GOOD AND BAD CHILDREN
CHILDREN, you are very little, And your bones are very brittle; If you would grow great and stately, You must try to walk sedately.
You must still be bright and quiet, And content with simple diet; And remain, through all bewild"ring, Innocent and honest children.
Happy hearts and happy faces, Happy play in gra.s.sy places-- That was how, in ancient ages, Children grew to kings and sages.
But the unkind and the unruly, And the sort who eat unduly, They must never hope for glory-- Theirs is quite a different story!
Cruel children, crying babies, All grow up as geese and gabies, Hated, as their age increases, By their nephews and their nieces.
XXVIII
FOREIGN CHILDREN
LITTLE Indian, Sioux or Crow, Little frosty Eskimo, Little Turk or j.a.panee, O! don"t you wish that you were me?
You have seen the scarlet trees And the lions over seas; You have eaten ostrich eggs, And turned the turtles off their legs.
Such a life is very fine, But it"s not so nice as mine: You must often, as you trod, Have wearied _not_ to be abroad.
You have curious things to eat, I am fed on proper meat; You must dwell beyond the foam, But I am safe and live at home.
Little Indian, Sioux or Crow, Little frosty Eskimo, Little Turk or j.a.panee, O! don"t you wish that you were me?
XXIX
THE SUN"S TRAVELS
THE sun is not a-bed, when I At night upon my pillow lie; Still round the earth his way he takes, And morning after morning makes.
While here at home, in shining day, We round the sunny garden play, Each little Indian sleepy-head Is being kissed and put to bed.
And when at eve I rise from tea, Day dawns beyond the Atlantic Sea, And all the children in the West Are getting up and being dressed.
x.x.x
THE LAMPLIGHTER
MY tea is nearly ready and the sun has left the sky; It"s time to take the window to see Leerie going by; For every night at teatime and before you take your seat, With lantern and with ladder he comes posting up the street.
Now Tom would be a driver and Maria go to sea, And my papa"s a banker and as rich as he can be; But I, when I am stronger and can choose what I"m to do, O Leerie, I"ll go round at night and light the lamps with you!
For we are very lucky, with a lamp before the door, And Leery stops to light it as he lights so many more; And O! before you hurry by with ladder and with light, O Leerie, see a little child and nod to him to-night!
x.x.xI
MY BED IS A BOAT
MY bed is 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 sh.o.r.e; 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.
x.x.xII
THE MOON
THE moon has a face like the clock in the hall; She shines on thieves on the garden wall, On streets and fields and harbour quays, And birdies asleep in the forks of the trees.
The squalling cat and the squeaking mouse, The howling dog by the door of the house, The bat that lies in bed at noon, All love to be out by the light of the moon.
But all of the things that belong to the day Cuddle to sleep to be out of her way; And flowers and children close their eyes Till up in the morning the sun shall arise.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE SWING
Up in the air and down]
x.x.xIII
THE SWING