[ { "title": "The bow-leg boy", "author": "Eugene Field", "lines": [ "Who should come up the road one day", "But the doctor-man in his two-wheel shay!", "And he whoaed his horse and he cried \"Ahoy!", "I have brought you folks a bow-leg boy!", "Such a cute little boy!", "Such a funny little boy!", "Such a dear little bow-leg boy!\"", "", "He took out his box and he opened it wide,", "And there was the bow-leg boy inside!", "And when they saw that cunning little mite,", "They cried in a chorus expressive of delight:", "\"What a cute little boy!", "What a funny little boy!", "What a dear little bow-leg boy!\"", "", "Observing a strict geometrical law,", "They cut out his panties with a circular saw;", "Which gave such a stress to his oval stride", "That the people he met invariably cried:", "\"What a cute little boy!", "What a funny little boy!", "What a dear little bow-leg boy!\"", "", "They gave him a wheel and away he went", "Speeding along to his heart's content;", "And he sits so straight and he pedals so strong", "That the folks all say as he bowls along:", "\"What a cute little boy!", "What a funny little boy!", "What a dear little bow-leg boy!\"", "", "With his eyes aflame and his cheeks aglow,", "He laughs \"aha\" and he laughs \"oho\";", "And the world is filled and thrilled with the joy", "Of that jolly little human, the bow-leg boy--", "The cute little boy!", "The funny little boy!", "The dear little bow-leg boy!", "", "If ever the doctor-man comes my way", "With his wonderful box in his two-wheel shay,", "I 'll ask for the treasure I'd fain possess--", "Now, honest Injun! can't you guess?", "Why, a cute little boy--", "A funny little boy--", "A dear little bow-leg boy!" ], "linecount": "42" }, { "title": "Mother and child", "author": "Eugene Field", "lines": [ "One night a tiny dewdrop fell", "Into the bosom of a rose,--", "\"Dear little one, I love thee well,", "Be ever here thy sweet repose!\"", "", "Seeing the rose with love bedight,", "The envious sky frowned dark, and then", "Sent forth a messenger of light", "And caught the dewdrop up again.", "", "\"Oh, give me back my heavenly child,--", "My love!\" the rose in anguish cried;", "Alas! the sky triumphant smiled,", "And so the flower, heart-broken, died." ], "linecount": "12" }, { "title": "The happy household", "author": "Eugene Field", "lines": [ "It's when the birds go piping and the daylight slowly breaks,", "That, clamoring for his dinner, our precious baby wakes;", "Then it's sleep no more for baby, and it's sleep no more for me,", "For, when he wants his dinner, why it's dinner it must be!", "And of that lacteal fluid he partakes with great ado,", "While gran'ma laughs,", "And gran'pa laughs,", "And wife, she laughs,", "And I - well, I laugh, too!", "", "You'd think, to see us carrying on about that little tad,", "That, like as not, that baby was the first we'd ever had;", "But, sakes alive! he isn't, yet we people make a fuss", "As if the only baby in the world had come to us!", "And, morning, noon, and night-time, whatever he may do,", "Gran'ma, she laughs,", "Gran'pa, he laughs,", "Wife, she laughs,", "And I, of course, laugh, too!", "", "But once - a likely spell ago - when that poor little chick", "From teething or from some such ill of infancy fell sick,", "You wouldn't know us people as the same that went about", "A-feelin' good all over, just to hear him crow and shout;", "And, though the doctor poohed our fears and said he'd pull him through,", "Old gran'ma cried,", "And gran'pa cried,", "And wife, she cried,", "And I - yes, I cried, too!", "", "It makes us all feel good to have a baby on the place,", "With his everlastin' crowing and his dimpling, dumpling face;", "The patter of his pinky feet makes music everywhere,", "And when he shakes those fists of his, good-by to every care!", "No matter what our trouble is, when he begins to coo,", "Old gran'ma laughs,", "And gran'pa laughs,", "Wife, she laughs,", "And I - you bet, I laugh, too!" ], "linecount": "36" }, { "title": "Kissing time", "author": "Eugene Field", "lines": [ "'T is when the lark goes soaring", "And the bee is at the bud,", "When lightly dancing zephyrs", "Sing over field and flood;", "When all sweet things in nature", "Seem joyfully achime -", "'T is then I wake my darling,", "For it is kissing time!", "", "Go, pretty lark, a-soaring,", "And suck your sweets, 0 bee;", "Sing, 0 ye winds of summer,", "Your songs to mine and me;", "For with your song and rapture", "Cometh the moment when", "It's half-past kissing time", "And time to kiss again!", "", "So - so the days go fleeting", "Like golden fancies free,", "And every day that cometh", "Is full of sweets for me;", "And sweetest are those moments", "My darling comes to climb", "Into my lap to mind me", "That it is kissing time.", "", "Sometimes, maybe, he wanders", "A heedless, aimless way -", "Sometimes, maybe, he loiters", "In pretty, prattling play;", "But presently bethinks him", "And hastens to me then,", "For it's half-past kissing time", "And time to kiss again!" ], "linecount": "32" }, { "title": "Picnic-time", "author": "Eugene Field", "lines": [ "It's June ag'in, an' in my soul I feel the fillin' joy", "That's sure to come this time o' year to every little boy;", "For, every June, the Sunday-schools at picnics may be seen,", "Where \"fields beyont the swellin' floods stand dressed in livin' green\";", "Where little girls are skeered to death with spiders, bugs, and ants,", "An' little boys get grass-stains on their go-to meetin' pants.", "It's June ag'in, an' with it all what happiness is mine -", "There's goin' to be a picnic, an' I'm goin' to jine!", "", "One year I jined the Baptists, an' goodness! how it rained!", "(But grampa says that that's the way \"baptizo\" is explained.)", "And once I jined the 'Piscopils an' had a heap o' fun -", "But the boss of all the picnics was the Presbyteriun!", "They had so many puddin's, sallids, sandwidges, an' pies,", "That a feller wisht his stummick was as hungry as his eyes!", "Oh, yes, the eatin' Presbyteriuns give yer is so fine", "That when they have a picnic, you bet I'm goin' to jine!", "", "But at this time the Methodists have special claims on me,", "For they're goin' to give a picnic on the 21st, D. V.;", "Why should a liberal universalist like me object", "To share the joys of fellowship with every friendly sect?", "However het'rodox their articles of faith elsewise may be,", "Their doctrine of fried chick'n is a savin' grace to me!", "So on the 21st of June, the weather bein' fine,", "They're goin' to give a picnic, and I'm goin' to jine!" ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "The stork", "author": "Eugene Field", "lines": [ "Last night the Stork came stalking,", "And, Stork, beneath your wing", "Lay, lapped in dreamless slumber,", "The tiniest little thing!", "From Babyland, out yonder", "Beside a silver sea,", "You brought a priceless treasure", "As gift to mine and me!", "", "Last night my dear one listened -", "And, wife, you knew the cry -", "The dear old Stork has sought our home", "A many times gone by!", "And in your gentle bosom", "I found the pretty thing", "That from the realm out yonder", "Our friend the Stork did bring.", "", "Last night a babe awakened,", "And, babe, how strange and new", "Must seem the home and people", "The Stork has brought you to;", "And yet methinks you like them -", "You neither stare nor weep,", "But closer to my dear one", "You cuddle, and you sleep!", "", "Last night my heart grew fonder -", "0 happy heart of mine,", "Sing of the inspirations", "That round my pathway shine!", "And sing your sweetest love-song", "To this dear nestling wee", "The Stork from 'Way-Out-Yonder", "Hath brought to mine and me!" ], "linecount": "32" }, { "title": "Dutch lullaby", "author": "Eugene Field", "lines": [ "Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night", "Sailed off in a wooden shoe,--", "Sailed on a river of misty light", "Into a sea of dew.", "\"Where are you going, and what do you wish?\"", "The old moon asked the three.", "\"We have come to fish for the herring-fish", "That live in this beautiful sea;", "Nets of silver and gold have we,\"", "Said Wynken,", "Blynken,", "And Nod.", "", "The old moon laughed and sung a song,", "As they rocked in the wooden shoe;", "And the wind that sped them all night long", "Ruffled the waves of dew;", "The little stars were the herring-fish", "That lived in the beautiful sea.", "\"Now cast your nets wherever you wish,", "But never afeard are we!\"", "So cried the stars to the fishermen three,", "Wynken,", "Blynken,", "And Nod.", "", "All night long their nets they threw", "For the fish in the twinkling foam,", "Then down from the sky came the wooden shoe,", "Bringing the fishermen home;", "'T was all so pretty a sail, it seemed", "As if it could not be;", "And some folk thought 't was a dream they'd dreamed", "Of sailing that beautiful sea;", "But I shall name you the fishermen three:", "Wynken,", "Blynken,", "And Nod.", "", "Wynken and Blynken are two little eyes,", "And Nod is a little head,", "And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies", "Is a wee one's trundle-bed;", "So shut your eyes while Mother sings", "Of wonderful sights that be,", "And you shall see the beautiful things", "As you rock on the misty sea", "Where the old shoe rocked the fishermen three,--", "Wynken,", "Blynken,", "And Nod." ], "linecount": "48" }, { "title": "Hugo's \"flower to butterfly\"", "author": "Eugene Field", "lines": [ "Sweet, bide with me and let my love", "Be an enduring tether;", "Oh, wanton not from spot to spot,", "But let us dwell together.", "", "You've come each morn to sip the sweets", "With which you found me dripping,", "Yet never knew it was not dew", "But tears that you were sipping.", "", "You gambol over honey meads", "Where siren bees are humming;", "But mine the fate to watch and wait", "For my beloved's coming.", "", "The sunshine that delights you now", "Shall fade to darkness gloomy;", "You should not fear if, biding here,", "You nestled closer to me.", "", "So rest you, love, and be my love,", "That my enraptured blooming", "May fill your sight with tender light,", "Your wings with sweet perfuming.", "", "Or, if you will not bide with me", "Upon this quiet heather,", "Oh, give me wing, thou beauteous thing,", "That we may soar together." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "The Sugar-Plum Tree", "author": "Eugene Field", "lines": [ "Have you ever heard of the Sugar-Plum Tree?", "'T is a marvel of great renown!", "It blooms on the shore of the Lollipop sea", "In the garden of Shut-Eye Town;", "The fruit that it bears is so wondrously sweet", "(As those who have tasted it say)", "That good little children have only to eat", "Of that fruit to be happy next day.", "When you 've got to the tree, you would have a hard time", "To capture the fruit which I sing;", "The tree is so tall that no person could climb", "To the boughs where the sugar-plums swing!", "But up in that tree sits a chocolate cat,", "And a gingerbread dog prowls below---", "And this is the way you contrive to get at", "Those sugar-plums tempting you so:", "You say but the word to that gingerbread dog", "And he barks with such terrible zest", "That the chocolate cat is at once all agog,", "As her swelling proportions attest.", "And the chocolate cat goes cavorting around", "From this leafy limb unto that,", "And the sugar-plums tumble, of course, to the ground---", "Hurrah for that chocolate cat!", "There are marshmallows, gumdrops, and peppermint canes,", "With stripings of scarlet or gold,", "And you carry away of the treasure that rains", "As much as your apron can hold!", "So come, little child, cuddle closer to me", "In your dainty white nightcap and gown,", "And I 'll rock you away to that Sugar-Plum Tree", "In the garden of Shut-Eye Town." ], "linecount": "32" }, { "title": "The bottle tree", "author": "Eugene Field", "lines": [ "A bottle tree bloometh in Winkyway land -", "Heigh-ho for a bottle, I say!", "A snug little berth in that ship I demand", "That rocketh the Bottle-Tree babies away", "Where the Bottle Tree bloometh by night and by day", "And reacheth its fruit to each wee, dimpled hand;", "You take of that fruit as much as you list,", "For colic's a nuisance that doesn't exist!", "So cuddle me and cuddle me fast,", "And cuddle me snug in my cradle away,", "For I hunger and thirst for that precious repast -", "Heigh-ho for a bottle, I say!", "", "The Bottle Tree bloometh by night and by day!", "Heigh-ho for Winkyway land!", "And Bottle-Tree fruit (as I've heard people say)", "Makes bellies of Bottle-Tree babies expand -", "And that is a trick I would fain understand!", "Heigh-ho for a bottle to-day!", "And heigh-ho for a bottle to-night -", "A bottle of milk that is creamy and white!", "So cuddle me close, and cuddle me fast,", "And cuddle me snug in my cradle away,", "For I hunger and thirst for that precious repast -", "Heigh-ho for a bottle, I say!" ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "The Truth About hHorace", "author": "Eugene Field", "lines": [ "It is very aggravating", "To hear the solemn prating", "Of the fossils who are stating", "That old Horace was a prude;", "When we know that with the ladies", "He was always raising Hades,", "And with many an escapade his", "Best productions are imbued.", "", "There's really not much harm in a", "Large number of his carmina,", "But these people find alarm in a", "Few records of his acts;", "So they'd squelch the muse caloric,", "And to students sophomoric", "They d present as metaphoric", "What old Horace meant for facts.", "", "We have always thought 'em lazy;", "Now we adjudge 'em crazy!", "Why, Horace was a daisy", "That was very much alive!", "And the wisest of us know him", "As his Lydia verses show him,--", "Go, read that virile poem,--", "It is No. 25.", "", "He was a very owl, sir,", "And starting out to prowl, sir,", "You bet he made Rome howl, sir,", "Until he filled his date;", "With a massic-laden ditty", "And a classic maiden pretty", "He painted up the city,", "And Maecenas paid the freight!" ], "linecount": "32" }, { "title": "Star of the east", "author": "Eugene Field", "lines": [ "Star of the East, that long ago", "Brought wise men on their way", "Where, angels singing to and fro,", "The Child of Bethlehem lay--", "Above that Syrian hill afar", "Thou shinest out to-night, O Star!", "", "Star of the East, the night were drear", "But for the tender grace", "That with thy glory comes to cheer", "Earth's loneliest, darkest place;", "For by that charity we see", "Where there is hope for all and me.", "", "Star of the East! show us the way", "In wisdom undefiled", "To seek that manger out and lay", "Our gifts before the child--", "To bring our hearts and offer them", "Unto our King in Bethlehem!" ], "linecount": "18" }, { "title": "The dreams", "author": "Eugene Field", "lines": [ "Two dreams came down to earth one night", "From the realm of mist and dew;", "One was a dream of the old, old days,", "And one was a dream of the new.", "", "One was a dream of a shady lane", "That led to the pickerel pond", "Where the willows and rushes bowed themselves", "To the brown old hills beyond.", "", "And the people that peopled the old-time dream", "Were pleasant and fair to see,", "And the dreamer he walked with them again", "As often of old walked he.", "", "Oh, cool was the wind in the shady lane", "That tangled his curly hair!", "Oh, sweet was the music the robins made", "To the springtime everywhere!", "", "Was it the dew the dream had brought", "From yonder midnight skies,", "Or was it tears from the dear, dead years", "That lay in the dreamer's eyes?", "", "The other dream ran fast and free,", "As the moon benignly shed", "Her golden grace on the smiling face", "In the little trundle-bed.", "", "For 't was a dream of times to come--", "Of the glorious noon of day--", "Of the summer that follows the careless spring", "When the child is done with play.", "", "And 't was a dream of the busy world", "Where valorous deeds are done;", "Of battles fought in the cause of right,", "And of victories nobly won.", "", "It breathed no breath of the dear old home", "And the quiet joys of youth;", "It gave no glimpse of the good old friends", "Or the old-time faith and truth.", "", "But 't was a dream of youthful hopes,", "And fast and free it ran,", "And it told to a little sleeping child", "Of a boy become a man!", "", "These were the dreams that came one night", "To earth from yonder sky;", "These were the dreams two dreamers dreamed--", "My little boy and I.", "", "And in our hearts my boy and I", "Were glad that it was so;", "He loved to dream of days to come,", "And I of long ago.", "", "So from our dreams my boy and I", "Unwillingly awoke,", "But neither of his precious dream", "Unto the other spoke.", "", "Yet of the love we bore those dreams", "Gave each his tender sign;", "For there was triumph in his eyes--", "And there were tears in mine!" ], "linecount": "56" }, { "title": "The Conversazzhony", "author": "Eugene Field", "lines": [ "What conversazzhyonies wuz I really did not know,", "For that, you must remember, wuz a powerful spell ago;", "The camp wuz new 'nd noisy, 'nd only modrit sized,", "So fashionable sossiety wuz hardly crystallized.", "There hadn't been no grand events to interest the men,", "But a lynchin', or a inquest, or a jackpot now an' then.", "The wimmin-folks wuz mighty scarce, for wimmin, ez a rool,", "Don't go to Colorado much, excep' for teachin' school,", "An' bein' scarce an' chipper and pretty (like as not),", "The bachelors perpose, 'nd air accepted on the spot.", "", "Now Sorry Tom wuz owner uv the Gosh-all-Hemlock mine,", "The wich allowed his better haff to dress all-fired fine;", "For Sorry Tom wuz mighty proud uv her, an' she uv him,", "Though she wuz short an' tacky, an' he wuz tall an' slim,", "An' she wuz edjicated, an' Sorry Tom wuz not,", "Yet, for her sake, he'd whack up every cussid cent he'd got!", "Waal, jest by way uv celebratin' matrimonial joys,", "She thought she'd give a conversazzhyony to the boys,--", "A peert an' likely lady, 'nd ez full uv 'cute idees", "'Nd uv etiquettish notions ez a fyste is full uv fleas.", "", "Three-fingered Hoover kind uv kicked, an' said they might be durned", "So far ez any conversazzhyony was concerned;", "He'd come to Red Hoss Mountain to tunnel for the ore,", "An' not to go to parties,--quite another kind uv bore!", "But, bein' he wuz candidate for marshal uv the camp,", "I rayther had the upper holts in arguin' with the scamp;", "Sez I, \"Three-fingered Hoover, can't ye see it is yer game", "To go for all the votes ye kin an' collar uv the same?\"", "The wich perceivin', Hoover sez, \"Waal, ef I must, I must;", "So I'll frequent that conversazzhyony, ef I bust!\"", "", "Three-fingered Hoover wuz a trump! Ez fine a man wuz he", "Ez ever caused an inquest or blossomed on a tree!--", "A big, broad man, whose face bespoke a honest heart within,--", "With a bunch uv yaller whiskers appertainin' to his chin,", "'Nd a fierce mustache turnt up so fur that both his ears wuz hid,", "Like the picture that you always see in the \"Life uv Cap'n Kidd.\"", "His hair wuz long an' wavy an' fine as Southdown fleece,--", "Oh, it shone an' smelt like Eden when he slicked it down with grease!", "I'll bet there wuzn't anywhere a man, all round, ez fine", "Ez wuz Three-fingered Hoover in the spring uv '69!", "", "The conversazzhyony wuz a notable affair,", "The bong tong deckolett 'nd en regaly bein' there;", "The ranch where Sorry Tom hung out wuz fitted up immense,--", "The Denver papers called it a \"palashal residence.\"", "There wuz mountain pines an' fern an' flowers a-hangin' on the walls,", "An' cheers an' hoss-hair sofies wuz a-settin' in the halls;", "An' there wuz heaps uv pictures uv folks that lived down East,", "Sech ez poets an' perfessers, an' last, but not the least,", "Wuz a chromo uv old Fremont,--we liked that best, you bet,", "For there's lots uv us old miners that is votin' for him yet!", "", "When Sorry Tom received the gang perlitely at the door,", "He said that keerds would be allowed upon the second floor;", "And then he asked us would we like a drop uv ody vee.", "Connivin' at his meanin', we responded promptly, \"Wee.\"", "A conversazzhyony is a thing where people speak", "The langwidge in the which they air partickulerly weak:", "\"I see,\" sez Sorry Tom, \"you grasp what that 'ere lingo means.\"", "\"You bet yer boots,\" sez Hoover; \"I've lived at Noo Orleens,", "An', though I ain't no Frenchie, nor kin unto the same,", "I kin parly voo, an' git there, too, like Eli, toot lee mame!\"", "", "As speakin' French wuz not my forte,--not even oovry poo,--", "I stuck to keerds ez played by them ez did not parly voo,", "An' bein' how that poker wuz my most perficient game,", "I poneyed up for 20 blues an' set into the same.", "Three-fingered Hoover stayed behind an' parly-vood so well", "That all the kramy delly krame allowed he wuz the belle.", "The other candidate for marshal didn't have a show;", "For, while Three-fingered Hoover parlyed, ez they said, tray bow,", "Bill Goslin didn't know enough uv French to git along,", "'Nd I reckon that he had what folks might call a movy tong.", "", "From Denver they had freighted up a real pianny-fort", "Uv the warty-leg and pearl-around-the-keys-an'-kivver sort,", "An', later in the evenin', Perfesser Vere de Blaw", "Performed on that pianny, with considerble eclaw,", "Sech high-toned opry airs ez one is apt to hear, you know,", "When he rounds up down to Denver at a Emmy Abbitt show;", "An' Barber Jim (a talented but ornery galoot)", "Discoursed a obligatter, conny mory, on the floot,", "'Till we, ez sot up-stairs indulgin' in a quiet game,", "Conveyed to Barber Jim our wish to compromise the same.", "", "The maynoo that wuz spread that night wuz mighty hard to beat,--", "Though somewhat awkward to pernounce, it was not so to eat:", "There wuz puddin's, pies, an' sandwidges, an' forty kinds uv sass,", "An' floatin' Irelands, custards, tarts, an' patty dee foy grass;", "An' millions uv cove oysters wuz a-settin' round in pans,", "'Nd other native fruits an' things that grow out West in cans.", "But I wuz all kufflummuxed when Hoover said he'd choose", "\"Oon peety morso, see voo play, de la cette Charlotte Rooze;\"", "I'd knowed Three-fingered Hoover for fifteen years or more,", "'Nd I'd never heern him speak so light uv wimmin folks before!", "", "Bill Goslin heern him say it, 'nd uv course he spread the news", "Uv how Three-fingered Hoover had insulted Charlotte Rooze", "At the conversazzhyony down at Sorry Tom's that night,", "An' when they asked me, I allowed that Bill for once wuz right;", "Although it broke my heart to see my friend go up the fluke,", "We all opined his treatment uv the girl deserved rebuke.", "It warn't no use for Sorry Tom to nail it for a lie,--", "When it come to sassin' wimmin, there wuz blood in every eye;", "The boom for Charlotte Rooze swep' on an' took the polls by storm,", "An' so Three-fingered Hoover fell a martyr to reform!", "", "Three-fingered Hoover said it was a terrible mistake,", "An' when the votes wuz in, he cried ez if his heart would break.", "We never knew who Charlotte wuz, but Goslin's brother Dick", "Allowed she wuz the teacher from the camp on Roarin' Crick,", "That had come to pass some foreign tongue with them uv our alite", "Ez wuz at the high-toned party down at Sorry Tom's that night.", "We let it drop--this matter uv the lady--there an' then,", "An' we never heerd, nor wanted to, of Charlotte Rooze again,", "An' the Colorado wimmin-folks, ez like ez not, don't know", "How we vindicated all their sex a twenty year ago.", "", "For in these wondrous twenty years has come a mighty change,", "An' most of them old pioneers have gone acrosst the range,", "Way out into the silver land beyond the peaks uv snow,--", "The land uv rest an' sunshine, where all good miners go.", "I reckon that they love to look, from out the silver haze,", "Upon that God's own country where they spent sech happy days;", "Upon the noble cities that have risen since they went;", "Upon the camps an' ranches that are prosperous and content;", "An' best uv all, upon those hills that reach into the air,", "Ez if to clasp the loved ones that are waitin' over there." ], "linecount": "120" }, { "title": "Prof. vere de blaw", "author": "Eugene Field", "lines": [ "Achievin' sech distinction with his moddel tabble dote", "Ez to make his Red Hoss Mountain restauraw a place uv note,", "Our old friend Casey innovated somewhat round the place,", "In hopes he would ameliorate the sufferin's uv the race;", "'Nd uv the many features Casey managed to import", "The most important wuz a Steenway gran' pianny-fort,", "An' bein' there wuz nobody could play upon the same,", "He telegraffed to Denver, 'nd a real perfesser came,--", "The last an' crownin' glory uv the Casey restauraw", "Wuz that tenderfoot musicianer, Perfesser Vere de Blaw!", "", "His hair wuz long an' dishybill, an' he had a yaller skin,", "An' the absence uv a collar made his neck look powerful thin:", "A sorry man he wuz to see, az mebby you'd surmise,", "But the fire uv inspiration wuz a-blazin' in his eyes!", "His name wuz Blanc, wich same is Blaw (for that's what Casey said,", "An' Casey passed the French ez well ez any Frenchie bred);", "But no one ever reckoned that it really wuz his name,", "An' no one ever asked him how or why or whence he came,--", "Your ancient history is a thing the Coloradan hates,", "An' no one asks another what his name wuz in the States!", "", "At evenin', when the work wuz done, an' the miners rounded up", "At Casey's, to indulge in keerds or linger with the cup,", "Or dally with the tabble dote in all its native glory,", "Perfessor Vere de Blaw discoursed his music repertory", "Upon the Steenway gran' piannyfort, the wich wuz sot", "In the hallway near the kitchen (a warm but quiet spot),", "An' when De Blaw's environments induced the proper pride,--", "Wich gen'rally wuz whiskey straight, with seltzer on the side,--", "He throwed his soulful bein' into opry airs 'nd things", "Wich bounded to the ceilin' like he'd mesmerized the strings.", "", "Oh, you that live in cities where the gran' piannies grow,", "An' primy donnies round up, it's little that you know", "Uv the hungerin' an' the yearnin' wich us miners an' the rest", "Feel for the songs we used to hear before we moved out West.", "Yes, memory is a pleasant thing, but it weakens mighty quick;", "It kind uv dries an' withers, like the windin' mountain crick,", "That, beautiful, an' singin' songs, goes dancin' to the plains,", "So long ez it is fed by snows an' watered by the rains;", "But, uv that grace uv lovin' rains 'nd mountain snows bereft,", "Its bleachin' rocks, like dummy ghosts, is all its memory left.", "", "The toons wich the perfesser would perform with sech eclaw", "Would melt the toughest mountain gentleman I ever saw,--", "Sech touchin' opry music ez the Trovytory sort,", "The sollum \"Mizer Reery,\" an' the thrillin' \"Keely Mort;\"", "Or, sometimes, from \"Lee Grond Dooshess\" a trifle he would play,", "Or morsoze from a' opry boof, to drive dull care away;", "Or, feelin' kind uv serious, he'd discourse somewhat in C,--", "The wich he called a' opus (whatever that may be);", "But the toons that fetched the likker from the critics in the crowd", "Wuz not the high-toned ones, Perfesser Vere de Blaw allowed.", "", "'T wuz \"Dearest May,\" an' \"Bonnie Doon,\" an' the ballard uv \"Ben Bolt,\"", "Ez wuz regarded by all odds ez Vere de Blaw's best holt;", "Then there wuz \"Darlin' Nellie Gray,\" an' \"Settin' on the Stile,\"", "An' \"Seein' Nellie Home,\" an' \"Nancy Lee,\" 'nd \"Annie Lisle,\"", "An' \"Silver Threads among the Gold,\" an' \"The Gal that Winked at Me,\"", "An' \"Gentle Annie,\" \"Nancy Till,\" an' \"The Cot beside the Sea.\"", "Your opry airs is good enough for them ez likes to pay", "Their money for the truck ez can't be got no other way;", "But opry to a miner is a thin an' holler thing,--The", "music that he pines for is the songs he used to sing.", "", "One evenin' down at Casey's De Blaw wuz at his best,", "With four-fingers uv old Wilier-run concealed beneath his vest;", "The boys wuz settin' all around, discussin' folks an' things,", "'Nd I had drawed the necessary keerds to fill on kings;", "Three-fingered Hoover kind uv leaned acrosst the bar to say", "If Casey'd liquidate right off, he'd liquidate next day;", "A sperrit uv contentment wuz a-broodin' all around", "(Onlike the other sperrits wich in restauraws abound),", "When, suddenly, we heerd from yonder kitchen-entry rise", "A toon each ornery galoot appeared to recognize.", "", "Perfesser Vere de Blaw for once eschewed his opry ways,", "An' the remnants uv his mind went back to earlier, happier days,", "An' grappled like an' wrassled with a' old familiar air", "The wich we all uv us had heern, ez you have, everywhere!", "Stock still we stopped,--some in their talk uv politics an' things,", "I in my unobtrusive attempt to fill on kings,", "'Nd Hoover leanin' on the bar, an' Casey at the till,--", "We all stopped short an' held our breaths (ez a feller sometimes will),", "An' sot there more like bumps on logs than healthy, husky men,", "Ez the memories uv that old, old toon come sneakin' back again.", "", "You've guessed it? No, you hav n't; for it wuzn't that there song", "Uv the home we'd been away from an' had hankered for so long,--", "No, sir; it wuzn't \"Home, Sweet Home,\" though it's always heard around", "Sech neighborhoods in wich the home that is \"sweet home\" is found.", "And, ez for me, I seemed to see the past come back again,", "And hear the deep-drawed sigh my sister Lucy uttered when", "Her mother asked her if she 'd practised her two hours that day,", "Wich, if she hadn't, she must go an' do it right away!", "The homestead in the States 'nd all its memories seemed to come", "A-floatin' round about me with that magic lumty-tum.", "", "And then uprose a stranger wich had struck the camp that night;", "His eyes wuz sot an' fireless, 'nd his face wuz spookish white,", "'Nd he sez: \"Oh, how I suffer there is nobody kin say,", "Onless, like me, he's wrenched himself from home an' friends away", "To seek surcease from sorrer in a fur, seclooded spot,", "Only to find--alars, too late!--the wich surcease is not!", "Only to find that there air things that, somehow, seem to live", "For nothin' in the world but jest the misery they give!", "I've travelled eighteen hundred miles, but that toon has got here first;", "I'm done,--I'm blowed,--I welcome death, an' bid it do its worst!\"", "", "Then, like a man whose mind wuz sot on yieldin' to his fate,", "He waltzed up to the counter an' demanded whiskey straight,", "Wich havin' got outside uv,--both the likker and the door,--", "We never seen that stranger in the bloom uv health no more!", "But some months later, what the birds had left uv him wuz found", "Associated with a tree, some distance from the ground;", "And Husky Sam, the coroner, that set upon him, said", "That two things wuz apparent, namely: first, deceast wuz dead;", "And, second, previously had got involved beyond all hope", "In a knotty complication with a yard or two uv rope!" ], "linecount": "110" }, { "title": "Marthy's younkit", "author": "Eugene Field", "lines": [ "The mountain brook sung lonesomelike, and loitered on its way", "Ez if it waited for a child to jine it in its play;", "The wild-flowers uv the hillside bent down their heads to hear", "The music uv the little feet that had somehow grown so dear;", "The magpies, like winged shadders, wuz a-flutterin' to an' fro", "Among the rocks an' holler stumps in the ragged gulch below;", "The pines an' hemlocks tosst their boughs (like they wuz arms) and made", "Soft, sollum music on the slope where he had often played;", "But for these lonesome, sollum voices on the mountain-side,", "There wuz no sound the summer day that Marthy's younkit died.", "", "We called him Marthy's younkit, for Marthy wuz the name", "Uv her ez wuz his mar, the wife uv Sorry Tom,--the same", "Ez taught the school-house on the hill, way back in '69,", "When she marr'd Sorry Tom, wich owned the Gosh-all-Hemlock mine!", "And Marthy's younkit wuz their first, wich, bein' how it meant", "The first on Red Hoss Mountain, wuz truly a' event!", "The miners sawed off short on work ez soon ez they got word", "That Dock Devine allowed to Casey what had just occurred;", "We loaded up an' whooped around until we all wuz hoarse", "Salutin' the arrival, wich weighed ten pounds, uv course!", "", "Three years, and sech a pretty child!--his mother's counterpart!", "Three years, an' sech a holt ez he had got on every heart!", "A peert an' likely little tyke with hair ez red ez gold,", "A-laughin', toddlin' everywhere,--'nd only three years old!", "Up yonder, sometimes, to the store, an' sometimes down the hill", "He kited (boys is boys, you know,--you couldn't keep him still!)", "An' there he'd play beside the brook where purpul wild-flowers grew,", "An' the mountain pines an' hemlocks a kindly shadder threw,", "An' sung soft, sollum toons to him, while in the gulch below", "The magpies, like strange sperrits, went flutterin' to an' fro.", "", "Three years, an' then the fever come,--it wuzn't right, you know,", "With all us old ones in the camp, for that little child to go;", "It's right the old should die, but that a harmless little child", "Should miss the joy uv life an' love,--that can't be reconciled!", "That's what we thought that summer day, an' that is what we said", "Ez we looked upon the piteous face uv Marthy's younkit dead.", "But for his mother's sobbin', the house wuz very still,", "An' Sorry Tom wuz lookin', through the winder, down the hill,", "To the patch beneath the hemlocks where his darlin' used to play,", "An' the mountain brook sung lonesomelike an' loitered on its way.", "", "A preacher come from Roarin' Crick to comfort 'em an' pray,", "'Nd all the camp wuz present at the obsequies next day;", "A female teacher staged it twenty miles to sing a hymn,", "An' we jined her in the chorus,--big, husky men an' grim", "Sung \"Jesus, Lover uv my Soul,\" an' then the preacher prayed,", "An' preacht a sermon on the death uv that fair blossom laid", "Among them other flowers he loved,--wich sermon set sech weight", "On sinners bein' always heeled against the future state,", "That, though it had been fashionable to swear a perfec' streak,", "There warn't no swearin' in the camp for pretty nigh a week!", "", "Last thing uv all, four strappin' men took up the little load", "An' bore it tenderly along the windin', rocky road,", "To where the coroner had dug a grave beside the brook,", "In sight uv Marthy's winder, where the same could set an' look", "An' wonder if his cradle in that green patch, long an' wide,", "Wuz ez soothin' ez the cradle that wuz empty at her side;", "An' wonder if the mournful songs the pines wuz singin' then", "Wuz ez tender ez the lullabies she'd never sing again,", "'Nd if the bosom of the earth in wich he lay at rest", "Wuz half ez lovin' 'nd ez warm ez wuz his mother's breast.", "", "The camp is gone; but Red Hoss Mountain rears its kindly head,", "An' looks down, sort uv tenderly, upon its cherished dead;", "'Nd I reckon that, through all the years, that little boy wich died", "Sleeps sweetly an' contentedly upon the mountain-side;", "That the wild-flowers uv the summer-time bend down their heads to hear", "The footfall uv a little friend they know not slumbers near;", "That the magpies on the sollum rocks strange flutterin' shadders make,", "An' the pines an' hemlocks wonder that the sleeper doesn't wake;", "That the mountain brook sings lonesomelike an' loiters on its way", "Ez if it waited for a child to jine it in its play." ], "linecount": "70" }, { "title": "The \"happy isles\" of horace", "author": "Eugene Field", "lines": [ "Oh, come with me to the Happy Isles", "In the golden haze off yonder,", "Where the song of the sun-kissed breeze beguiles,", "And the ocean loves to wander.", "", "Fragrant the vines that mantle those hills,", "Proudly the fig rejoices;", "Merrily dance the virgin rills,", "Blending their myriad voices.", "", "Our herds shall fear no evil there,", "But peacefully feed and rest them;", "Neither shall serpent nor prowling bear", "Ever come there to molest them.", "", "Neither shall Eurus, wanton bold,", "Nor feverish drouth distress us,", "But he that compasseth heat and cold", "Shall temper them both to bless us.", "", "There no vandal foot has trod,", "And the pirate hosts that wander", "Shall never profane the sacred sod", "Of those beautiful Isles out yonder.", "", "Never a spell shall blight our vines,", "Nor Sirius blaze above us,", "But you and I shall drink our wines", "And sing to the loved that love us.", "", "So come with me where Fortune smiles", "And the gods invite devotion,--", "Oh, come with me to the Happy Isles", "In the haze of that far-off ocean!" ], "linecount": "28" }, { "title": "A spring poem from bion", "author": "Eugene Field", "lines": [ "One asketh:", "\"Tell me, Myrson, tell me true:", "What's the season pleaseth you?", "Is it summer suits you best,", "When from harvest toil we rest?", "Is it autumn with its glory", "Of all surfeited desires?", "Is it winter, when with story", "And with song we hug our fires?", "Or is spring most fair to you--", "Come, good Myrson, tell me true!\"", "", "Another answereth:", "\"What the gods in wisdom send", "We should question not, my friend;", "Yet, since you entreat of me,", "I will answer reverently:", "Me the summertime displeases,", "For its sun is scorching hot;", "Autumn brings such dire diseases", "That perforce I like it not;", "As for biting winter, oh!", "How I hate its ice and snow!", "", "\"But, thrice welcome, kindly spring,", "With the myriad gifts you bring!", "Not too hot nor yet too cold,", "Graciously your charms unfold--", "Oh, your days are like the dreaming", "Of those nights which love beseems,", "And your nights have all the seeming", "Of those days of golden dreams!", "Heaven smiles down on earth, and then", "Earth smiles up to heaven again!\"" ], "linecount": "32" }, { "title": "Abu midjan", "author": "Eugene Field", "lines": [ "When Father Time swings round his scythe,", "Entomb me 'neath the bounteous vine,", "So that its juices, red and blithe,", "May cheer these thirsty bones of mine.", "", "\"Elsewise with tears and bated breath", "Should I survey the life to be.", "But oh! How should I hail the death", "That brings that--vinous grace to me!\"", "", "So sung the dauntless Saracen,", "Whereat the Prophet-Chief ordains", "That, curst of Allah, loathed of men,", "The faithless one shall die in chains.", "", "But one vile Christian slave that lay", "A prisoner near that prisoner saith:", "\"God willing, I will plant some day", "A vine where liest thou in death.\"", "", "Lo, over Abu Midjan's grave", "With purpling fruit a vine-tree grows;", "Where rots the martyred Christian slave", "Allah, and only Allah, knows!" ], "linecount": "20" }, { "title": "The Bench-Legged Fyce", "author": "Eugene Field", "lines": [ "Speakin' of dorgs, my bench-legged fyce", "Hed most o' the virtues, an' nary a vice.", "Some folks called him Sooner, a name that arose", "From his predisposition to chronic repose;", "But, rouse his ambition, he couldn't be beat -", "Yer bet yer he got thar on all his four feet!", "", "Mos' dorgs hez some forte - like huntin' an' such,", "But the sports o' the field didn't bother him much;", "Wuz just a plain dorg, an' contented to be", "On peaceable terms with the neighbors an' me;", "Used to fiddle an' squirm, and grunt \"Oh, how nice!\"", "When I tickled the back of that bench-legged fyce!", "", "He wuz long in the bar'l, like a fyce oughter be;", "His color wuz yaller as ever you see;", "His tail, curlin' upward, wuz long, loose, an' slim -", "When he didn't wag it, why, the tail it wagged him!", "His legs wuz so crooked, my bench-legged pup", "Wuz as tall settin' down as he wuz standin' up!", "", "He'd lie by the stove of a night an' regret", "The various vittles an' things he had et;", "When a stranger, most likely a tramp, come along,", "He'd lift up his voice in significant song -", "You wondered, by gum! how there ever wuz space", "In that bosom o' his'n to hold so much bass!", "", "Of daytimes he'd sneak to the road an' lie down,", "An' tackle the country dorgs comin' to town;", "By common consent he wuz boss in St. Joe,", "For what he took hold of he never let go!", "An' a dude that come courtin' our girl left a slice", "Of his white flannel suit with our bench-legged fyce!", "", "He wuz good to us kids - when we pulled at his fur", "Or twisted his tail he would never demur;", "He seemed to enjoy all our play an' our chaff,", "For his tongue 'u'd hang out an' he'd laff an' he'd laff;", "An' once, when the Hobart boy fell through the ice,", "He wuz drug clean ashore by that bench-legged fyce!", "", "We all hev our choice, an' you, like the rest,", "Allow that the dorg which you've got is the best;", "I wouldn't give much for the boy 'at grows up", "With no friendship subsistin' 'tween him an' a pup!", "When a fellow gits old - I tell you it's nice", "To think of his youth and his bench-legged fyce!", "", "To think of the springtime 'way back in St. Joe -", "Of the peach-trees abloom an' the daisies ablow;", "To think of the play in the medder an' grove,", "When little legs wrassled an' little han's strove;", "To think of the loyalty, valor, an' truth", "Of the friendships that hallow the season of youth!" ], "linecount": "48" }, { "title": "Mother and sphinx", "author": "Eugene Field", "lines": [ "(EGYPTIAN FOLK-SONG)", "", "Grim is the face that looks into the night", "Over the stretch of sands;", "A sullen rock in a sea of white--", "A ghostly shadow in ghostly light,", "Peering and moaning it stands.", "\"Oh, is it the king that rides this way--", "Oh, is it the king that rides so free?", "I have looked for the king this many a day,", "But the years that mock me will not say", "Why tarrieth he!\"", "", "'T is not your king that shall ride to-night,", "But a child that is fast asleep;", "And the horse he shall ride is the Dream-horse white--", "Aha, he shall speed through the ghostly light", "Where the ghostly shadows creep!", "\"My eyes are dull and my face is sere,", "Yet unto the word he gave I cling,", "For he was a Pharaoh that set me here--", "And, lo! I have waited this many a year", "For him--my king!\"", "", "Oh, past thy face my darling shall ride", "Swift as the burning winds that bear", "The sand clouds over the desert wide--", "Swift to the verdure and palms beside", "The wells off there!", "\"And is it the mighty king I shall see", "Come riding into the night?", "Oh, is it the king come back to me--", "Proudly and fiercely rideth he,", "With centuries dight!\"", "", "I know no king but my dark-eyed dear", "That shall ride the Dream-Horse white;", "But see! he wakes at my bosom here,", "While the Dream-Horse frettingly lingers near", "To speed with my babe to-night!", "And out of the desert darkness peers", "A ghostly, ghastly, shadowy thing", "Like a spirit come out of the mouldering years,", "And ever that waiting spectre hears", "The coming king!" ], "linecount": "41" }, { "title": "Some time", "author": "Eugene Field", "lines": [ "Last night, my darling, as you slept,", "I thought I heard you sigh,", "And to your little crib I crept,", "And watched a space thereby;", "And then I stooped and kissed your brow,", "For oh! I love you so--", "You are too young to know it now,", "But some time you shall know!", "", "Some time when, in a darkened place", "Where others come to weep,", "Your eyes shall look upon a face", "Calm in eternal sleep,", "The voiceless lips, the wrinkled brow,", "The patient smile shall show--", "You are too young to know it now,", "But some time you may know!", "", "Look backward, then, into the years,", "And see me here to-night--", "See, O my darling! how my tears", "Are falling as I write;", "And feel once more upon your brow", "The kiss of long ago--", "You are too young to know it now,", "But some time you shall know." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "The fly-away horse", "author": "Eugene Field", "lines": [ "Oh, a wonderful horse is the Fly-Away Horse -", "Perhaps you have seen him before;", "Perhaps, while you slept, his shadow has swept", "", "Through the moonlight that floats on the floor.", "For it's only at night, when the stars twinkle bright,", "That the Fly-Away Horse, with a neigh", "And a pull at his rein and a toss of his mane,", "Is up on his heels and away!", "The Moon in the sky,", "As he gallopeth by,", "Cries: \"Oh! what a marvelous sight!\"", "And the Stars in dismay", "Hide their faces away", "In the lap of old Grandmother Night.", "", "It is yonder, out yonder, the Fly-Away Horse", "Speedeth ever and ever away -", "Over meadows and lanes, over mountains and plains,", "Over streamlets that sing at their play;", "And over the sea like a ghost sweepeth he,", "While the ships they go sailing below,", "And he speedeth so fast that the men at the mast", "Adjudge him some portent of woe.", "\"What ho there!\" they cry,", "As he flourishes by", "With a whisk of his beautiful tail;", "And the fish in the sea", "Are as scared as can be,", "From the nautilus up to the whale!", "", "And the Fly-Away Horse seeks those faraway lands", "You little folk dream of at night -", "Where candy-trees grow, and honey-brooks flow,", "And corn-fields with popcorn are white;", "And the beasts in the wood are ever so good", "To children who visit them there -", "What glory astride of a lion to ride,", "Or to wrestle around with a bear!", "The monkeys, they say:", "\"Come on, let us play,\"", "And they frisk in the cocoanut-trees:", "While the parrots, that cling", "To the peanut-vines, sing", "Or converse with comparative ease!", "", "Off! scamper to bed - you shall ride him tonight!", "For, as soon as you've fallen asleep,", "With a jubilant neigh he shall bear you away", "Over forest and hillside and deep!", "But tell us, my dear, all you see and you hear", "In those beautiful lands over there,", "Where the Fly-Away Horse wings his faraway course", "With the wee one consigned to his care.", "Then grandma will cry", "In amazement: \"Oh, my!\"", "And she'll think it could never be so;", "And only we two", "Shall know it is true -", "You and I, little precious! shall know!" ], "linecount": "56" }, { "title": "The Bibliomaniac's Prayer", "author": "Eugene Field", "lines": [ "Keep me, I pray, in wisdom's way", "That I may truths eternal seek;", "I need protecting care to-day,--", "My purse is light, my flesh is weak.", "So banish from my erring heart", "All baleful appetites and hints", "Of Satan's fascinating art,", "Of first editions, and of prints.", "Direct me in some godly walk", "Which leads away from bookish strife,", "That I with pious deed and talk", "May extra-illustrate my life.", "But if, O Lord, it pleaseth Thee", "To keep me in temptation's way,", "I humbly ask that I may be", "Most notably beset to-day;", "Let my temptation be a book,", "Which I shall purchase, hold, and keep,", "Whereon when other men shall look,", "They 'll wail to know I got it cheap.", "Oh, let it such a volume be", "As in rare copperplates abounds,", "Large paper, clean, and fair to see,", "Uncut, unique, unknown to Lowndes." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "Child and mother", "author": "Eugene Field", "lines": [ "O mother-my-love, if you'll give me your hand,", "And go where I ask you to wander,", "I will lead you away to a beautiful land,--", "The Dreamland that's waiting out yonder.", "We'll walk in a sweet posie-garden out there,", "Where moonlight and starlight are streaming,", "And the flowers and the birds are filling the air", "With the fragrance and music of dreaming.", "", "There'll be no little tired-out boy to undress,", "No questions or cares to perplex you,", "There'll be no little bruises or bumps to caress,", "Nor patching of stockings to vex you;", "For I'll rock you away on a silver-dew stream", "And sing you asleep when you're weary,", "And no one shall know of our beautiful dream", "But you and your own little dearie.", "", "And when I am tired I'll nestle my head", "In the bosom that's soothed me so often,", "And the wide-awake stars shall sing, in my stead,", "A song which our dreaming shall soften.", "So, Mother-my-Love, let me take your dear hand,", "And away through the starlight we'll wander,--", "Away through the mist to the beautiful land,--", "The Dreamland that's waiting out yonder." ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "Wynken, Blynken, and Nod", "author": "Eugene Field", "lines": [ "Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night", "Sailed off in a wooden shoe,--", "Sailed on a river of crystal light", "Into a sea of dew.", "\"Where are you going, and what do you wish?\"", "The old moon asked the three.", "\"We have come to fish for the herring-fish", "That live in this beautiful sea;", "Nets of silver and gold have we,\"", "Said Wynken,", "Blynken,", "And Nod.", "", "The old moon laughed and sang a song,", "As they rocked in the wooden shoe;", "And the wind that sped them all night long", "Ruffled the waves of dew;", "The little stars were the herring-fish", "That lived in the beautiful sea.", "\"Now cast your nets wherever you wish,--", "Never afraid are we!\"", "So cried the stars to the fishermen three,", "Wynken,", "Blynken,", "And Nod.", "", "All night long their nets they threw", "To the stars in the twinkling foam,--", "Then down from the skies came the wooden shoe,", "Bringing the fishermen home:", "'Twas all so pretty a sail, it seemed", "As if it could not be;", "And some folk thought 'twas a dream they'd dreamed", "Of sailing that beautiful sea;", "But I shall name you the fishermen three:", "Wynken,", "Blynken,", "And Nod.", "", "Wynken and Blynken are two little eyes,", "And Nod is a little head,", "And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies", "Is a wee one's trundle-bed;", "So shut your eyes while Mother sings", "Of wonderful sights that be,", "And you shall see the beautiful things", "As you rock in the misty sea", "Where the old shoe rocked the fishermen three:--", "Wynken,", "Blynken,", "And Nod." ], "linecount": "48" }, { "title": "Christmas treasures", "author": "Eugene Field", "lines": [ "I count my treasures o'er with care.--", "The little toy my darling knew,", "A little sock of faded hue,", "A little lock of golden hair.", "", "Long years ago this holy time,", "My little one--my all to me--", "Sat robed in white upon my knee", "And heard the merry Christmas chime.", "", "\"Tell me, my little golden-head,", "If Santa Claus should come to-night,", "What shall he bring my baby bright,--", "What treasure for my boy?\" I said.", "", "And then he named this little toy,", "While in his round and mournful eyes", "There came a look of sweet surprise,", "That spake his quiet, trustful joy.", "", "And as he lisped his evening prayer", "He asked the boon with childish grace;", "Then, toddling to the chimney-place,", "He hung this little stocking there.", "", "That night, while lengthening shadows crept,", "I saw the white-winged angels come", "With singing to our lowly home", "And kiss my darling as he slept.", "", "They must have heard his little prayer,", "For in the morn, with rapturous face,", "He toddled to the chimney-place,", "And found this little treasure there.", "", "They came again one Christmas-tide,--", "That angel host, so fair and white!", "And singing all that glorious night,", "They lured my darling from my side.", "", "A little sock, a little toy,", "A little lock of golden hair,", "The Christmas music on the air,", "A watching for my baby boy!", "", "But if again that angel train", "And golden-head come back for me,", "To bear me to Eternity,", "My watching will not be in vain!", "", "1879." ], "linecount": "41" }, { "title": "Sister's cake", "author": "Eugene Field", "lines": [ "I'd not complain of Sister Jane, for she was good and kind,", "Combining with rare comeliness distinctive gifts of mind;", "Nay, I'll admit it were most fit that, worn by social cares,", "She'd crave a change from parlor life to that below the stairs,", "And that, eschewing needlework and music, she should take", "Herself to the substantial art of manufacturing cake.", "", "At breakfast, then, it would befall that Sister Jane would say:", "\"Mother, if you have got the things, I'll make some cake to-day!\"", "Poor mother'd cast a timid glance at father, like as not--", "For father hinted sister's cooking cost a frightful lot--", "But neither she nor he presumed to signify dissent,", "Accepting it for gospel truth that what she wanted went!", "", "No matter what the rest of 'em might chance to have in hand,", "The whole machinery of the house came to a sudden stand;", "The pots were hustled off the stove, the fire built up anew,", "With every damper set just so to heat the oven through;", "The kitchen-table was relieved of everything, to make", "That ample space which Jane required when she compounded cake.", "", "And, oh! the bustling here and there, the flying to and fro;", "The click of forks that whipped the eggs to lather white as snow--", "And what a wealth of sugar melted swiftly out of sight--", "And butter? Mother said such waste would ruin father, quite!", "But Sister Jane preserved a mien no pleading could confound", "As she utilized the raisins and the citron by the pound.", "", "Oh, hours of chaos, tumult, heat, vexatious din, and whirl!", "Of deep humiliation for the sullen hired-girl;", "Of grief for mother, hating to see things wasted so,", "And of fortune for that little boy who pined to taste that dough!", "It looked so sweet and yellow--sure, to taste it were no sin--", "But, oh! how sister scolded if he stuck his finger in!", "", "The chances were as ten to one, before the job was through,", "That sister'd think of something else she'd great deal rather do!", "So, then, she'd softly steal away, as Arabs in the night,", "Leaving the girl and ma to finish up as best they might;", "These tactics (artful Sister Jane) enabled her to take", "Or shift the credit or the blame of that too-treacherous cake!", "", "And yet, unhappy is the man who has no Sister Jane--", "For he who has no sister seems to me to live in vain.", "I never had a sister--may be that is why today", "I'm wizened and dyspeptic, instead of blithe and gay;", "A boy who's only forty should be full of romp and mirth,", "But I (because I'm sisterless) am the oldest man on earth!", "", "Had I a little sister--oh, how happy I should be!", "I'd never let her cast her eyes on any chap but me;", "I'd love her and I'd cherish her for better and for worse--", "I'd buy her gowns and bonnets, and sing her praise in verse;", "And--yes, what's more and vastly more--I tell you what I'd do:", "I'd let her make her wondrous cake, and I would eat it, too!", "", "I have a high opinion of the sisters, as you see--", "Another fellow's sister is so very dear to me!", "I love to work anear her when she's making over frocks,", "When she patches little trousers or darns prosaic socks;", "But I draw the line at one thing--yes, I don my hat and take", "A three hours' walk when she is moved to try her hand at cake!" ], "linecount": "54" }, { "title": "Ballad of women i love", "author": "Eugene Field", "lines": [ "Prudence Mears hath an old blue plate", "Hid away in an oaken chest,", "And a Franklin platter of ancient date", "Beareth Amandy Baker's crest;", "What times soever I've been their guest,", "Says I to myself in an undertone:", "\"Of womenfolk, it must be confessed,", "These do I love, and these alone.\"", "", "Well, again, in the Nutmeg State,", "Dorothy Pratt is richly blest", "With a relic of art and a land effete--", "A pitcher of glass that's cut, not pressed.", "And a Washington teapot is possessed", "Down in Pelham by Marthy Stone--", "Think ye now that I say in jest", "\"These do I love, and these alone?\"", "", "Were Hepsy Higgins inclined to mate,", "Or Dorcas Eastman prone to invest", "In Cupid's bonds, they could find their fate", "In the bootless bard of Crockery Quest.", "For they've heaps of trumpery--so have the rest", "Of those spinsters whose ware I'd like to own;", "You can see why I say with such certain zest,", "\"These do I love, and these alone.\"" ], "linecount": "24" }, { "title": "Soldier, Maiden, and Flower", "author": "Eugene Field", "lines": [ "\"Sweetheart, take this,\" a soldier said,", "\"And bid me brave good-by;", "It may befall we ne'er shall wed,", "But love can never die.", "Be steadfast in thy troth to me,", "And then, whate'er my lot,", "'My soul to God, my heart to thee,'--", "Sweetheart, forget me not!\"", "", "The maiden took the tiny flower", "And nursed it with her tears:", "Lo! he who left her in that hour", "Came not in after years.", "Unto a hero's death he rode", "'Mid shower of fire and shot;", "But in the maiden's heart abode", "The flower, forget-me-not.", "", "And when he came not with the rest", "From out the years of blood,", "Closely unto her widowed breast", "She pressed a faded bud;", "Oh, there is love and there is pain,", "And there is peace, God wot,--", "And these dear three do live again", "In sweet forget-me-not.", "", "'T is to an unmarked grave to-day", "That I should love to go,--", "Whether he wore the blue or gray,", "What need that we should know?", "\"He loved a woman,\" let us say,", "And on that sacred spot,", "To woman's love, that lives for aye,", "We'll strew forget-me-not.", "", "1887." ], "linecount": "33" }, { "title": "The delectable ballad of the waller lot", "author": "Eugene Field", "lines": [ "Up yonder in Buena Park", "There is a famous spot,", "In legend and in history", "Yclept the Waller Lot.", "", "There children play in daytime", "And lovers stroll by dark,", "For 't is the goodliest trysting-place", "In all Buena Park.", "", "Once on a time that beauteous maid,", "Sweet little Sissy Knott,", "Took out her pretty doll to walk", "Within the Waller Lot.", "", "While thus she fared, from Ravenswood", "Came Injuns o'er the plain,", "And seized upon that beauteous maid", "And rent her doll in twain.", "", "Oh, 't was a piteous thing to hear", "Her lamentations wild;", "She tore her golden curls and cried:", "\"My child! My child! My child!\"", "", "Alas, what cared those Injun chiefs", "How bitterly wailed she?", "They never had been mothers,", "And they could not hope to be!", "", "\"Have done with tears,\" they rudely quoth,", "And then they bound her hands;", "For they proposed to take her off", "To distant border lands.", "", "But, joy! from Mr. Eddy's barn", "Doth Willie Clow behold", "The sight that makes his hair rise up", "And all his blood run cold.", "", "He put his fingers in his mouth", "And whistled long and clear,", "And presently a goodly horde", "Of cow-boys did appear.", "", "Cried Willie Clow: \"My comrades bold,", "Haste to the Waller Lot,", "And rescue from that Injun band", "Our charming Sissy Knott!\"", "", "\"Spare neither Injun buck nor squaw,", "But smite them hide and hair!", "Spare neither sex nor age nor size,", "And no condition spare!\"", "", "Then sped that cow-boy band away,", "Full of revengeful wrath,", "And Kendall Evans rode ahead", "Upon a hickory lath.", "", "And next came gallant Dady Field", "And Willie's brother Kent,", "The Eddy boys and Robbie James,", "On murderous purpose bent.", "", "For they were much beholden to", "That maid - in sooth, the lot", "Were very, very much in love", "With charming Sissy Knott.", "", "What wonder? She was beauty's queen,", "And good beyond compare;", "Moreover, it was known she was", "Her wealthy father's heir!", "", "Now when the Injuns saw that band", "They trembled with affright,", "And yet they thought the cheapest thing", "To do was stay and fight.", "", "So sturdily they stood their ground,", "Nor would their prisoner yield,", "Despite the wrath of Willie Clow", "And gallant Dady Field.", "", "Oh, never fiercer battle raged", "Upon the Waller Lot,", "And never blood more freely flowed", "Than flowed for Sissy Knott!", "", "An Injun chief of monstrous size", "Got Kendall Evans down,", "And Robbie James was soon o'erthrown", "By one of great renown.", "", "And Dady Field was sorely done,", "And Willie Clow was hurt,", "And all that gallant cow-boy band", "Lay wallowing in the dirt.", "", "But still they strove with might and main", "Till all the Waller Lot", "Was strewn with hair and gouts of gore -", "All, all for Sissy Knott!", "", "Then cried the maiden in despair:", "\"Alas, I sadly fear", "The battle and my hopes are lost,", "Unless some help appear!\"", "", "Lo, as she spoke, she saw afar", "The rescuer looming up -", "The pride of all Buena Park,", "Clow's famous yellow pup!", "", "\"Now, sick'em, Don,\" the maiden cried,", "\"Now, sick'em, Don!\" cried she;", "Obedient Don at once complied -", "As ordered, so did he.", "", "He sicked'em all so passing well", "That, overcome by fright,", "The Indian horde gave up the fray", "And safety sought in flight.", "", "They ran and ran and ran and ran", "O'er valley, plain, and hill;", "And if they are not walking now,", "Why, then, they're running still.", "", "The cow-boys rose up from the dust", "With faces black and blue;", "\"Remember, beauteous maid,\" said they,", "\"We've bled and died for you!\"", "", "\"And though we suffer grievously,", "We gladly hail the lot", "That brings us toils and pains and wounds", "For charming Sissy Knott!\"", "", "But Sissy Knott still wailed and wept,", "And still her fate reviled;", "For who could patch her dolly up -", "Who, who could mend her child?", "", "Then out her doting mother came,", "And soothed her daughter then;", "\"Grieve not, my darling, I will sew", "Your dolly up again!\"", "", "Joy soon succeeded unto grief,", "And tears were soon dried up,", "And dignities were heaped upon", "Clow's noble yellow pup.", "", "Him all that goodly company", "Did as deliverer hail -", "They tied a ribbon round his neck,", "Another round his tail.", "", "And every anniversary day", "Upon the Waller Lot", "They celebrate the victory won", "For charming Sissy Knott.", "", "And I, the poet of these folk,", "Am ordered to compile", "This truly famous history", "In good old ballad style.", "", "Which having done as to have earned", "The sweet rewards of fame,", "In what same style I did begin", "I now shall end the same.", "", "So let us sing: Long live the King,", "Long live the Queen and Jack,", "Long live the ten-spot and the ace,", "And also all the pack." ], "linecount": "144" }, { "title": "Good-Children Street", "author": "Eugene Field", "lines": [ "There's a dear little home in Good-Children street -", "My heart turneth fondly to-day", "Where tinkle of tongues and patter of feet", "Make sweetest of music at play;", "Where the sunshine of love illumines each face", "And warms every heart in that old-fashioned place.", "", "For dear little children go romping about", "With dollies and tin tops and drums,", "And, my! how they frolic and scamper and shout", "Till bedtime too speedily comes!", "Oh, days they are golden and days they are fleet", "With little folk living in Good-Children street.", "", "See, here comes an army with guns painted red,", "And swords, caps, and plumes of all sorts;", "The captain rides gaily and proudly ahead", "On a stick-horse that prances and snorts!", "Oh, legions of soldiers you're certain to meet -", "Nice make-believe soldiers - in Good-Children street.", "", "And yonder Odette wheels her dolly about -", "Poor dolly! I'm sure she is ill,", "For one of her blue china eyes has dropped out", "And her voice is asthmatic'ly shrill.", "Then, too, I observe she is minus her feet,", "Which causes much sorrow in Good-Children street.", "", "'T is so the dear children go romping about", "With dollies and banners and drums,", "And I venture to say they are sadly put out", "When an end to their jubilee comes:", "Oh, days they are golden and days they are fleet", "With little folk living in Good-Children street!", "", "But when falleth night over river and town,", "Those little folk vanish from sight,", "And an angel all white from the sky cometh down", "And guardeth the babes through the night,", "And singeth her lullabies tender and sweet", "To the dear little people in Good-Children Street.", "", "Though elsewhere the world be o'erburdened with care,", "Though poverty fall to my lot,", "Though toil and vexation be always my share,", "What care I - they trouble me not!", "This thought maketh life ever joyous and Sweet:", "There's a dear little home in Good-Children street." ], "linecount": "42" } ]