Child Songs of Cheer | Page 5

sleighs
Go jingling by, and see!

Beside the gate the horses wait
And neigh for you and me!
SLEEPY TIME
Hey, baby! Ho, baby! here upon my knee,
See the firelight flicker
over you and me!
See the tiny people basking in the glow,
Peering through the ruddy
little coals, and so

How they dance and scamper! Merry fairy folk!
Little sparks for
spangles, little wings of smoke!
Come baby, come baby, nestle in my arms;
Hear the purring flames
now sing their sleepy charms.
All the firelight fairies, all the drowsy elves,
In the downy ashes
cover up themselves.
And I fold the little blanket over you;
Bye baby, my baby, let us
slumber too.
WHEN BETTIE AND ANNE WENT WALKING
When they took their dollies walking,
They were both so busy talking,

(They had not met for half an hour and so had much to say)
That they heedlessly kept going
Down the shady streets, not knowing,

Till they wanted to come back again, they could not find the way!
In their fright they felt forlorner
Every time they turned a corner,

And they wailed to one another, "Oh, whatever shall we do?
A big bear might come to bite us,
Or a dreadful dog to fight us,
Or
the wicked gipsies get us! _Oh, boo-hoo! Boo-hoo! Boo-hoo!_"
But this story, though a sad one,
Has an end that's not a bad one,

For at last somebody found them as they bade the world good-by;
They took their dollies home again,
And vowed they'd never roam
again,
And their mothers hugged and kissed them, saying, "There, my
dears,
don't cry!"
THE BLUEBIRD

To-day at dawn there twinkled through
The pearly mist a flash of
blue
So dazzling bright I thought the sky
Shone through the rifted
clouds on high,
Till, by and by,
A note so honey-sweet I heard,
I knew that bright
flash was a bird!
THE ORGAN-GRINDER
Hark! I hear the organ-grinder
Coming down the street,
And the
sudden clatter-patter
Of the children's feet!
Come, oh, let us run to meet him!
Did you ever hear
Tunes so gay
as he is playing,
Or so sweet and clear?
See the brown-faced little monkey,
Impudent and bold,
With his
little scarlet jacket
Braided all in gold!
And his tiny cap and tassel
Bobbing to and fro,
Look, oh, look! he
plucks it off now,
Bowing very low.
And he's passing it politely--
Can it be for _pay_?
O dear me! I
have no penny!
Let us run away!
THE NEW MOON
Pretty new moon, little new moon,
Now, as first I look at you,
I
must make a wish, for wise folks
Say it surely will come true!
Little new moon, pretty new moon,
I wish--but I must not tell!
For
if any one should hear it,
Wise folks say it breaks the spell!
SHOWERY TIME
The April rain-drops tinkle
In cuckoo-cups of gold,
And warm
south winds unwrinkle
The buds the peach-boughs hold.

In countless fluted creases
The little elm-leaves show,
While white
as carded fleeces
The dogwood blossoms blow.
A rosy robe is wrapping
The early red-bud trees;
But still the haws
are napping,
Nor heed the honey-bees.
And still in lazy sleeping
The apple-buds are bound,
But tulip-tips
are peeping
From out the garden ground.
And yonder, gayly swinging
Upon the turning vane,
A robin
redbreast singing
Makes merry at the rain!
EASTER DAY
Christ the Lord is risen to-day!
Angels rolled the stone away
From
the tomb wherein He lay!
Little children, come and sing,
"Glory, glory to the King,
Christ the
Lord of everything!"
THE SANDMAN
The Sandman! hark, I hear him!
He's coming up the stair,
And
everybody near him
Is nodding, I declare!
He's peeping in the door now,
And first of all he spies,
As he has
done before now,
The little children's eyes!
Then quickly does he throw it,
His golden sleepy-sand,
And all,
before they know it,
Are off for sleepy-land!
DANDELION CURLS
Ah, ha, ha, now! who comes here
Wreathed in flowers of gold and
queer
Tiny tangled curls of green
Gayly bobbing in between?

Pretty token of the spring!
Hark! we hear the bluebirds sing
When
we thus see little girls
Decked in dandelion curls.
POP-CORN
_Pop! Pop!--Poppetty-pop!_
Shake and rattle and rattle and shake

The golden grains as they bounce and break
To fluffy
puffiness--_Poppetty-pop!_
Bursting and banging the popper's top!
_Poppetty-pop!
Pop! Pop!_
The yellow kernels, oh, see them grow
White as cotton or flakes of
snow!
_Pop! Pop!_
O-ho, how they frolic and fly about
And turn
themselves suddenly inside out!
_Pop-pop-poppetty! Pop-pop-pop!_

The popper's full and we'll have to stop;
Pile the bowl with the
tempting treat,
Children, come, it is time to eat!
THE RASH LITTLE SPARROW
Rash little sparrow
Up in the nest;
Feathers not long enough,
Wee
wings not strong enough!
Poor little sparrow!
Poor little breast!
WHAT IF?
When I see the new moon lightly
Through cloud ripples slip,
Then
I'm sure that shining brightly
It's a fairy ship!
What if in it we were sailing
Far and far away,
With a wake of
silver trailing,
Till the golden day?
Why, we'd fly back home together
Safely from the sky,
For the
moon's