The Book of Joyous Children

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Riley
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Title: The Book of Joyous Children
Author: James Whitcomb Riley
Illustrator: J. W. Vawter
Release Date: May 16, 2005 [EBook #15834]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
0. START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BOOK
OF JOYOUS CHILDREN ***
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THE BOOK OF JOYOUS CHILDREN
[Illustration]
JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY
[Illustration]
THE BOOK OF JOYOUS CHILDREN
JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY
Illustrated by

J.W. VAWTER
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1902
Copyright, 1902, by
JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY
ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED

Published October, 1902
THE BOOK OF JOYOUS CHILDREN
[Illustration: "NOT IN CLASSIC LORE, BUT RICH IN THE
CHILD-SAGAS OF THE KITCHEN."]
GRATEFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY
INSCRIBED
TO

JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS

You who to the rounded prime
Of a life of toil and stress,
Still have
kept the morning-time
Of glad youth in heart and spirit,
So your laugh, as children hear it,

Seems their own, no less,--
Take this book of childish rhyme--
The Book of Joyous Children.
Their first happiness on earth
Here is echoed--their first glee:
Rich,
in sooth, the volume's worth--
Not in classic lore, but rich in
The child-sagas of the kitchen;--

Therefore, take from me
To your heart of childish mirth
The Book of Joyous Children.

[Illustration]

CONTENTS
PROEM
THE BOOK OF JOYOUS CHILDREN
AN
IMPROMPTU FAIRY-TALE
DREAM-MARCH
ELMER
BROWN
NO BOY KNOWS
WHEN WE FIRST PLAYED
"SHOW"
A DIVERTED TRAGEDY
THE RAMBO-TREE

FIND THE FAVORITE
THE BOY PATRIOT
EXTREMES

INTELLECTUAL LIMITATIONS
A MASQUE OF THE
SEASONS
THOMAS THE PRETENDER
LITTLE DICK AND
THE CLOCK
FOOL-YOUNGENSZ
THE KATYDIDS

BILLY AND HIS DRUM
THE NOBLE OLD ELM
THE
PENALTY OF GENIUS
EVENSONG
THE TWINS
THE
LITTLE LADY
"COMPANY MANNERS"
IN FERVENT
PRAISE OF PICNICS
THE GOOD, OLD-FASHIONED
PEOPLE
THE BEST TIMES
"HIK-TEE-DIK!"
A
CHRISTMAS MEMORY
"OLD BOB WHITE"
A SESSION WITH UNCLE SIDNEY:
I ONE OF HIS ANIMAL STORIES
II UNCLE BRIGHTENS UP

III SINGS A "WINKY-TOODEN" SONG
IV AND MAKES
NURSERY RHYMES
1 THE DINERS IN THE KITCHEN
2 THE IMPERIOUS
ANGLER
3 THE GATHERING OF THE CLANS
4 "IT"
5
THE DARING PRINCE
A DUBIOUS "OLD KRISS"
A SONG OF SINGING

THE
JAYBIRD
A BEAR FAMILY
SOME SONGS AFTER MASTER-SINGERS:
I SONG
II TO THE CHILD JULIA
III THE DOLLY'S
MOTHER
IV WIND OF THE SEA
V SUBTLETY
VI BORN
TO THE PURPLE

OLD MAN WHISKERY-WHEE-KUM-WHEEZE

LITTLE-GIRL-TWO-LITTLE-GIRLS
A GUSTATORY
ACHIEVEMENT
CLIMATIC SORCERY
A PARENT
REPRIMANDED
THE TREASURE OF THE WISE MAN
[Illustration]

FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS
NOT IN CLASSIC LOOK, BUT RICH IN THE CHILD-SAGAS
OF THE KITCHEN KNEEL, ALL GLOWING, TO THE COOL
SPRING
NO BOY KNOWS WHEN HE GOES TO SLEEP

JAMESY ON THE SLACK-ROPE
ACROSS THE ORCHARD

WHILE ALL THE ARMY, FOLLOWING, IN CHORUS
CHEERS AND SINGS WHERE IT GOES WHEN THE FIRE
GOES OUT?
THE FAIRY QUEEN OF THE SEASONS
PORE
PA! PORE PA!
SQUINT' OUR EYES AN' LAUGH' AGAIN

HE'S A-MARCHIN' ROUND THE ROOM
THE OLD TREE
SAYS HE'S ALL OUR TREE
THEREFORE READ NO
LONGER
SHE'S BUT A RACING SCHOOL-GIRL
THEY
WAS GOD'S PEOPLE
THEM WUZ THE BEST TIMES EVER
WUZ
HE'S GO' HITCH UP, CHRIS'MUS-DAY, AN' COME
TAKE ME BACK AGAIN WHEN WE DROVE TO HARMONY

A BIG, HOLLOW, OLD OAK-TREE, WHICH HAD BEEN
BLOWN DOWN BY A STORM THE YOUNG FOXES IN IT, ON
THE HEARTH BESIDE HER
AN' ALL BE POETS AN' ALL
RECITE
ALONG THE BRINK OF WILD BROOK-WAYS
I
LIKE TO WATCH HIM
WHILE KATE PICKS BY, YET
LOOKS NOT THERE
LEND ME THE BREATH OF A
FRESHENING GALE
BOW TO ME IN THE WINDER THERE

OUR "OLD-KRISS"-MILKMAN
THE CHILDISH DREAMS
IN HIS WISE OLD HEAD

THE BOOK OF JOYOUS CHILDREN
Bound and bordered in leaf-green,
Edged with trellised buds and
flowers
And glad Summer-gold, with clean
White and purple morning-glories
Such as suit the songs and stories

Of this book of ours,
Unrevised in text or scene,--
The Book of Joyous Children.
Wild and breathless in their glee--
Lawless rangers of all ways

Winding through lush greenery
Of Elysian vales--the viny,
Bowery groves of shady, shiny
Haunts
of childish days.
Spread and read again with me
The Book of Joyous Children.
What a whir of wings, and what
Sudden drench of dews upon
The
young brows, wreathed, all unsought,
With the apple-blossom garlands
Of the poets of those far lands

Whence all dreams are drawn
Set herein and soiling not
The Book of Joyous Children.
In their blithe companionship
Taste again, these pages through,
The
hot honey on your lip
Of the sun-smit wild strawberry,
Or the chill tart of the cherry;

Kneel, all glowing, to
The cool spring, and with it sip
The Book of Joyous Children.
As their laughter needs no rule,
So accept their language, pray.--

Touch it not with any tool:

Surely we may understand it,--
As the heart has parsed or scanned it

Is a worthy way,
Though found not in any School
The Book of Joyous Children.
[Illustration: "KNEEL, ALL GLOWING, TO THE COOL SPRING."]
Be a truant--know no place
Of prison under heaven's rim!
Front the
Father's smiling face--
Smiling, that you smile the brighter
For the heavy hearts made lighter,

Since you smile with Him.
Take--and thank Him for His grace--
The Book of Joyous Children.