K823185 IR 5 OFM BINDBKI FOREWORD There are many more Nursery Rhymes than those in this book, but these are the ones I like best, and I think most of the best known are among them. They are those I loved in my own nursery days, and I have chosen the forms I knew then. I think one may do so, as nursery rhymes have, until recently, been handed on only by oral tradition, with its inevitable variations. At home we never had any complete book of them; most we knew came direct from our elders. The children of the present day have often several printed versions of the same rhyme to choose from, but they do not seem to be confused by them. They make their own selection and go on inventing new variations. And however much they alter and add to our old friend, Mother Goose's original collection, they still use her name. A. R. SCP 24'28 417775 |