Part 1

VERSE AND PROSE

FOR

BEGINNERS IN READING

_SELECTED FROM ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE_

1893

PREFACE.

The attentive reader of this little book will be apt to notice very soon that though its title is _Verse and Prose for Beginners in Reading_, the verse occupies nine tenths, the prose being confined to about two hundred proverbs and familiar sayings--some of them, indeed, in rhyme--scattered in groups throughout the book. The reason for this will be apparent as soon as one considers the end in view in the preparation of this compilation.

The _Riverside Primer and Reader_, as stated in its Introduction, "is designed to serve as the sole text-book in reading required by a pupil. When he has mastered it he is ready to make the acquaintance of the world's literature in the English tongue." In that book, therefore, the pupil was led by easy exercises to an intelligent reading of pieces of literature, both verse and prose, so that he might become in a slight degree familiar with literature before he parted with his sole text-book. But the largest space had, of necessity, to be given to practice work, which led straight to literature, indeed, though to a small quantity only. The verse offered in that book was drawn from nursery rhymes and from a few of the great masters of poetical form; the prose was furnished by a selection of proverbs, some of the simplest folk stories, and two passages, closing the book, from the Old and New Testaments.

The pupil, upon laying down his _Primer and Reader_ and proposing to enter the promised land of literature, could find a volume of prose consisting of _Fables and Folk Stories_, into the pleasures of which he had already been initiated; but until now he could find no volume of poetry especially prepared for him which should fulfill the promise of the verse offered to him in his _Primer and Reader_. Be it remembered that he was not so much to read verse written expressly for him, as to overhear the great poets when they sang so simply, so directly, and yet with so penetrating a note that the burden of their song, full, it may be, to the child's elders, would have an awakening power for the child himself. As so often said, a child can receive and delight in a poem through the ear long before he is able to attain the same pleasure through the eye; and there are many poems in such a book, for example, as Miss Agnes Repplier's _A Book of Famous Verse_, wholly delightful for a child to listen to which yet it would be impossible for him to read to himself.

The agreeable task of the editor, therefore, was to search English and American literature for those poems which had fallen from the lips of poets with so sweet a cadence and in such simple notes that they would offer but slight difficulties to a child who had mastered the rudiments of reading. It was by no means necessary that such poems should have had an audience of children in mind nor have taken childhood for a subject, though it was natural that a few of the verses should prove to be suggested by some aspect of child-life. The selection must be its own advocate, but it may be worth while to point out that the plan of the book supposes an easy approach to the more serious poems by means of the light ditties of the nursery; that there is no more reason for depriving a child of honest fun in his verse than there is for condemning the child's elders to grave poetry exclusively; and that it is not necessary or even desirable for a poem to come at once within the reader's comprehension. To take an extreme case, Tennyson's lines "Break, Break, Break!" would no doubt be ruled out of such a book as this by many in sympathy with children; yet the unexplainable power of the poem is not beyond the apprehension of sensitive natures at an early age.

The contents have been gleaned from a number of sources, and the editor is glad to mingle with the names of the secure dwellers on Parnassus those of some living Americans and Englishmen. He does not pretend that he has made an exhaustive collection, but he hopes the book may be regarded as the nucleus for an anthology which cannot, in the nature of things, be very large.

The prose, as already intimated, is confined to groups of proverbs and familiar sayings. In one aspect these single lines of prose present difficulties to the young reader: they are condensed forms of expression, even though the words may be simple; but they offer the convenient small change of intellectual currency which it is well for one to be supplied with at an early stage of one's journey, and they afford to the teacher a capital opportunity for conversational and other exercises.

The order of this book is in a general way from the easy to the more difficult, with an attempt, also, at an agreeable variety. The editor has purposely avoided breaking up the book into lesson portions or giving it the air of a text-book. There is no reason why children should not read books as older people read them, for pleasure, and dissociate them from a too persistent notion of tasks. It is entirely possible that some teachers may find it out of the question to lead their classes straight through this book, but there is nothing to forbid them from judicious skipping, or, what is perhaps more to the point, from helping pupils over a difficult word or phrase when it is encountered; the interest which the child takes will carry him over most hard places. It would be a capital use of the book also if teachers were to draw upon it for poems which their pupils should, in the suggestive phrase, learn by heart. To this purpose the contents are singularly well adapted; for, from the single line proverb to a poem by Wordsworth, there is such a wide range of choice that the teacher need not resort to the questionable device of giving children fragments and bits of verse and prose to commit to memory. One of the greatest services we can do the young mind is to accustom it to the perception of _wholes_, and whether this whole be a lyric or a narrative poem like Evangeline, it is almost equally important that the young reader should learn to hold it as such in his mind. To treat a poem as a mere quarry out of which a particularly smooth stone can be chipped is to misinterpret poetry. A poem is a statue, not a quarry.

H.E.S.

BOSTON, _October_, 1893.

CONTENTS.

ALPHABET _Mother Goose_

A DEWDROP _Frank Dempster Sherman_

BEES _Frank Dempster Sherman_

RHYMES. Baa, baa, black sheep Bless you, bless you, burnie bee Bow, wow, wow Bye, baby bunting _Mother Goose_

STAR LIGHT _Unknown_

THE LITTLE MOON _A.B. White_

TO A HONEY-BEE _Alice Gary_

RHYMES. A cat came fiddling A dillar, a dollar As I was going to St. Ives As I was going up Pippen Hill A swarm of bees in May _Mother Goose_

PROVERBS AND POPULAR SAYINGS

NONSENSE ALPHABET _Edward Lear_

THE EGG IN THE NEST _Unknown_

RHYMES Hey! diddle diddle Pussy sits beside the fire Ding dong bell _Mother Goose_

DAISIES _Frank Dempster Sherman_

SPINNING TOP _Frank Dempster Sherman_

PROVERBS AND POPULAR SAYINGS

RHYMES. Bobby Shafto's gone to sea Every lady in this land Great A, little a Hark, hark Sing a song of sixpence Hickory, dickory dock Hot-cross buns! How does my lady's garden grow? Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall Hush-a-bye, baby, on the tree-top Some little mice sat in a barn to spin If all the world were apple-pie If wishes were horses I have a little sister _Mother Goose_ WHO STOLE THE BIRD'S NEST? _Lydia Maria Child_ RHYMES. I saw a ship a-sailing Jack and Jill went up the hill Little Bo-peep Little boy blue Little girl, little girl Little Jack Horner sat in the corner Little Johnny Pringle had a little pig Little Miss Muffet There was a little man Little Tommy Tacker _Mother Goose_ PROVERBS AND POPULAR SAYINGS HAPPY THOUGHT _Robert Louis Stevenson_ THE SUN'S TRAVELS _Robert Louis Stevenson_ MY BED IS A BOAT _Robert Louis Stevenson_ THE SWING _Robert Louis Stevenson_ RHYMES Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John Mistress Mary, quite contrary Old King Cole Old Mother Hubbard _Mother Goose_ RUNAWAY BROOK _Eliza Lee Fallen_ BED IN SUMMER _Robert Louis Stevenson_ AT THE SEASIDE _Robert Louis Stevenson_ THE MEETING OF THE SHIPS _Thomas Moore_ PROVERBS AND POPULAR SAYINGS Three little kittens Once I saw a little bird One misty, moisty morning Peter Piper Ride a cock-horse to Banbury-cross Three wise men of Gotham See, saw, sacradown Simple Simon met a pieman _Mother Goose_

PRETTY COW _Jane Taylor_

THE STAR _Jane Taylor_

MARY'S LAMB _Sara Josepha Hale_

PROVERBS AND POPULAR SAYINGS

RHYMES Solomon Grundy The King of France The man in the wilderness There was a crooked man Tom, Tom, the piper's son There was a little boy There was a man of our town This pig went to market Tom, Tom, of Islington _Mother Goose_

WEE WILLIE WINKIE _William Miller_

SINGING _Robert Louis Stevenson_

THE COW _Robert Louis Stevenson_

GOOD-NIGHT AND GOOD-MORNING _Richard Monckton Milnes_

MOTHER'S EYES _Mary D.B.Hull_

THE LAND OF NOD _Robert Louis Stevenson_

PROVERBS AND POPULAR SAYINGS

RHYMES When I was a little boy Where are you going, my pretty maid? Who killed Cock Robin _Mother Goose_

EPITAPH FOR ROBIN REDBREAST _Edith Matilda Thomas_

PLAY WITH ME _Edith Matilda Thomas_

THE PIPER _William Blake_

INFANT JOY _William Blake_

THE LAMB _William Blake_

THE LITTLE BOY LOST _William Blake_

THE LITTLE BOY FOUND _William Blake_

ON THE VOWELS _Jonathan Swift_

LETTERS _Ralph Waldo Emerson_

ON A CIRCLE _Jonathan Swift_

ARIEL'S SONG _William Shakespeare_

PROVERBS AND POPULAR SAYINGS

SONG _Thomas Hood_

YOUTH AND AGE _Thomas Hood_

UPON SUSANNA'S FEET _Robert Herrick_

UPON A CHILD THAT DIED _Robert Herrick_

CHERRY-RIPE _Robert Herrick_

ANSWER TO A CHILD'S QUESTION _Samuel Taylor Coleridge_

PROVERBS AND POPULAR SAYINGS

"ONE, TWO, THREE!" _Henry Cuyler Bunner_

THE BIRD AND ITS NEST _Alfred Tennyson_

PROVERBS AND POPULAR SAYINGS

WINDY NIGHTS _Robert Louis Stevenson_

NONSENSE VERSES _Edward Lear_

PROVERBS AND POPULAR SAYINGS

SONG _Robert Burns_

SWEET AND LOW _Alfred Tennyson_

AGAINST IDLENESS AND MISCHIEF _Isaac Watts_

"BREAK, BREAK, BREAK" _Alfred Tennyson_

THE ARROW AND THE SONG _Henry Wadsworth Longfellow_

PROVERBS AND POPULAR SAYINGS

THE TABLE AND THE CHAIR _Edward Lear_

THE OWL _Alfred Tennyson_

THE OWL AND THE PUSSY-CAT _Edward Lear_

PROVERBS AND POPULAR SAYINGS

FABLE _Ralph Waldo Emerson_

WRITTEN IN MARCH _William Wordsworth_

THOSE EVENING BELLS _Thomas Moore_

TO A BUTTERFLY _William Wordsworth_

PROVERBS AND POPULAR SAYINGS

LUCY _William Wordsworth_

LUCY GRAY, OR SOLITUDE _William Wordsworth_

POOR SUSAN _William Wordsworth_

VERSE AND PROSE FOR BEGINNERS IN READING.

ALPHABET.

A was an apple-pie; B bit it; C cut it; D dealt it; E ate it; F fought for it; G got it; H had it; J joined it; K kept it; L longed for it: M mourned for it; N nodded at it; O opened it; P peeped into it; Q quartered it; R ran for it; S stole it; T took it; V viewed it; W wanted it; X, Y, Z, and amperse-and, All wished for a piece in hand.

A DEWDROP.

Little drop of dew, Like a gem you are; I believe that you Must have been a star.

When the day is bright, On the grass you lie; Tell me then, at night Are you in the sky?

BEES.

Bees don't care about the snow; I can tell you why that's so:

Once I caught a little bee Who was much too warm for me!

* * * * *

Baa, baa, black sheep, Have you any wool? Yes, marry, have I, Three bags full;

One for my master, And one for my dame, But none for the little boy Who cries in the lane.

* * * * *

Bless you, bless you, burnie bee; Say, when will your wedding be? If it be to-morrow day, Take your wings and fly away.

* * * * *

Bow, wow, wow, Whose dog art thou? Little Tom Tinker's dog, Bow, wow, wow.

* * * * *

Bye, baby bunting, Daddy's gone a-hunting, To get a little rabbit skin To wrap the baby bunting in.

* * * * *

Star light, star bright, First star I see to-night; I wish I may, I wish I might, Have the wish I wish to-night.

* * * * *

The little moon came out too soon, And in her fright looked thin and white, The stars then shone, And every one Twinkled and winked and laughed and blinked. The great sun now rolled forth in might And drove them all quite out of sight.

TO A HONEY-BEE.

"Busy-body, busy-body, Always on the wing, Wait a bit, where you have lit, And tell me why you sing."

Up, and in the air again, Flap, flap, flap! And now she stops, and now she drops Into the rose's lap.

"Come, just a minute come, From your rose so red." Hum, hum, hum, hum-- That was all she said.

"Busy-body, busy-body, Always light and gay, It seems to me, for all I see, Your work is only play."

And now the day is sinking to The goldenest of eves, And she doth creep for quiet sleep Among the lily-leaves.

"Come, just a moment come, From your snowy bed." Hum, hum, hum, hum-- That was all she said.

But, the while I mused, I learned The secret of her way: Do my part with cheerful heart, And turn my work to play.

* * * * *

A cat came fiddling out of a barn, With a pair of bag-pipes under her arm; She could sing nothing but fiddle-de-dee, The mouse has married the bumble-bee; Pipe, cat,--dance, mouse,-- We'll have a wedding at our good house.

* * * * *

A dillar, a dollar, A ten o'clock scholar, What makes you come so soon? You used to come at ten o'clock, But now you come at noon.

* * * * *

As I was going to St. Ives, I met a man with seven wives; Every wife had seven sacks, Every sack had seven cats, Every cat had seven kits: Kits, cats, sacks, and wives, How many were there going to St. Ives?

* * * * *

As I was going up Pippen Hill,-- Pippen Hill was dirty,-- There I met a pretty miss, And she dropped me a curtsy.

Little miss, pretty miss, Blessings light upon you; If I had half-a-crown a day, I'd spend it all upon you.

* * * * *

A swarm of bees in May Is worth a load of hay; A swarm of bees in June Is worth a silver spoon; A swarm of bees in July Is not worth a fly.

PROVERBS AND POPULAR SAYINGS.

As blind as a bat. As broad as it is long. As cross as two sticks. As dark as pitch. As dead as a door nail. As dead as a herring. As full as an egg is of meat. As hot as toast. As like as two peas. As merry as a cricket. As plain as the nose on a man's face. As quiet as a mouse. As sharp as a razor. As straight as an arrow. As sweet as honey. As true as steel. As weak as water.

NONSENSE ALPHABET.

A was an ant Who seldom stood still, And who made a nice house In the side of a hill. Nice little ant!

B was a bat, Who slept all the day, And fluttered about When the sun went away. Brown little bat!

C was a camel: You rode on his hump; And if you fell off, You came down such a bump! What a high camel!

D was a duck With spots on his back, Who lived in the water, And always said "Quack!" Dear little duck!

E was an elephant, Stately and wise: He had tusks and a trunk, And two queer little eyes. Oh, what funny small eyes!

F was a fish Who was caught in a net; But he got out again, And is quite alive yet. Lively young fish!

G was a goat Who was spotted with brown: When he did not lie still He walked up and down. Good little goat!

H was a hat Which was all on one side; Its crown was too high, And its brim was too wide. Oh, what a hat!

I was some ice So white and so nice, But which nobody tasted; And so it was wasted. All that good ice!

J was a jug, So pretty and white, With fresh water in it At morning and night. Nice little jug!

K was a kite Which flew out of sight, Above houses so high, Quite into the sky. Fly away, kite! L was a lily, So white and so sweet! To see it and smell it Was quite a nice treat. Beautiful lily!

M was a man, Who walked round and round; And he wore a long coat That came down to the ground. Funny old man!

N was a net Which was thrown In the sea To catch fish for dinner For you and for me. Nice little net!

O was an orange So yellow and round: When it fell off the tree, It fell down to the ground. Down to the ground!

P was a polly. All red, blue, and green,-- The most beautiful polly That ever was seen. Poor little polly! Q was a quail With a very short tail; And he fed upon corn In the evening and morn. Quaint little quail!

R was a rabbit, Who had a bad habit Of eating the flowers In gardens and bowers. Naughty fat rabbit!

S was the sugar-tongs, Nippity-nee, To take up the sugar To put in our tea. Nippity-nee!

T was a tortoise, All yellow and black: He walked slowly away, And he never came back. Torty never came back!

U was an urn All polished and bright, And full of hot water At noon and at night. Useful old urn!

V was a veil With a border upon it, And a ribbon to tie it All round a pink bonnet. Pretty green veil!

W was a watch, Where, in letters of gold, The hour of the day You might always behold. Beautiful watch!

Y was a yew, Which flourished and grew By a quiet abode Near the side of a road. Dark little yew!

Z was a zebra, All striped white and black; And if he were tame, You might ride on his back. Pretty striped zebra!

THE EGG IN THE NEST.

There was a tree stood in the ground, The prettiest tree you ever did see; The tree in the wood, and the wood in the ground, And the green grass growing all around.

And on this tree there was a limb, The prettiest limb you ever did see; The limb on the tree, and the tree in the wood, The tree in the wood, and the wood in the ground, And the green grass growing all around.

And on this limb there was a bough, The prettiest bough you ever did see; The bough on the limb, and the limb on the tree, The limb on the tree, and the tree in the wood, The tree in the wood, and the wood in the ground, And the green grass growing all around.

Now on this bough there was a nest, And in this nest there were some eggs, The prettiest eggs you ever did see; Eggs in the nest, and the nest on the bough, The bough on the limb, and the limb on the tree, The limb on the tree, and the tree in the wood, The tree in the wood, and the wood in the ground, And the green grass growing all around, And the green grass growing all around.

* * * * *

Hey! diddle, diddle, The cat and the fiddle, The cow jumped over the moon; The little dog laughed To see such sport, And the dish ran away with the spoon.

* * * * *

Pussy sits beside the fire, How can she be fair? In comes the little dog, "Pussy, are you there? So, so, dear Mistress Pussy, Pray tell me how do you do?" "Thank you, thank you, little dog, I'm very well just now."

* * * * *

Ding dong bell, The cat's in the well! Who put her in?-- Little Johnny Green. Who pulled her out?-- Big Johnny Stout. What a naughty boy was that To drown poor pussy cat, Who never did him any harm, But killed the mice in his father's barn!

DAISIES.

At evening when I go to bed I see the stars shine overhead; They are the little daisies white That dot the meadow of the Night.

And often while I'm dreaming so, Across the sky the Moon will go; It is a lady, sweet and fair, Who comes to gather daisies there.

For, when at morning I arise, There's not a star left in the skies; She's picked them all and dropped them down Into the meadows of the town.

SPINNING TOP.

When I spin round without a stop And keep my balance like the top, I find that soon the floor will swim Before my eyes; and then, like him, I lie all dizzy on the floor Until I feel like spinning more.

PROVERBS AND POPULAR SAYINGS.

Every dog has its day. Every horse thinks his own pack heaviest. Every little helps. Every man for himself, and God for us all. Faint heart never won fair lady. Fair words butter no parsnips. Fine feathers make fine birds. Follow the river and you will get to the sea. Fools build houses, and wise men live in them. For every evil under the sun, there is a remedy, or there is none; If there be one, try and find It; if there be none, never mind it. For want of a nail the shoe is lost; for want of a shoe the horse is lost; for want of a horse the rider is lost.

* * * * *

Bobby Shafto's gone to sea, With silver buckles at his knee; He'll come back and marry me,-- Pretty Bobby Shafto!

Bobby Shafto's fat and fair, Combing out his yellow hair, He's my love for evermore,-- Pretty Bobby Shafto!

* * * * *

Every lady in this land Has twenty nails upon each hand Five and twenty on hands and feet. All this is true without deceit.

* * * * *

Great A, little a, Bouncing B! The cat's in the cupboard, And she can't see.

* * * * *

Hark, hark, The dogs do bark, The beggars are coming to town; Some in rags, Some in jags, And some in velvet gowns.

* * * * *

Sing a song of sixpence, A pocket full of rye; Four and twenty blackbirds Baked in a pie; When the pie was opened, The birds began to sing; Was not that a dainty dish To set before the king?

The king was in the parlor, Counting out his money; The queen was in the kitchen, Eating bread and honey;

The maid was in the garden, Hanging out the clothes; There came a little blackbird, And snipped off her nose.

Jenny was so mad, She didn't know what to do; She put her finger in her ear, And cracked it right in two.

* * * * *

Hickory, dickory, dock, The mouse ran up the clock, The clock struck one, The mouse ran down; Hickory, dickory, dock.

* * * * *

Hot-cross buns! Hot-cross buns! One a penny, two a penny. Hot-cross buns! Hot-cross buns! Hot-cross buns! If ye have no daughters, Give them to your sons.