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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 WASHING THE DISHES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 THE FURNACE . . .