Love-Songs of Childhood | Page 7

do!"
But the gingham dog and the calico cat
Wallowed this
way and tumbled that,
Employing every tooth and claw
In the
awfullest way you ever saw -
And, oh! how the gingham and calico
flew!
(Don't fancy I exaggerate -
I got my news from the Chinese
plate!)
Next morning, where the two had sat
They found no trace of dog or
cat;
And some folks think unto this day
That burglars stole that pair
away!
But the truth about the cat and pup
Is this: they ate each other
up!
Now what do you really think of that!
(The old Dutch clock it
told me so,
And that is how I came to know.)
GOOD-CHILDREN STREET
There's a dear little home in Good-Children street -
My heart turneth
fondly to-day
Where tinkle of tongues and patter of feet
Make
sweetest of music at play;
Where the sunshine of love illumines each
face
And warms every heart in that old-fashioned place.
For dear little children go romping about
With dollies and tin tops
and drums,
And, my! how they frolic and scamper and shout
Till
bedtime too speedily comes!
Oh, days they are golden and days they
are fleet
With little folk living in Good-Children street.
See, here comes an army with guns painted red,
And swords, caps,
and plumes of all sorts;
The captain rides gaily and proudly ahead



On a stick-horse that prances and snorts!
Oh, legions of soldiers
you're certain to meet -
Nice make-believe soldiers - in
Good-Children street.
And yonder Odette wheels her dolly about -
Poor dolly! I'm sure she
is ill,
For one of her blue china eyes has dropped out
And her voice
is asthmatic'ly shrill.
Then, too, I observe she is minus her feet,

Which causes much sorrow in Good-Children street.
'T is so the dear children go romping about
With dollies and banners
and drums,
And I venture to say they are sadly put out
When an end
to their jubilee comes:
Oh, days they are golden and days they are
fleet
With little folk living in Good-Children street!
But when falleth night over river and town,
Those little folk vanish
from sight,
And an angel all white from the sky cometh down
And
guardeth the babes through the night,
And singeth her lullabies tender
and sweet
To the dear little people in Good-Children Street.
Though elsewhere the world be o'erburdened with care,
Though
poverty fall to my lot,
Though toil and vexation be always my share,

What care I - they trouble me not!
This thought maketh life ever
joyous and Sweet:
There's a dear little home in Good-Children street.
THE DELECTABLE BALLAD OF THE WALLER LOT
Up yonder in Buena Park
There is a famous spot,
In legend and in
history
Yclept the Waller Lot.
There children play in daytime
And lovers stroll by dark,
For 't is
the goodliest trysting-place
In all Buena Park.
Once on a time that beauteous maid,
Sweet little Sissy Knott,
Took
out her pretty doll to walk
Within the Waller Lot.

While thus she fared, from Ravenswood
Came Injuns o'er the plain,

And seized upon that beauteous maid
And rent her doll in twain.
Oh, 't was a piteous thing to hear
Her lamentations wild;
She tore
her golden curls and cried:
"My child! My child! My child!"
Alas, what cared those Injun chiefs
How bitterly wailed she?
They
never had been mothers,
And they could not hope to be!
"Have done with tears," they rudely quoth,
And then they bound her
hands;
For they proposed to take her off
To distant border lands.
But, joy! from Mr. Eddy's barn
Doth Willie Clow behold
The sight
that makes his hair rise up
And all his blood run cold.
He put his fingers in his mouth
And whistled long and clear,
And
presently a goodly horde
Of cow-boys did appear.
Cried Willie Clow: "My comrades bold,
Haste to the Waller Lot,

And rescue from that Injun band
Our charming Sissy Knott!"
"Spare neither Injun buck nor squaw,
But smite them hide and hair!

Spare neither sex nor age nor size,
And no condition spare!"
Then sped that cow-boy band away,
Full of revengeful wrath,
And
Kendall Evans rode ahead
Upon a hickory lath.
And next came gallant Dady Field
And Willie's brother Kent,
The
Eddy boys and Robbie James,
On murderous purpose bent.
For they were much beholden to
That maid - in sooth, the lot
Were
very, very much in love
With charming Sissy Knott.
What wonder? She was beauty's queen,
And good beyond compare;

Moreover, it was known she was
Her wealthy father's heir!

Now when the Injuns saw that band
They trembled with affright,

And yet they thought the cheapest thing
To do was stay and fight.
So sturdily they stood their ground,
Nor would their prisoner yield,

Despite the wrath of Willie Clow
And gallant Dady Field.
Oh, never fiercer battle raged
Upon the Waller Lot,
And never
blood more freely flowed
Than flowed for Sissy Knott!
An Injun chief of monstrous size
Got Kendall Evans down,
And
Robbie James was soon o'erthrown
By one of great renown.
And Dady Field was sorely done,
And Willie Clow was hurt,
And
all that gallant cow-boy band
Lay wallowing in the dirt.
But still they strove with might and main
Till all the Waller Lot

Was strewn with hair and gouts of gore -
All, all for Sissy Knott!
Then cried the maiden in despair:
"Alas,