAY BROOK.
"Stop, stop, pretty water!"
Said Mary one day,
To a frolicsome brook,
That was running away.
"You run on so fast!
I wish you would stay;
My boat and my flowers
You will carry away.
"But I will run after:
Mother says that I may;
For I would know where
You are running away."
So Mary ran on;
But I have heard say,
That she never could find
Where the brook ran away.
BED IN SUMMER.
In winter I get up at night
And dress by yellow candle-light.
In summer, quite the other way,
I have to go to bed by day.
I have to go to bed and see
The birds still hopping on the tree,
Or hear the grown-up people's feet
Still going past me in the street.
And does it not seem hard to you,
When all the sky is clear and blue,
And I should like so much to play,
To have to go to bed by day?
AT THE SEASIDE
When I was down beside the sea
A wooden spade they gave to me
To dig the sandy shore.
My holes were empty like a cup,
In every hole the sea came up,
Till it could come no more.