Under the Tree | Page 4

my hand and smiled--
I mean the lady would--and
she
Would take the woolly blankets off
Her little boy so I could see.
His shut-up eyes would be asleep,
And he would look like our John,

And he would be all crumpled too,
And have a pinkish color on.
I'd watch his breath go in and out.
His little clothes would all be white.

I'd slip my finger in his hand
To feel how he could hold it tight.
And she would smile and say, "Take care,"
The mother, Mary, would,
"Take care";
And I would kiss his little hand
And touch his hair.
While Mary put the blankets back
The gentle talk would soon begin.

And when I'd tiptoe softly out
I'd meet the wise men going in.
PEOPLE GOING BY
Before they come I hear their talk
And hear their feet go on the walk.
Some go fast and some go slow,
And some of them I almost know.
In mornings they are going down
To see somebody in the town.
Or Mrs. Warner hurries past;
She has to go and come back fast.
She walks by quick and will not stop,
To go to the church with the
cross on top.
I think she goes there every day
To take her rosary and pray.
And one of them is Mr. Jim--
And the big white dog that follows him.
And one is lame; that's Uncle Mells;
He takes off warts by mumbling
words,
And he can lay on spells.
Or maybe night is almost come,
And Miss Jane Anne is going home.

And by her side walks Mr. Paul;
They go along with far-off looks

And hardly ever talk at all.
Or Murry's child comes up this way
To carry milk to poor Miss May
That lives in Wells's other house,
Or Joe is driving home his cows.
And some go fast and some go slow,
And some of them I almost
know.
I can feel them almost speak to me,
When they pass by our tree.
BABES IN THE WOODS
The two little children that died long ago
Away in the woods on the
top of a hill--
And a good little robin that knew all about it
Came
with strawberry leaves in her bill,
To cover them up, and she kept very quiet
And brought the leaves
one at a time, I think.
And some of the leaves would have little holes
in them,
And some would be red and pink.
And these little Babes-in-the-Woods that were dead
Must have lain
very still, and they heard all the talk
That the bees would be saying to
more little bees,
And maybe they even could hear the ants walk.
And they could look out through a crack in the leaves
And see little
bushes and some of the sky.
They could see robin coming with leaves
in her mouth,
And they watched for her when she went by.
THE PICNIC
They had a picnic in the woods,
And Mother couldn't go that day,

But the twins and Brother and I could go;
We rode on the wagon full
of hay.

There were more little girls than ten, I guess.
And the boy that is Joe
B. Kirk was there.
He found a toad and a katydid,
And a little girl
came whose name was Clare.
Miss Kate-Marie made us play a song
Called "Fare-you-well, says
Johnny O'Brown."
You dance in a ring and sing it through,
And
then some one kneels down.
She kissed us all and Joe B. Kirk;
But Joe B. didn't mind a bit.
He
walked around and swung his arms
And seemed to be very glad of it.
Then Mr. Jim said he would play,
But Miss Marie, she told him then,

It's a game for her and the little folks,
And he could go and fish
with the men.
Mr. Wells was there and he had a rope
To tie to a limb and make it
swing.
And Mrs. Wells, Mr. Wells's wife,
Gave me a peach and a
chicken wing.
And I had a little cherry pie
And a piece of bread, and after we'd
played
Two other songs, I had some cake
And another wing and
some lemonade.
MUMPS
I had a feeling in my neck,
And on the sides were two big bumps;
I
couldn't swallow anything
At all because I had the mumps.
And Mother tied it with a piece,
And then she tied up Will and John,

And no one else but Dick was left
That didn't have a mump rag on.
He teased at us and laughed at us,
And said, whenever he went by,

"It's vinegar and lemon drops
And pickles!" just to make us cry.
But Tuesday Dick was very sad
And cried because his neck was sore,

And not a one said sour things
To anybody any more.

THE CIRCUS
Friday came and the circus was there,
And Mother said that the twins
and I
And Charles and Clarence and all of us
Could go out and see
the parade go by.
And there were wagons with pictures on,
And you never could guess
what they had inside,
Nobody could guess, for the doors were shut,

And there was a dog that a monkey could ride.
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