Part 1

Produced by Chuck Greif, The Baldwin Library of Historical Children\'s Literature in the Department of Special Collections at the University of Florida\'s George A. Smathers Libraries and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

MY

TREASURE.

EDITED BY

THOMAS W. HANDFORD,

("ELMO.")

CHICAGO AND NEW YORK.

BELFORD, CLARKE & CO.

1888.

COPYRIGHT,

BELFORD, CLARKE & CO.

1887.

CONTENTS.

PAGE. A Queer Play-House 50 A Reckless Ride 8 At the Shore 82 Baby Ralph's Letter 64 Bell and her Pet Dog 42 Belle and her Brothers 95 Betty and Polly 33 Brave Hal 80 Dolly Knits, then Hides 70, 71 Dot's New Friend 78 Frankie Minds Mamma 58 Going to Bed 18 Going to Boston 67 Hattie and the Butterfly 72 Jane and Rob 46, 47 Little May's Pet 36 Little Mother Hubbard 84 May and her Papa 41 Meg and Little Bell 32 Milk for Baby's Supper 30 Moll and Jane's Picnic 94 Mr. Fox is Sure 68 New Eyes 86 Old Charlie Runs 90 Only a Bird 54 Our Little Hand-Organ Man 66 Playing at Soldiers 20, 21 Polly and her Dead Bird 93 Poor Joe 60 Rebie's New Home 48 Rose and the Little Beggar 88 Sick Molly 62 The Disobedient Mouse 22, 23 The Fishing-Boat Nancy 10 The Gypsy Camp 74 The Pet Rabbit 39 The Shark 26 The Three Kittens 44, 45 The Two Stags 38 Tom, Grace and Lou 37 Walter's Butterflies 76 What a Kiss Did 56 Who is to Blame? 52

POETRY.

Page. Baby Boy 28 Bertie and Rover 24 Cowslips 16 Doll and I 40 "Fly Little Bird Away" 34, 35 May Day 19 My Treasure 7 "Out of the Wild Northeast 92 Tad and the Lobster 31 The Blacksmith 15 The Disobedient Mouse 22, 23 The Little Rill 12 The Robin 14

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Jumbo Broken Loose _Frontispiece._

PAGE. A Queer Play-House 51 A Reckless Ride 9 At the Shore 83 Baby Boy 28 Baby Ralph's Letter 65 Bell and her Pet Dog 43 Belle and her Brothers 95 Bertie and Rover 25 Betty and Polly 33 Brave Hal 81 Cowslips 17 Doll and I 40 Dolly Knits, then Hides 70, 71 Dot's New Friend 79 "Fly Little Bird Away" 34, 35 Frankie Minds Mamma 59 Going to Bed 18 Going to Boston 67 Hattie and the Butterfly 73 Jack and Jill 29 Jane and Rob 46, 47 Little May's Pet 36 Little Mother Hubbard 85 May Day 19 May and her Papa 41 Meg and Little Bell 32 Milk for Baby's Supper 30 Moll and Jane's Picnic 94 Mr. Fox is Sure 69 My Treasure 7 New Eyes 87 Old Charlie Runs 90 Only a Bird 55 Our Little Hand-Organ Man 66 "Out of the Wild Northeast" 91 Playing at Soldiers 20, 21 Polly and her Dead Bird 93 Poor Joe 61 Rebie's New Home 49 Rose and the Little Beggar 89 Sick Molly 63 Solid Comfort 91 Tad and the Lobster 31 The Blacksmith 15 The Disobedient Mouse 22, 23 The Fishing-Boat Nancy 11 The Gipsy Camp 75 The Little Rill 13 The Pet Rabbit 39 The Shark 27 The Three Kittens 44, 45 The Two Stags 38 Tom, Grace and Lou 37 Walter's Butterflies 77 What a Kiss Did 57 Who is to Blame? 53

I WONDER, I WONDER.

MY TREASURE.

THOMAS W. HANDFORD.

Bright with smiles and wreathed with flowers. Happy be thy morning hours; Cloudless skies above thy head, Fair the earth for thee to tread, Songs of birds thy path attend;-- All the good that heaven can send, Crown with joy thy morning hours, Wreathed with smiles and bright with flowers.

A RECKLESS RIDE.

Reckless Ina, she was called, because she did so many reckless things. But her name was Ina Bradford. She had no brothers, so she used to tell her father that she would be his boy. And it was no trial to Ina do boy's work.

Dish-washing she particularly disliked. And as to sewing--why, she had rather go ragged any time than sew up the rents in her dress.

The one thing that Ina enjoyed more than anything else in the world, was riding on horseback. Her father kept several horses. And he was perfectly willing she should use any of the farm horses whenever she liked. But Black Jupiter she must never touch. He was a large, high-spirited horse, very unsafe for a young girl. But oh! how Ina longed to get on Jupiter's back.

One day when her father had gone away Ina resolved to try. She put bridle and saddle on without trouble. But the moment Black Jupiter felt her weight on his back, he started on a run up the street. At first Ina thought it great fun, but by and by her arms ached so she could scarcely hold the bridle. And when Jupiter jumped at the cackling of a goose, Ina would have fallen if a strong, brave boy had not caught the bridle. Ina did not care to ride Black Jupiter again.

THE FISHING BOAT NANCY.

Here is the fish-ing boat Nan-cy. But where is the fish-er-man? Oh! he has gone up the beach to his house to see his wife and his lit-tle daugh-ter. He was in a great hur-ry, for he did not wait to take down his sails, but on-ly made the boat fast to an old pile.

The rea-son of his haste was that his lit-tle daugh-ter Bess is quite ill. He had to go to sea this morn-ing, for he is a poor man, and must work ev-er-y day, but when he left Bess was in a fe-ver. All day long he has been ve-ry anx-ious. But now good news is wait-ing him. At four o'clock the fe-ver left her, and she is much bet-ter, and is wait-ing for her pa-pa to come in. How glad he will be! But he can-not stop long now, on-ly just to give her a kiss, for the boat must be ta-ken care of, and the fish that he has caught must be sent to mar-ket; so back he will go, but he will work now with a light-er heart, for his fear is gone.

THE LITTLE RILL.

Drop by drop the lit-tle rill Feeds the lim-pid stream be-low, Gleam-ing, spark-ling down the hill, Till it joins the riv-er's flow. * * * Drop by drop the whole night long; Drop by drop the long night through, Sing-ing low and soft its song; Leaps the rill, in meas-ure true. * * * Drop by drop like gems of light, Danc-ing where the sun-beams play, Grows the stream-let clear and bright, Where the sweet ferns line the way. * * * Like a mol-ten sil-ver tide Led by fai-ries, here and there; Now by rug-ged moun-tain side; Now by pas-ture green and fair.

THE ROBIN.

LIT-TLE rob-in, wild bird, Sing-ing sweet and blithe, Care-less of Time's hour glass And his crook-ed scythe, Prod-i-gal of pleas-ure In a harm-less way, Greet-ing in the sun-shine This thy hol-i-day.

When the or-phan chil-dren Wan-dered in the wood, We shall stillre-mem-ber Thou wert kind and good; As their cheeks grew pa-ler, And with tears were wet, Thou didst sprin-kle o'er them Man-y a vi-o-let.

Cheer us in the au-tumn, When the rains be-gin, While the gay flow-ers with-er, And the woods grow thin.

THE BLACKSMITH.

CLANG, cling, clang, cling! Bel-lows, you must roar; and, an-vil, you must ring; Ham-mer, you and I must work, for ding, dong, ding! Must dress my Kate and ba-by, and bread for us must bring.

COWSLIPS.

Yel-low, yel-low cow-slip, Grow-ing in the grass, Thou dost bloom so bright-ly, Thou dost smell so sweet-ly, That the ve-ry cat-tle Light-ly o'er thee pass. * * * Yel-low, yel-low cow-slip, Chil-dren gath-er thee In the ear-ly sum-mer, In the dew-y morn-ing, When his nest be-side thee, Leaves the lark so free. * * * Yel-low, yel-low cow-slip, Shin-ing in the sun, When the tall grass mead-ows Yield un-to the mow-ers, Then thy life is end-ed, Pen-sive lit-tle one.

GOING TO BED.

May and Kate and Lou and wee Tom-my have been sit-ting by the fire in the nur-se-ry for the last hour look-ing through their books. But now the books have all been put on the shelf and nurse has made them ready for bed. Mam-ma has come up, as she al-ways does, to hear their pray-ers and have a short chat with them af-ter they are tuck-ed up in their cribs. The chat has to be short, for these lit-tle peo-ple fall a-sleep in no time.

MAY DAY.

One day, all in the sweet spring weath-er, Two lit-tle folk went out to-geth-er. Oh the bright May-day! Sun was shin-ing, birds were sing-ing, Flow-ers bloom-ing, May-bells ring-ing! Oh the glad May-day!

So they two went forth a May-ing, Laugh-ing, dan-cing, sing-ing, say-ing "Oh the bright May-day! What care we for moth-er's warn-ing? Who would bide at home this morn-ing? Oh the glad May-day!"

PLAYING AT SOLDIER.

"SHOUL-DER arms!" said Dick. "For-ward, march!" If you had been in the room next to the hall where the chil-dren were play-ing that rain-y day, you would have thought that an ar-my was march-ing back and forth, they made such a noise. Then, all at once, the noise stopped. "The ar-my will lie down, and go to sleep for the night," said Dick. The ar-my lay down to play sleep, and in a twin-kling it fell in-to a real sleep. Ev-er-y man was in the land of Nod. Jane, who had been out to the barn for a bas-ket of ap-ples, was so sur-prised at the sight, that three great red ones fell out on the floor be-fore she could catch them. Just at that mo-ment the boys' eyes o-pened, and they had the ap-ples in less than no time.

THE DISOBEDIENT MOUSE.

SAD is the tale I have to tell, Of what a lit-tle mouse be-fell. "My darl-ing child," His moth-er said, "There are two things That you must dread. One is the mon-ster called a cat; And one a trap. Ne'er go near that, No mat-ter how the cheese may smell: You'll rue the day. Mark my words well."

And mous-ey lis-tened to her say. Had he but heed-ed! Well-a-day! That ver-y night he smelled some cheese. Quoth he, "What o-dors sweet are these? I'll go and see: per-chance the cook Has dropped a bit. Here's for a look!" A-las! a-las! dear chil-dren all, He dis-o-beyed. Be-hold his fall. He saw the trap, with bits of cheese. "I'll on-ly take just one of these,-- A sin-gle one, not an-y more." Click went the spring; down fell the door!

How sleek looks puss-y! How well fed! Poor mous-ey's moth-er weeps in bed.

BERTIE AND ROVER.

"O Ro-ver! I love you," Young Mas-ter Ber-tie said. To prove his words were true, He hugged the dog's rough head. * * * Ro-ver knew not one half His lit-tle mas-ter said; But when he heard him laugh, He quick-ly raised his head. * * * He loved to run a-bout A-mong the lambs and sheep, Which lay in groups a-bout, Ap-pa-rent-ly a-sleep. * * * He'd leap a five-barred gate, And then, with con-scious pride, For Bertie's com-ing wait Up-on the oth-er side.

THE SHARK.

What great fish is this? It is a shark. He is fast now, and the men will soon have him up on the ship's deck, where they will make an end of him.

Sharks are ve-ry fierce. They are so large, too, that they can eat up a man with-out a-ny trou-ble. In some parts of the world peo-ple nev-er dare go in bath-ing, be-cause of them. You can see in the pic-ture what great teeth they have. This fel-low has been at ma-ny a bad piece of work, I have no doubt; but now all his pranks are at an end. He has fol-lowed the ship mile af-ter mile to pick up a-ny scraps that were thrown o-ver, and they have tast-ed so well, that when he saw a great piece of pork come splash in-to the wa-ter, he swal-lowed it down with-out stopping to think that there might be a hook in it. Then all at once he found that he was fast. Strug-gle as hard as he could, it was of no use; he was held fast.

BABY BOY.

"Ho! mas-ter ba-by boy. Where are you go-ing? Dark are the win-try skies: Soon 'twill be snow-ing. Back to the nur-se-ry, Where the fire's glow-ing." * * * "I doe back"-- stamps his foot.

"No! I are doe-ing Down to my busi-ness. A big boy I'm drow-ing. Just where my pa-pa does, Dat's where I'm doe-ing."

JACK AND JILL.

THESE are Jack and Jill. Do you not see their pail? They fill it with salt wa-ter.

"WHAT a sweet lit-tle lamb!" said May. "No: it is a wolf. I must run: he will eat me."

MILK FOR BABY'S SUPPER.

"PLEASE, Mrs. Wright, moth-er would like to bor-row a cup of milk for ba-by's sup-per. Our cow has strayed a-way, and Tom has gone to find her."--"Of course she shall have it, Tom," said Mrs. Wright. "How is ba-by?" Tom's lit-tle ba-by sis-ter had been ver-y ill, and they had all been a-fraid that she would not live. But now she was much bet-ter. Tom told Mrs. Wright this, and then ran home.

TAD AND THE LOBSTER.

THERE was a little lad Whose name was Tad, Down by the sea. "A-ha! a-ha" cried he: "A play-fellow I see, Com-ing to play with me."

But soon he changed his cry: The tears came in his eye. "Let go!" he cried; "let go! You don't play fair, you know. O mam-my, quick! Boo-hoo! He'll bite my finger through!"

MEG AND LITTLE BELL.

MEG and her lit-tle sis-ter Bell went for a walk in the mea-dow. A cow came down to the brook to drink. Bell was pick-ing some flow-ers, and did not see her un-til she was close up-on her. Then she gave a loud cry, and ran to Meg, and clutched tight hold of her dress. Meg soon set her fears to rest; and the cow looked on with wide o-pened eyes, as much as to say, "What a fool-ish child this is! I give her milk ev-er-y day."

BETTY AND POLLY.

BET-TY came to make a call on Pol-ly. So Pol-ly got out all her toys, and put them on the floor in a great heap, and they each sat down be-side them. Bet-ty liked best of all a stuffed rab-bit that squeaked when you squeezed it; and she tucked it un-der her arm, and took it all a-bout from room to room with her. Pol-ly at last, when she saw how much she liked it, gave it to her for her ver-y own; and Bet-ty went home hap-py, with the rabbit on her arms.

"FLY LITTLE BIRD AWAY."

A LIT-TLE girl Read in her book, How a wick-ed boy A wild bird took From out its nest In the green-wood tree. A cap-tive now 'Tis forced to be, And flut-ters its poor wings all day long, And beats the bars of its cage so strong.

"Poor lit-tle bird!" She soft-ly cried; Then on her head Her hood she tied, Took down the cage Of her own bird, Opened the door, With joy-ous word. "Fly, lit-tle bird, a-way," quoth she, "Back to your home in the green-wood tree."

A-way, a-way, The glad bird flew, Far out of sight, In heav-ens blue. The wee girl watched With won-der-ing eye, Till it had fad-ed In the sky, Then sat her down, and cried, "Boo-hoo! My bird is gone! What shall I do?"

Her pin-a-fore With tears was wet: "My bird a-gain, "I'll nev-er get." At last she raised Her weep-ing eye, And there at hand, What should she spy But bird-ie hop-ping in his door, Tired of his freedom, back once more.

LITTLE MAY'S PET.

"Come in, puss," said lit-tle May, "and you shall have a nice cup of milk for your break-fast. And I will put a fresh rib-bon on your neck, too." Puss walked in at once, for he was ve-ry hun-gry. For more than an hour she had been watch-ing at a mouse-hole, but the mouse would not come out and be caught. So at last she had grown tired of wait-ing.

TOM, GRACE AND LOU.

TOM and Grace and Lou had been down to the brook the day be-fore, and had caught three frogs. They got one of pa-pa's old ci-gar box-es, and lined it with leaves, and cut small holes in it, that the air might pass in and out.

The next morn-ing they o-pened the box, and put them on the grass: they looked ver-y ill. "Let's take them back to the brook," said Lou. As soon as the frogs saw the wa-ter, they jumped, and were seen no more.

THE TWO STAGS.

HERE we are out in the wild woods. What a pret-ty lit-tle glade it is, with a spring of fresh wa-ter in it! But see, there are two stags here, fight-ing as if they were bit-ter foes. Their great wide-spread ant-lers are locked in-to each oth-er's. It some-times hap-pens in these fights that the ant-lers get so fast-ened to-geth-er that the stags can-not get them a-part. Then they both die. This will show you how quar-rels of-ten have ve-ry sad ends.

THE PET RABBIT.

TOM and Grace hur-ried through their break-fast, and ran out to feed their pet rab-bit. Grace did not ev-en wait to put on her hat. But, when they came to the hutch, there was no rab-bit there.

"We must tell John to look for him," said Grace. "There he is! Let's run." So they ran down the path to meet the gar-den-er's boy. John said that he would look just as soon as he took the bas-ket of let-tuce to the cook.

DOLL AND I.

"OH, dear! Oh, dear! 'Tis al-most nine. The birds all sing, The sun does shine. Poor Doll and I To school must go: I don't see why, We hate it so. I hate those let-ters. They twist and turn. There's no use try-ing: I'll nev-er learn. * * * Hur-rah! hur-rah! At last it's two! I am so glad! What shall we do? Come, Doll, let's run. I'll nev-er go, When I get big, To school, I know; But ev-er-y min-ute of the day I'll spend just as I like, in play."

MAY AND HER PA-PA.