Public-domain ebook
by Stuart, Ruth McEnery; Paine, Albert Bigelow
Language: en626 downloads on Project Gutenberg
Subjects
In: Children & Young Adult Reading·Poetry
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #35452.
The opening · free to read
Dear Friends of our youth, should you happen to look At the curious things in this curious book, And should you, with quizzical countenance, ask The how and the why of our curious task-- We could truly reply To the query of "why--" To the smile on your lip, and your questioning eye, That the work was begun In a spirit of fun, To amuse when the work of the daylight was done; And continued, because we believed it would be Amusement to such as were weary as we To drift for awhile among goblins and elves, Or haply make shadows and rhymes for themselves. For though years have passed since we drifted apart, We're all of us more or less children at heart. And maybe yourselves and the youngsters 't will please To dwell for an hour with such creatures as these.
Now, some one has said, in a moment of spleen, We cannot make pictures of what we've not seen; But such an assertion deserves only scorn, For the shape of the Gobolink never was born. He comes like the marvelous mimes of our dreams, When one has been supping on salads and creams, And curious changes of vision take place-- The horse may appear with an elephant face-- The goat with a cane, and the goose with a hat-- Six legs on the dog, and two tails on the cat; We never can tell, though we're sorely perplexed, What shape will be shown us, or what will come next; And these are the things that our Gobolinks do-- Dear friends, and dear children, we give them to you.
THE GOBOLINK AND HOW TO MAKE HIM.
Drop a little ink on a sheet of white paper. Fold the sheet in the center and press the ink-spots together with the fingers. All of the pictures in this book were made in this manner----none of them having been touched with a pen or brush.
A great deal of practice will only go to show that the Gobolink, as his name implies, is a veritable goblin of the ink-bottle, and the way he eludes the artist's design proves him a self-made eccentric creature of a superior imagination.
It is hardly to be expected that the animals and birds of prey referred to under more or less familiar names in the accompanying rhymes will be strikingly correct as to anatomy; and because, as upon page 15, the elephants, or whatever they may be, happen to have each a row of interesting tails continuing along the full length of the spinal column, no unkind criticism should be made upon the ability of the overworked and conscientious artists, who would have made fewer tails if they could, and have added nothing to the price of the book on account of undue liberality in the matter of caudal appendages.
In fact the most unexpected and startling results will often occur--results grotesquely and strangely beautiful, well worthy of preservation. The authors of this book will be glad to receive a few examples of some of the more unusual Gobolinks or Shadow-Pictures that may occur to those interested in the amusement. They may be sent care of The Century Co.
THE GAME OF GOBOLINK.
Persons of all ages may obtain amusement out of Gobolinks, or Shadow-Pictures, as they are also called.
The following is a very good method for playing the game:
Let three of the company be selected by the hostess as judges. To each of the others she then distributes from five to ten sheets of paper, from which they must produce at least one completed picture and rhyme in a given length of time, say five minutes, at the end of which the hostess rings a bell and the judges proceed at once to take up the pictures. These are then passed upon by them while the hostess is distributing a fresh round of paper, and the best two and the worst one are laid aside.
Those whose pictures have been selected now act as judges, surrendering their places at the tables to their predecessors, and another lot of pictures and rhymes are made.
The game is continued in this manner until the hostess announces the arrival of the time for final judgment, or until a certain hour specified in the beginning.
The three judges then in office now select one of the company as "reader," and such person selected shall take up his position in strong light, and after reading the verses on each picture shall display it in full view of all present. It should then be pinned to a suspended sheet or screen where it may be easily examined by the company.
This shall be continued until all the pictures selected by the judges have been so treated and displayed. The reader then acts as chairman, and the company proceed to vote on them for first, second, and booby prizes.
The Gobolink receiving second largest number of votes for first prize is awarded second. The ballot for booby should be, of course, taken separately. Pictures should be signed or otherwise identified.
Where a number are making the pictures, it is well to seat them around a large table with the ink-supply in the center.
Jet-black ink should be used, and a good quality of unglazed paper. The ink should not be too thin.
The table should be protected from accident with several thicknesses of newspaper.
A filled pen or tincture-dropper may be used for supplying the ink.
For a specially invited Gobolink party the company may dress in any grotesque fashion, remembering only that both sides of their costume shall be the same, this being a feature peculiar to Gobolink attire.
No game could be more productive of amusement than Gobolink.
CONTENTS.
PAGE Drum-Major 1 Somethings 2 Bubblers 3 Jack-o-my-Goblin 3 Friendly Chickens 4 Unfriendly Chickens 5 They Stayed at Home 5 The Butterfly 6 Dipsey Doodle 7 His Relative 7 Striking Resemblance 8 Mask 9 Human Nature 9 Red Riding-Hood's Wolf 10 Witch Broth 11 Just Like Other Children 12 Sea Dance 13 Singers 13 Birds on the Wire 14 A Hard Question 15 Moon Dance 16 Prehistoric Animals 17 Graceful Polly-Wogs 18 South-Sea Idol 19 Preparing for Winter 20 Bathers 21 Bad Boy 21 Brotherly Consolation 22 Butterfly Man 23 Transferred Smile 24 Royal Grotto 25 Modest Miss Kangaroo 25 Gargoyle 26 Elf Party 27 Unpleasant Companions 28 Grenadier 28 Kings' Jesters 29 Funny Octopus 30 Nymphs and Ostriches 31 A Convenience 32 Fox and Geese 33 Entomology 33 Tail of Taddy Pole 34 Arabesque 35 Wind Maidens 36 Gobolinks' Mirror 36 Pugilists 37 What They Left 38 Gobolink Horses 39 Miss De Lisle 40 Her Curling-Tongs 41 Bears and Harlequins 42 Faithful Notes 43 Polite Colly-Wobbles 43 Brave Warriors 44 Steeple Men 45 Sheet-and-Pillow Party 45 Moss-Backs 46 What-is-it 47 Merry Water-Weedles 48 Narrow Escape 49 Vicious Golly-Pops 50 Captives 50 Divers 51 Shadow-Harp 52 Glad Return 53 Grotesques 54 Crests 55 Frontier Coat-of-Arms 56 Fanciful Elk 56 T' other and Which 57 Cathodes 58, 59 In the X-Ray 60 Beetleville Dance 61 Queen Beetle 62 King Beetle 63 Other Beetles 63 Our Pet 64 Good Breeding 64 The Washerwomen 65 A Marine Ball 66 Queer Mollusks 67 Sea Weeds 68, 72 Finis 73
A jolly little major of the drum, Behind him all the shadow people come, As he bravely leads the way For the Gobolink array With a bearing most important, and his uniform so gay; Oh, it's very plain to see that he's the hero of the day, This jolly little major of the drum.
"And who are you?" said Something One. And Something Two, said he, "That's just the very question that At once occurred to me."
These boys have just returned from school, And now forget their troubles-- They both are sitting on a stool, And blowing crooked bubbles.
A terrible creature of Ink-bottle Land, A Jack-o-my-goblin is he. The sea-urchins made him to place on the sand, And frighten the monsters that dwell on the land. They took a sea-pumpkin and carved it by hand, And lighted it up in their glee With a phosphorus fish from the sea; Now all the day long on the shore doth he stand, While Land-loodles terrified flee, Oh, yes, The terrified Land-loodles flee.
These chicks have been out in all weathers, They have little to show but pin-feathers; But their friendship is strong, And they sing us a song Regardless of wherefores or whethers.
The saucy chicks which here you see Know neither wrong nor right-- They can't be good like you and me, Who sometimes really do agree-- So all day long they fight.
On wings of purple, brown, and gold He drifts across the meadow. His harmless flight you may behold From Yucatan to Yeddo.
DIPSEY DOODLE..
This is little Dipsey Doodle, Sometimes called the great Kioodle.
Two Widgelums went for a walk one day By the shores of a shimmering sea; And one of them said to the other, "I pray, Now what's your opinion of me?"
Then the Widgelum looked at his widgelous mate: "My charming companion," said he, "The things that I think I am loath to relate, You look so exactly like me."
Here is a curious mask-- I don't know of whom or of what-- I've never had courage to ask; A saint's I am sure it is not.
HUMAN NATURE?
Two rival Woojums did declare That they must surely sever, But lo! that day, they found that they Were better friends than ever.
Oh, this is the wolf that Red Riding-hood found When she came to her grandmother's bed, Her ears were so long and her eyes big and round, While her voice had a strange and a terrible sound When she answered what Riding-hood said, For alas, the grandmother was dead. And Little Red Riding-hood sprang with a bound Through the doorway and hastily fled, Oh, my, In terror she hastily fled.
Witches, witches in a tree, Brew your broth of mystery. Snail and toad and lizard in it-- Tail of cat and tongue of linnet, Rabbit's foot and wing of bee-- Witches, witches, none for me.
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