The Peter Patter Book of Nursery Rhymes | Page 4

caps.
As I was coming back again?In front of Missus Knapp's?I saw that awful lady?Give about a dozen slaps?To every little Knapperine--?I thought it was, perhaps,?Because they gathered stickers?In their knitted jersey caps.
[Illustration: GOING DOWN THE HILL IN FRONT OF MRS. KNAPP'S]
[Illustration]
A LITTLE BOY RAN TO THE END OF THE SKY
A little boy ran to the end of the sky?With a rag and a pole and a gooseberry pie.?He cried: "Three cheers for the Fourth of July!"?With a rag and a pole and a gooseberry pie.
He saw three little donkeys at play,?He tickled their noses to make them bray,?And he didn't come back until Christmas Day--?With a rag and a pole and a gooseberry pie.
DISCRETION
A man with a nickel,?A sword, and a sickle,?A pipe, and a paper of pins?Set out for the Niger?To capture a tiger--?And that's how my story begins.
When he saw the wide ocean,?He soon took a notion?'T would be nicer to stay with his friends.?So he traded his hat?For a tortoise-shell cat--?And that's how the chronicle ends.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
A BEETLE ONCE SAT ON A BARBERRY TWIG
A beetle once sat on a barberry twig,?And turned at the crank of a thingum-a-jig.?Needles for hornets, nippers for ants,?For the bumblebee baby a new pair of pants,?For the grizzled old gopher a hat and a wig,?The beetle ground out of his thingum-a-jig.
[Illustration]
THE THIEVES
Tibbitts and Bibbitts and Solomon Sly?Ran off one day with a cucumber pie.?Tibbitts was tossed by a Kensington cow,?Bibbitts was hanged on a brambleweed bough,?And poor little Solomon--what do you think??Was drowned one dark night in a bottle of ink.
UPON THE IRISH SEA
Some one told Maria Ann,?Maria Ann told me,?That kittens ride in coffee cans?Upon the Irish Sea.
From quiet caves to rolling waves,?How jolly it must be?To travel in a coffee can?Upon the Irish Sea!
But when it snows and when it blows,?How would you like to be?A kitten in a coffee can?Upon the Irish Sea?
DUCKLE, DAISY
Duckle, duckle, daisy,?Martha must be crazy,?She went and made a Christmas cake?Of olive oil and gluten-flake,?And set it in the sink to bake,?Duckle, duckle, daisy.
[Illustration: DUCKLE, DUCKLE, DAISY]
[Illustration]
I'VE GOT A NEW BOOK
I've got a new book from my Grandfather Hyde.?It's skin on the cover and paper inside,?And reads about Arabs and horses and slaves,?And tells how the Caliph of Bagdad behaves.?I'd not take a goat and a dollar beside?For the book that I got from my Grandfather Hyde.
THE CARROT AND THE RABBIT
A carrot in a garden?And a rabbit in the wood.?Said the rabbit, "Beg your pardon,?But you're surely meant for food;?Though you've started in to harden,?You may still be very good."
HIPPY-HI-HOPPY
Hippy-Hi-Hoppy, the big fat toad,?Greeted his friends at a turn of the road.
Said he to the snail:?"Here's a ring for your tail?If you'll go into town for my afternoon mail."
Said he to the rat:?"I have talked with the cat;?And she'll nab you so quick you won't know where you're at."
Said he to the lizard:?"I'm really no wizard,?But I'll show you a trick that will tickle your gizzard."
Said he to the lark:?"When it gets fairly dark?We'll chase the mosquitoes in Peek-a-Boo Park."
Said he to the owl:?"If it were not for your scowl?I'd like you as well as most any wild fowl."
Said he to the wren:?"You're tiny, but then?I'll marry you quick, if you'll only say when."
[Illustration]
[Illustration: I'LL TREAT THE CLOWN]
UP ON THE GARDEN GATE
Set me up on the garden gate?And put on my Sunday tie;?I want to be there?With a round-eyed stare?When the circus band goes by.
Give me a bag of suckerettes?And give me a piece of gum,?Then I'll get down?And treat the clown,?And give the monkey some.
'MOST ANY CHIP
'Most any chip?Will do for a ship,?If only the cargo be?Golden sand?From the beautiful land?Of far-off Arcady.?For faith will waft?The tiny craft?O'er Fancy's shining sea.
[Illustration]
A MOON SONG
Who hung his hat on the moon??The owl in his bubble balloon.?One bright summer night?He sailed out of sight,?And, hooting like Lucifer, hung in delight?His three-cornered hat on the moon.
WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
"What makes you laugh, my little lass,?From morning until noon?"?"I saw a dappled donkey?Throwing kisses at the moon."
[Illustration]
"What makes you cry, my little lass,?And get your eyes so red?"?"I saw a cruel gardener cut?A poor old cabbage head."
[Illustration]
"What makes you run, my little lass??You're almost out of breath."?"A pumpkin made a face at me,?And scared me half to death."
TIMMY O'TOOLE
When Timmy O'Toole?Was going to school?He picked up a package of gum.?He treated the preacher?And Sunday-school teacher,?And gave a policeman some.
A MAN CAME FROM MALDEN
A man came from Malden to buy a blue goose.?And what became of the gander??He went and got tipsy on blackberry juice,?And that was the end of the gander.
BARON BATTEROFF
The mighty baron, Batteroff,?Raised a whale in a watering trough.?When the whale grew large and fat?He ate the baron's brindle cat.?But pussy, once inside the whale,?Began to tickle with her tail.?This the monster could not stand,?And spewed her out