And I wish to call attention, as I close,

To the fact that all the scholars
Are correct about their collars,

And particular in turning out their toes.

Charles Edward Carryl

THE DUEL

The gingham dog and the calico cat

Side by side on the table sat;

'Twas half past twelve, and (what do you think!)

Nor one nor t'other had slept a wink!

The old Dutch clock and the Chinese plate

Appeared to know as sure as fate

There was going to be a terrible spat. (I wasn't there; I simply state

What was told to me by the Chinese plate!)

The gingham dog went "Bow-wow-wow!"
And the calico cat replied "Mee-ow!"

The air was littered, an hour or so,

With bits of gingham and calico,

While the old Dutch clock in the chimney place Up with its hands before its face, For it always dreaded a family row!

(Now mind: I'm only telling you

What the old Dutch clock declares is true!)

The Chinese plate looked very blue,

And wailed, "Oh, dear! what shall we do!"
But the gingham dog and the calico cat
Wallowed this way and tumbled that,
Employing every tooth and claw

In the awfullest way you ever sawAnd, oh! how the gingham and calico flew! (Don't fancy I exaggerate

I got my news from the Chinese plate!)

Next morning, where the two had sat
They found no trace of dog or cat:
And some folks think unto this day
That burglars stole that pair away!

But the truth about the cat and pup
Is this: they ate each other up!
Now what do you really think of that!
(The old Dutch clock it told me so,

And that is how I came to know.)

IN FOREIGN PARTS

Eugene Field

When I lived in Singapore,

It was something of a bore

To receive the bulky Begums who came trundling to my door;

They kept getting into tangles

With their bingle-bongle-bangles,

And the tiger used to bite them as he sat upon the floor.

When I lived in Timbuctoo,

Almost everyone I knew

Used to play upon the sackbut, singing "toodle-doodledoo,"

And they made ecstatic ballads,

And consumed seductive salads,

Made of chicory and hickory and other things that grew.

When I lived at Rotterdam,

I possessed a spotted ram,

Who would never feed on anything but hollyhocks and ham;

But one day he butted down

All the magnates of the town,

So they slew him, though I knew him to be gentle as a

lamb.

But!

When I got to Kandahar,

It was very, very far,

And the people came and said to me, "How very plain you

are!"

So I sailed across the foam,

And I toddle-waddled home,

And no more I'll go a-rovering beyond the harbor bar.

Laura E. Richards

"THE OWL AND THE EEL AND THE WARMING

PAN"

The owl and the eel and the warming-pan,
They went to call on the soap-fat man.
The soap-fat man he was not within:
He'd gone for a ride on his rolling-pin.
So they all came back by way of the town,
And turned the meeting-house upside down.
Laura E. Richards

I'M GLAD

I'm glad the sky is painted blue,
And the earth is painted green,
With such a lot of nice fresh air
All sandwiched in between.

IF

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 to drink?

CHILD'S NATURAL HISTORY

A SEAL

See, Chil-dren, the Fur-bear-ing Seal;
Ob-serve his mis-di-rect-ed zeal;

He dines with most ab-ste-mi-ous care
On Fish, Ice Water and Fresh Air,
A-void-ing cond-i-ments or spice

For fear his fur should not be nice
And fine and soft and smooth and meet
For Broad-way or for Re-gent Street.
And yet some-how I often feel
(Though for the kind Fur-bear-ing Seal
I harbor a Re-spect Pro-found)
He runs Fur-bear-ance in the ground.

THE YAK

This is the Yak, so neg-li-gee;
His coif-fure's like a stack of hay;
He lives so far from Any-where,
I fear the Yak neg-lects his hair,
And thinks, since there is none to see,
What mat-ter how un-kempt he be:
How would he feel if he but knew
That in this Pic-ture-book I drew
His Phys-i-og-no-my un-shorn,

For chil-dren to de-ride and scorn?

Oliver Herford

THE FROG

Be kind and tender to the Frog,
And do not call him names,
As "Slimy-skin," or "Polly-wog,"
Or likewise, "Uncle James,"

Or "Gape-a-grin," or "Toad-gone-wrong,"

Or "Billy Bandy-knees:"

The Frog is justly sensitive
To epithets like these.

No animal will more repay

A treatment kind and fair,
At least so lonely people say

Who keep a Frog (and, by the way,

They are extremely rare).

Hilaire Belloc

THE PYTHON

A Python I should not advise,—
It needs a doctor for its eyes,
And has the measles yearly.
However, if you feel inclined
To get one (to improve your mind,
And not from fashion merely),
Allow no music near its cage;
And when it flies into a rage,
Chastise it most severely.

I had an Aunt in Yucatan
Who bought a Python from a man
And kept it for a pet.

She died because she never knew

These simple little rules and few;-
The snake is living yet.

Hilaire Belloc

THE YAK

As a friend to the children, commend me the Yak;
You will find it exactly the thing;

It will carry and fetch, you can ride on its back,
Or lead it about with a string.