Child Songs of Cheer | Page 4

saw?And some bits of wood,?And I made a little house?Nicely as I could.
I put on a mossy-green?Little pointed roof,?And I cut a tiny door?That is pussy-proof.
For I hope some little wrens?To our yard will come?And will choose my little house?For their little home.
I shall hang it in the boughs?Of the apple-tree,?And I'm sure as rent for it?They will sing to me!
THE BABY'S RIDE
Chee! Chee! Chickadee!?Sing-time and sun!?Aye, aye, baby-bye,?Springtime has begun!

In the little willow cart,?On a downy bed,?Pretty parasol of silk?Swinging overhead,
Let us go along the lane?Where a baby sees?Mighty tufts of grass, and weeds?Tall as forest trees!
Bluebird on the apple-bough,?Sing and sing and sing!?Sing your very sweetest now?For babyhood and spring!

"Bah! Bah!" from the pasture,?And "Caw! Caw!" from the crow,?And bleating from the little calf?That has not learned to low.

Apple-buds, apple-buds breaking apart,?The baby looks upward with love-laden gaze;?Oh, shower some petals down here in his cart,?One honey-sweet cluster of pretty pink sprays!
Apple-buds, apple-buds, scornful and too?Vain of your loveliness, stay where you are!?The cheeks of the baby are pinker than you,?And finer and softer and sweeter by far!

See the pretty little lambs,?How they frisk and play!?See their silky fleeces shine?White as buds in May!
White as are the fleecy clouds?Softly blowing by--?What if they were little lambs?Playing in the sky?

Robin on the peach-bough,?Swinging overhead,?Sing a little song and say?Why is your breast so red?
Why is your voice so sweet, and?Your song so merry, say??And wherefore do you spread your wings?And quickly fly away?

Ho, ho! see the queer little prints there?That cover the road, baby, look!?At the web-footed tangle that hints where?The ducks have gone down to the brook!
The Muscovy mammas that waddled?Zigzag, you can trace in their tracks,?And the dear little ducklings that toddled?And tumbled sometimes on their backs!

Buttercup, buttercup, buttercup gold,?O give us a handful of riches to hold!
Ho, ho! laughs the baby, and grasps in his glee?His wealth, but soon shows what a spend-thrift is he!?--Nay, nay, he is king, though he never was crowned,?And royally scatters his gold on the ground!

Bough of the willow-tree?Over the brook,?Down darts a kingfisher,?Look, baby, look!
Back on the willow-bough,?Fishing is done;?Happy and nappy now?There in the sun.

Happy and nappy the baby is, too,?Softly his eyelids droop over the blue,?Golden his curls on the white pillow lie,?Sleep, baby, sleep, baby, hush-a-by-bye.
AN INDIAN RAID
Did you see some Indians passing,?Just a short while back??Looks as if they must be massing?For a fierce attack!
Buckskin fringes, turkey-feather?Huge head-dresses and?Bows and arrows, altogether?Quite a frightful band!
From the lilac-bushes springing,?See them rushing! Ugh!?Awful war-whoops wildly ringing!?There'll be scalping, too!
In their fearful frenzy leaping,?It is very plain?Soon around us they'll be heaping?Mountains of the slain!
Soon their victims will be falling--?But, above the noise,?Hark! I hear somebody calling,?"Come to dinner, boys!"
THE FIRST SLEIGH-RIDE
O happy time of fleecy rime?And falling flakes, and O?The glad surprise in baby eyes?That never saw the snow!
Down shining ways the flying 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