Songs for a Little House

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The Project Gutenberg eBook, Songs for a Little House, by Christopher
Morley
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Title: Songs for a Little House
Author: Christopher Morley
Release Date: October 25, 2007 [eBook #23196]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SONGS
FOR A LITTLE HOUSE***
E-text prepared by Ron Swanson
SONGS FOR A LITTLE HOUSE
by
CHRISTOPHER MORLEY
_"He that high growth on cedars did bestow,
Gave also lowly
mushrumps leave to grow."_
--R. Southwell, 1562-95
New York
George H. Doran Company

Copyright, 1917,
by George H. Doran Company
Printed in the United States of America
TO THE LITTLE HOUSE
Dear little house, dear shabby street,
Dear books and beds and food to
eat!
How feeble words are to express
The facets of your tenderness.
How white the sun comes through the pane!
In tinkling music drips
the rain!
How burning bright the furnace glows!
What paths to
shovel when it snows!
O dearly loved Long Island trains!
O well remembered joys and
pains....
How near the housetops Beauty leans
Along that little
street in Queens!
Let these poor rhymes abide for proof
Joy dwells beneath a humble
roof;
Heaven is not built of country seats
But little queer suburban
streets!
Albany Avenue, Queens, Long Island,
March, 1917
ONE MOMENT, PLEASE
At fifty cents per agate line
Kind editors will buy your verse;

They'll make you swear that you resign
All claims, for better or for
worse.
The book, dramatic, photoplay,
And interplanetary rights

They seize; but do not feel dismay--
Their barks are fiercer than their
bites!
I thank, for leave to print these rhymes,
And for unfailing courtesy,

_Everybody's_, _New York Times_,
The _Outlook_ and the
_Century_;
The _Boston Transcript_, _L. H. J._,
The _Tribune_,
_Mail_, and _Evening Post_,
The _Book News Monthly_, chastely
gay--
But _Life_ and _Collier's_ I thank most.

The _Independent_ and _McClure's_
And _Argosy_ have borne my
flights:
Dear scribblers, how this reassures--
Their barks are fiercer
than their bites!
CONTENTS
SONGS FOR A LITTLE HOUSE
PAGE BAYBERRY CANDLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
SECRET LAUGHTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 A CHARM FOR
OUR NEW FIREPLACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 SIX WEEKS
OLD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 THE YOUNG
MOTHER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 PETER
PAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 THE
5:42 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 READING
ALOUD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 THE
MOON-SHEEP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 MAR QUONG,
CHINESE LAUNDRYMAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 THE
MILKMAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 IN HONOUR OF TAFFY
TOPAZ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 THE CEDAR
CHEST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 O PRAISE ME NOT THE
COUNTRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 ANIMAL
CRACKERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 THE WAKEFUL
HUSBAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 LIGHT
VERSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 FULL
MOON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 MY
WIFE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .