"Piper, pipe that song again": So I piped; he wept to hear.

Drop thy pipe, thy happy pipe,
Sing thy songs of happy cheer":
So I sung the same again,
While he wept with joy to hear.

"Piper, sit thee down and write In a book that all may read." So he vanish'd from my sight; And I pluck'd a hollow reed,

And I made a rural pen,
And I stain'd the water clear,
And I wrote my happy songs
Every child may joy to hear.

333

Eliza Cook (1818-1889) was an English poet who had quite a vogue in her day, and whose poem "Try Again" deals with one of those incidents held in affectionate remembrance by youth. Bruce and the spider may be less historically true, but it seems destined to eternal life alongside Leonidas and his Spartans. Older readers may remember Miss Cook's "My Old Arm Chair," which is usually given the place of honor as her most popular poem.

TRY AGAIN

ELIZA COOK

He flung himself down in low despair,
As grieved as man could be;
And after a while as he pondered there,
"I'll give it all up," said he.

Now, just at the moment, a spider dropped,

With its silken, filmy clue;

And the King, in the midst of his thinking, stopped

To see what the spider would do.

'Twas a long way up to the ceiling dome, And it hung by a rope so fine,

That how it would get to its cobweb home

King Bruce could not divine.

It soon began to cling and crawl

Straight up, with strong endeavor; But down it came with a slippery sprawl, As near to the ground as ever.

Up, up it ran, not a second to stay,

To utter the least complaint,
Till it fell still lower, and there it lay,
A little dizzy and faint.

Its head grew steady-again it went,
And traveled a half yard higher;
'Twas a delicate thread it had to tread,
And a road where its feet would tire.

down

In a lonely mood to think;

'Tis true he was monarch, and wore a

crown,

But his heart was beginning to sink.

For he had been trying to do a great deed, To make his people glad;

He had tried and tried, but could n't succeed;

And so he became quite sad.

But again it quickly mounted; Till up and down, now fast, now slow,

Nine brave attempts were counted. "Sure," cried the King, "that foolish thing

Will strive no more to climb; When it toils so hard to reach and cling, And tumbles every time."

He's only a foot from his cobweb door, Oh, say, will he lose or win it?

Steadily, steadily, inch by inch,

Higher and higher he got;

And a bold little run at the very last pinch

Put him into his native cot.

"Bravo, bravo!" the King cried out; "All honor to those who try; The spider up there, defied despair;

He conquered, and why should n't I?"

And Bruce of Scotland braced his mind, And gossips tell the tale,

That he tried once more as he tried before,

And that time did not fail.

Pay goodly heed, all ye who read,
And beware of saying, "I can't";
'Tis a cowardly word, and apt to lead
To idleness, folly, and want.

Whenever you find your heart despair

Of doing some goodly thing, Con over this strain, try bravely again, And remember the spider and King!

334

Nonsense verse seems to have its special place in the economy of life as a sort of balance to the over-serious tendency. One of the two great masters of verse of this sort was the English author Edward Lear (1812-1888). He was also a famous illustrator of books and magazines. Among his juvenile books, illustrated by himself, were Nonsense Songs and More Nonsense Songs. All his verse is now generally published under the first title. Good nonsense verse precludes explanation, the mind of the hearer being too busy with the delightfully odd combinations to figure on how they happened.

THE OWL AND THE

PUSSY-CAT

EDWARD LEAR

The Owl and the Pussy-Cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat:
They took some honey, and plenty of
money

Wrapped up in a five-pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
"O lovely Pussy, O Pussy, my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,

You are!

What a beautiful Pussy you are!"

Pussy said to the Owl, "You elegant fowl,

How charmingly sweet you sing! Oh! let us be married; too long we have tarried:

But what shall we do for a ring?" They sailed away, for a year and a day,

To the land where the bong-tree grows; And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood, With a ring at the end of his nose, His nose,

His nose,

With a ring at the end of his nose.

"Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling

Your ring?" Said the Piggy, "I will.” So they took it away, and were married next day

By the Turkey who lives on the hill. They dined on mince, and slices of quince,

Which they ate with a runcible spoon; And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,

They danced by the light of the moon, The moon,

The moon,

They danced by the light of the moon.

335

THE TABLE AND THE CHAIR

EDWARD LEAR

Said the Table to the Chair,
"You can hardly be aware
How I suffer from the heat

And from chilblains on my feet.
If we took a little walk,
We might have a little talk;
Pray let us take the air,"
Said the Table to the Chair.

Said the Chair unto the Table,
"Now, you know we are not able:
How foolishly you talk,

When you know we cannot walk!"
Said the Table with a sigh,
"It can do no harm to try.
I've as many legs as you:
Why can't we walk on two?"

So they both went slowly down,
And walked about the town
With a cheerful bumpy sound
As they toddled round and round;
And everybody cried,

As they hastened to their side,
"See! the Table and the Chair
Have come out to take the air!"

But in going down an alley,
To a castle in a valley,
They completely lost their way,
And wandered all the day;
Till, to see them safely back,
They paid a Ducky-quack,
And a Beetle, and a Mouse,
Who took them to their house.

Then they whispered to each other,
"O delightful little brother,
What a lovely walk we've taken!
Let us dine on beans and bacon."
So the Ducky and the leetle
Browny-mousy and the Beetle

Dined, and danced upon their heads Till they toddled to their beds.

336

THE POBBLE WHO HAS NO TOES

EDWARD LEAR

The Pobble who has no toes
Had once as many as we;
When they said, "Some day you may
lose them all";

He replied "Fish fiddle-de-dee!"
And his Aunt Jobiska made him drink
Lavender water tinged with pink,

For she said, "The world in general knows

There's nothing so good for a Pobble's toes!"

The Pobble who has no toes

Swam across the Bristol Channel; But before he set out he wrapped his

nose

In a piece of scarlet flannel. For his Aunt Jobiska said, "No harm Can come to his toes if his nose is warm; And it's perfectly known that a Pobble's

toes

Are safe provided he minds his nose."

The Pobble swam fast and well,

And when boats or ships came near him He tinkledy-binkledy-winkled a bell,

So that all the world could hear him. And all the Sailors and Admirals cried, When they saw him nearing the farther side,

"He has gone to fish for his Aunt Jobiska's

Runcible Cat with crimson whiskers!"

But before he touched the shore,

The shore of the Bristol Channel,

A sea-green Porpoise carried away

His wrapper of scarlet flannel.

And when he came to observe his feet,
Formerly garnished with toes so neat,
His face at once became forlorn
On perceiving that all his toes were gone!

And nobody ever knew,

From that dark day to the present, Whoso had taken the Pobble's toes,

In a manner so far from pleasant. Whether the shrimps or crawfish gray, Or crafty Mermaids stole them away— Nobody knew; and nobody knows

How the Pobble was robbed of his twice five toes!

The Pobble who has no toes

Was placed in a friendly Bark, And they rowed him back, and carried him up

To his Aunt Jobiska's Park.

And she made him a feast at his earnest wish

Of eggs and buttercups fried with fish;And she said, "It's a fact the whole world knows,

That Pobbles are happier without their toes."

337

The two great classics among modern nonsense books are Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. They are in prose with poems interspersed. "The Walrus and the Carpenter," is from Through the Looking Glass, while "A Strange Wild Song," is from Sylvie and Bruno. This latter book never achieved the success of its forerunners, though it has some. delightful passages, as in the case of the poem given. Lewis Carroll was the pseudonym of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (18321898), an English mathematician at Oxford University.

THE WALRUS AND THE CARPENTER

"LEWIS CARROLL"

The sun was shining on the sea, Shining with all his might: He did his very best to make

The billows smooth and brightAnd this was odd, because it was The middle of the night.

The moon was shining sulkily,

Because she thought the sun Had got no business to be there

After the day was done"It's very rude of him," she said,

"To come and spoil the fun!"

The sea was wet as wet could be,
The sands were dry as dry.
You could not see a cloud, because

No cloud was in the sky;
No birds were flying overhead-
There were no birds to fly.

The Walrus and the Carpenter

Were walking close at hand: They wept like anything to see Such quantities of sand: "If this were only cleared away,"

They said, "it would be grand!"

"If seven maids with seven mops Swept it for half a year, Do you suppose," the Walrus said, "That they could get it clear?" "I doubt it," said the Carpenter,

And shed a bitter tear.

"O Oysters, come and walk with us!"
The Walrus did beseech.
"A pleasant walk, a pleasant talk,
Along the briny beach:

We cannot do with more than four,
To give a hand to each."

The eldest Oyster looked at him,
But never a word he said:
The eldest Oyster winked his eye,
And shook his heavy head-
Meaning to say he did not choose

To leave the oyster-bed.

But four young Oysters hurried up,
All eager for the treat:

Their coats were brushed, their faces washed,

Their shoes were clean and neatAnd this was odd, because, you know, They hadn't any feet.

Four other Oysters followed them,

And yet another four;

And thick and fast they came at last,
And more, and more, and more
All hopping through the frothy waves,
And scrambling to the shore.

The Walrus and the Carpenter

Walked on a mile or so,
And then they rested on a rock
Conveniently low:

And all the little Oysters stood
And waited in a row.

"The time has come," the Walrus said,

"To talk of many things: Of shoes-and ships-and sealing wax Of cabbages-and kingsAnd why the sea is boiling hot

And whether pigs have wings."

"But wait a bit," the Oysters cried,

"Before we have our chat; For some of us are out of breath, And all of us are fat!" "No hurry!" said the Carpenter. They thanked him much for that.

"A loaf of bread," the Walrus said, "Is what we chiefly need:

Pepper and vinegar besides
Are very good indeed—
Now if you're ready, Oysters dear,
We can begin to feed."

"But not on us!" the Oysters cried, Turning a little blue.

"After such kindness, that would be A dismal thing to do!" "The night is fine," the Walrus said.

"Do you admire the view?

"It was so kind of you to come!

And you are very nice!" The Carpenter said nothing but "Cut me another slice:

I wish you were not quite so deafI've had to ask you twice!"

"It seems a shame," the Walrus said, "To play them such a trick, After we've brought them out so far, And made them trot so quick!" The Carpenter said nothing but "The butter's spread too thick!"

"I weep for you," the Walrus said: "I deeply sympathize."

With sobs and tears he sorted out

Those of the largest size, Holding his pocket handkerchief Before his streaming eyes.

"O Oysters," cried the Carpenter, "You've had a pleasant run! Shall we be trotting home again?" But answer came there none And this was scarcely odd, because They'd eaten every one.

338

A STRANGE WILD SONG "LEWIS CARROLL" He thought he saw a Buffalo Upon the chimney-piece: