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Land of play: Verses, rhymes, stories

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Language: en496 downloads on Project Gutenberg

Subjects

Children's literature Children's poetry Nursery rhymes Counting-out rhymes

In: Short Stories·Children & Young Adult Reading·Poetry

Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #69302.

The opening · free to read

The Century Co., for permission to use “The Little Elf,” by John Kendrick Bangs.

Small, Maynard & Co., for permission to use “The Tax Gatherer,” by John B. Tabb.

Harper & Brothers, for permission to use “A Child’s Laughter,” from The Poetical Works of Algernon Charles Swinburne.

Little, Brown & Co., for permission to use “The Swallow,” “There’s Nothing Like the Rose,” by Christina G. Rossetti; “Boys and Girls,” by Louisa M. Alcott.

Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co., for permission to use “Follow Me,” by Eliza Lee Follen.

New England Publishing Co., for permission to use “Our Mother,” from The American Primary Teacher.

The Reilly & Britton Co., for permission to use “The Christmas Stocking,” by L. Frank Baum (copy. 1905).

Sarah J. Day, for permission to use “Buttercups,” from “Mayflowers to Mistletoe” (G. P. Putnam’s Sons).

Kate Upson Clark, for permission to use “Charlie’s Story,” “Marjorie’s Bath,” “Good Listening.”

Good Housekeeping Magazine, for permission to use “A Dutch Lullaby,” “A Dutch Winter,” by Ella Broes van Heekeren.

Newson & Co., for permission to reprint “A Story of Washington.”

Charles Scribner’s Sons, for permission to use “Extremes,” by James Whitcomb Riley, from “The Book of Joyous Children”; “My Ship and I,” “The Little Land,” from “A Child’s Garden of Verses,” by Robert Louis Stevenson, and “The Duel,” by Eugene Field.

I have just to shut my eyes To go sailing through the skies— To go sailing far away To the pleasant Land of Play.

“A sailor on the rain-pool sea, A climber in the clover tree; And just come back a sleepy-head, Late at night to go to bed.”

Hie away, hie away! Over bank and over brae, Where the copsewood is the greenest, Where the fountains glisten sheenest, Where the lady fern grows strongest, Where the morning dew lies longest, Over bank and over brae, Hie away, hie away!

I was sitting in the twilight, With my Charlie on my knee,— Little two-year-old, forever Teasing, “Talk a ’tory p’ease to me.” “Now,” I said, “talk me a ’tory.” “Well,” all smiles,—“now, I will ’mence. Mamma, I did see a kitty,— Great—big—kitty,—on the fence.”

Mamma smiles. Five little fingers Cover up her laughing lips. “Is ’oo laughing?” “Yes,” I tell him, But I kiss the finger-tips; And I beg him tell another. “Well,” reflectively, “I’ll ’mence. Mamma, I did see a doggie,— Great—big—doggie,—on the fence.”

“Rather similar,—your stories,— Aren’t they, dear?” A sober look Swept across the pretty forehead; Then he sudden courage took. “But I know a nice, new ’tory,— ’Plendid mamma! Hear me ’mence. Mamma, I did see a elfunt,— Great—big—elfunt,—on a fence.”

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