Child Songs of Cheer | Page 3

is spring now,
Lazy folks, awake!
See the pretty
things we bring now
For the May-day's sake!
THE PICTURE-BOOK GIANT
Once there was a fierce, defiant,
Greedy, grumpy, grizzly giant
In
the pages of a picture-book, and he
Sometimes screamed, in sudden
rages,
"I must jump out from these pages,
For this life's a much too
humdrum one for me!
Fiddle-dee!
Yes, this life's a quite too quiet one for me!"
So one rainy day he did it,
Took the picture-book and hid it,

Stamped his foot, and shouting loudly,
"Now I'm free!"
Boldly started out, forgetting
That he could not
stand a wetting!
He was just a paper giant, don't you see?

Dearie me!
Just a gaudy, picture giant, don't you see?
DID YOU EVER?
Did you ever see a fairy in a rose-leaf coat and cap
Swinging in a
cobweb hammock as he napped his noonday nap?
Did you ever see one waken very thirsty and drink up
All the
honey-dew that glimmered in a golden buttercup?
Did you ever see one fly away on rainbow-twinkling wings? If you did
not, why, how comes it that you never see such things?
DECORATION DAY
See the soldiers, little ones!
Hark the drummers' beat!
See them
with their flags and guns
Marching down the street!
Tattered flags from out the wars,
Let us follow these
To the little
stripes and stars
Twinkling through the trees.
Watch them waving through the grass
Where the heroes sleep!

Thither gently let us pass
On this day we keep.
Let us bring our blossoms, too,
All our gardens grow;
Lilacs
honey-sweet with dew,
And the lilies' snow.
Every posy of the May,
Every bloomy stem,
Every bud that breaks
to-day
Gather now for them.
Lay the lilies o'er them thus,
Lovingly, for so
Down they laid their
lives for us,
Long and long ago.
Heap above them bud and bough;
Softly, ere we cease,
God, we
pray Thee, gently now
Fold them in Thy peace!
CHU-CHU CARS

Turn the chairs down in a row
Each behind the other, so;
_Chu-chu!
Chu-chu!_ there they are,
Passenger and baggage-car,

_Chu-chu-chu!_ the Morris chair
Is the engine puffing there,

_Chu-chu! Chu-chu! Ting-a-ling!_
Don't you hear its big bell ring?

All aboard! Jump on! if you
Want to take this train. _Chu-chu!!_

Off we start now, rushing fast
Through the fields and valleys, past

Noisy cities, over bridges,
Hills and plains and mountain ridges,

_Chu-chu! Chu-chu! Chu-chu-chu!!_
At such speed it must be true

Since we started we have come
Most a million miles from home!

Jump off, some one! Quick! and go
To the pantry, for, you know,

We must have the cookie-jar
For our Pullman dining-car!
FAIRY RINGS
Softly in the gloaming
Flitting through the vale,
Fairy folk are
roaming
Over hill and dale.
Pixies in the hollow,
Elves upon the height,
Let us follow, follow

Through the paling light.
Follow, all unbidden,
To the grassy glade
Wrapped around and
hidden
In the forest shade.
Hark the elfin tinkle
Of their little lutes!
Mark the golden twinkle

Of their fairy flutes!
[Illustration: FAIRY RINGS]
See them dancing, dancing,
While the silver moon
Tips their
swiftly glancing
Little silver shoon!
Tripping, tripping lightly,
Where their footprints fall,
Look! the
grass is brightly
Growing green and tall!
Springing close, unbroken,
In a fairy ring,
For to-morrow's token


Of their frolicking!
THE FIREFLY
Flash and flicker and fly away,
Trailing light as you flutter far,
Are
you a lamp for the fairies, say?
Or a flake of fire from a falling star?
A RAIN SONG
Tinkle, tinkle,
Lightly fall
On the peach buds, pink and small;
Tip the tiny grass, and twinkle

On the clover, green and tall.
Tinkle, tinkle,--
Faster now,
Little rain-drops, smite and sprinkle
Cherry-bloom and apple-bough!

Pelt the elms, and show them how
You can dash!
And splash! splash! splash!
While the thunder rolls and mutters,
And the lightnings flash and
flash!
Then eddy into curls
Of a million misty swirls,
And thread the air with silver, and embroider it with pearls!
And patter, patter, patter
To a quicker time, and clatter
On the
streaming window-pane;
Rain, rain,
On the leaves,
And the eaves,
And the turning weather-vane!
Rush in