Chapter 2

Hear me now, my hobby-horse, my steed of prancing paces! Time is it that you and I won something more than races. I have got a fine cocked hat, with feathers proudly waving; Out into the world we'll go, both death and danger braving.

Doubt not that I know the way--the garden-gate is clapping: Who forgot to lock it last deserves his fingers slapping. When they find we can't be found, oh won't there be a chorus! You and I may laugh at that, with all the world before us.

All the world, the great green world that lies beyond the paling! All the sea, the great round sea where ducks and drakes are sailing! I a knight, my charger thou, together we will wander Out into that grassy waste where dwells the Goosey Gander.

Months ago, my faithful steed, that Goose attacked your master; How it hissed, and how I cried! It ran, but I ran faster! Down upon my face I fell, its awful wings were o'er me, Mother came and picked me up, and off to bed she bore me.

Months have passed, my faithful steed, both you and I are older, Sheathless is my wooden sword, my heart I think is bolder. Always ready bridled thou, with reins of crimson leather; Woe betide the Goose to-day who meets us both together!

Up then now, my hobby-horse, my steed of prancing paces! Time it is that you and I won something more than races. I a knight, my charger thou, together we will wander Out into that grassy waste where dwells the Goosey Gander.

THE DOLLS' WASH.

Sally is the laundress, and every Saturday She sends our clean clothes up from the wash, and Nurse puts them away. Sometimes Sally is very kind, but sometimes she's as cross as a Turk; When she's good-humoured we like to go and watch her at work. She has tubs and a copper in the wash-house, and a great big fire and plenty of soap; And outside is the drying-ground with tall posts, and pegs bought from the gipsies, and long lines of rope. The laundry is indoors with another big fire, and long tables, and a lot of irons, and a crimping-machine; And horses (not live ones with tails, but clothes-horses) and the same starch that is used by the Queen. Sally wears pattens in the wash-house, and turns up her sleeves, and splashes, and rubs, And makes beautiful white lather which foams over the tops of the tubs, Like waves at the seaside dashing against the rocks, only not so strong. If I were Sally I should sit and blow soap-bubbles all the day long. Sally is angry sometimes because of the way we dirty our frocks, Making mud pies, and rolling down the lawn, and climbing trees, and scrambling over the rocks. She says we do it on purpose, and never try to take care; But if things have got to go to the wash, what can it matter how dirty they are? Last week Mary and I got a lot of kingcups from the bog, and I carried them home in my skirt; It was the end of the week, and our frocks were done, so we didn't mind about the dirt. But Sally was as cross as two sticks, and won't wash our dolls' clothes any more--so she said,-- But never mind, for we'll ask Mamma if we may have a real Dolls' Wash of our own instead.

* * * * *

Mamma says we may on one condition, to which we agree; We're to _really_ wash the dolls' clothes, and make them just what clean clothes should be. She says we must wash them thoroughly, which of course we intend to do, We mean to rub, wring, dry, mangle, starch, iron, and air them too. A regular wash must be splendid fun, and everybody knows That any one in the world can wash out a few dirty clothes.

* * * * *

Well, we've had the Dolls' Wash, but it's only pretty good fun. We're glad we've had it, you know, but we're gladder still that it's done. As we wanted to have as big a wash as we could, we collected everything we could muster, From the dolls' bed dimity hangings to Victoria's dress, which I'd used as a duster. It was going to the wash, and Mary and I were house-maids--fancy house-maids, I mean-- And I took it to dust the bookshelf, for I knew it would come back clean. Well, we washed in the wash-hand-basin, which holds a good deal, as the things are small; We made a glorious lather, and splashed half over the floor; but the clothes weren't white after all. However, we hung them out in our drying-ground in the garden, which we made with dahlia-sticks and long strings, And then Dash went and knocked over one of the posts, and down in the dirt went our things! So we washed them again and hung them on the towel-horse, and most of them came all right, But Victoria's muslin dress--though I rinsed it again and again--will never dry white! And the grease-spots on Mary's doll's dress don't seem to come out, and we can't think how they got there; Unless it was when we made that Macassar-oil, because she has real hair. I knew mine was going to the wash, but I'm sorry I used it as a duster before it went; We think dirty clothes perhaps shouldn't be _too_ dirty before they are sent. We had sad work in trying to make the starch--I wonder what the Queen does with hers? I stirred mine up with a candle, like Sally, but it only made it worse; So we had to ask Mamma's leave to have ours made by Nurse. Nurse makes beautiful starch--like water-arrowroot when you're ill--in a minute or two. It's a very odd thing that what looks so easy should be so difficult to do! Then Mary put the iron down to heat, but as soon as she'd turned her back, A jet of gas came sputtering out of the coals and smoked it black. We dared not ask Sally for another, for we knew she'd refuse it, So we had to clean this one with sand and brown-paper before we could use it. It was very hard work, but I rubbed till I made it shine; Yet as soon as it got on a damped "fine thing" it left a brown line. I rubbed it for a long, long time before it would iron without a mark, But it did at last, and we finished our Dolls' Wash just before dark.

* * * * *

Sally's very kind, for she praised our wash, and she has taken away Victoria's dress to do it again; and I really must say She was right when she said, "You see, young ladies, a week's wash isn't all play." Our backs ache, our faces are red, our hands are all wrinkled, and we've rubbed our fingers quite sore; We feel very sorry for Sally every week, and we don't mean to dirty our dresses so much any more.

HOUSE-BUILDING AND REPAIRS.

Father is building a new house, but I've had one given to me for my own; Brick red, with a white window, and black where it ought to be glass, and the chimney yellow, like stone. Brother Bill made me the shelves with his tool-box, and the table I had before, and the pestle-and-mortar; And Mother gave me the jam-pot when it was empty; it's rather big, but it's the only pot we have that will really hold water. We--that is I and Jemima, my doll. (For it's a Doll's House, you know, Though some of the things are real, like the nutmeg-grater, but not the wooden plates that stand in a row. _They_ came out of a box of toy tea-things, and I can't think what became of the others; But one never can tell what becomes of anything when one has brothers.) Jemima is much smaller than I am, and, being made of wood, she is thin; She takes up too much room inside, but she can lie outside on the roof without breaking it in. I wish I had a drawing-room to put her in when I want to really cook; I have to have the kitchen-table outside as it is, and the pestle-and-mortar is rather too heavy for it, and everybody can look. There's no front door to the house, because there's no front to have a door in, and beside, If there were, I couldn't play with anything, for I shouldn't know how to get inside. I never heard of a house with only one room, except the cobbler's, and his was a stall. I don't quite know what that is; but it isn't a house, and it served him for parlour and kitchen and all. Father says that whilst he is about it, he thinks he shall add on a wing; And brother Bill says he'll nail my Doll's House on the top of an old tea-chest, which will come to the same thing.

* * * * *

Father's house is not finished, though the wing is; for now the builder says it will be all wrong if there isn't another to match; And my house isn't done either, though it's nailed on, for Bill took off the roof to make a new one of thatch. The paint is very much scratched, but he says that's nothing, for it must have had a new coat; And he means to paint it for me, inside and out, when he paints his own boat. There's a sad hole in the floor, but Bill says the wood is as rotten as rotten can be: Which was why he made such a mess of the side with trying to put real glass in the window, through which one can see. Bill says he believes that the shortest plan would be to make a new Doll's House with proper rooms, in the regular way; Which was what the builder said to Father when he wanted to build in the old front; and to-day I heard him tell him the old materials were no good to use and weren't worth the expense of carting away. I don't know when I shall be able to play at dolls again, for all the things are put away in a box; Except Jemima and the pestle-and-mortar, and they're in the bottom drawer with my Sunday frocks. I almost wish I had kept the house as it was before; We managed very well with a painted window and without a front door. I don't know what Father means to do with his house, but if ever mine is finished, I'll never have it altered any more.

THE BLUE-BELLS ON THE LEA.

FAIRY KING.

"The breeze is on the Blue-bells, The wind is on the lea; Stay out! stay out! my little lad, And chase the wind with me. If you will give yourself to me, Within the fairy ring, At deep midnight, When stars are bright, You'll hear the Blue-bells ring-- D! DI! DIN! DING! On slender stems they swing.

"The rustling wind, the whistling wind, We'll chase him to and fro, We'll chase him up, we'll chase him down To where the King-cups grow; And where old Jack-o'-Lantern waits To light us on our way, And far behind, Upon the wind, The Blue-bells seem to play-- D! DI! DIN! DING! Lest we should go astray.

"So gay that fairy music, So jubilant those bells, How days and weeks and months go by No happy listener tells! The toad-stools are with sweetmeats spread, The new Moon lends her light, And ringers small Wait, one and all, To ring with all their might-- D! DI! DIN! DING! And welcome you to night."

BOY.

"My mother made me promise To be in time for tea, 'Go home! go home!' the breezes say, That sigh along the lea. I dare not give myself away; For what would Mother do? I wish I might Stay out all night At fairy games with you. D! DI! DIN! DING! And hear the bells of blue.

"But Father sleeps beneath the grass, And Mother is alone: And who would fill the pails, and fetch The wood when I am gone? And who, when little Sister ails, Can comfort her, but me? Her cries and tears Would reach my ears Through all the melody-- D! DI! DIN! DING! Of Blue-bells on the lea."

The sun was on the Blue-bells, The lad was on the lea. "Oh, wondrous bells! Oh, fairy bells! I pray you ring to me. I only did as Mother bade, For tea I did not care, And winds at night Give more delight Than all this noonday glare." D! DI! DIN! DING! No sound of bells was there.

BOY.

"The snow lies o'er the Blue-bells, A storm is on the lea; Our hearth is warm, the fire burns bright, The flames dance merrily. Oh, Mother dear! I would no more That on that summer's day, Within the ring, The Fairy King Had stolen me away-- D! DI! DIN! DING! To where the Blue-bells play.

"Yet when the storm is loudest, At deep midnight I dream, And up and down upon the lea To chase the wind I seem; While by my side, in feathered cap, There runs the Fairy King, And down below, Beneath the snow, We hear the Blue-bells ring-- D! DI! DIN! DING! Such happy dreams they bring!"

AN ONLY CHILD'S TEA-PARTY.

When I go to tea with the little Smiths, there are eight of them there, but there's only one of me, Which makes it not so easy to have a fancy tea-party as if there were two or three. I had a tea-party on my birthday, but Joe Smith says it can't have been a regular one, Because as to a tea-party with only one teacup and no teapot, sugar-basin, cream-jug, or slop-basin, he never heard of such a thing under the sun. But it was a very big teacup, and quite full of milk and water, and, you see, There wasn't anybody there who could really drink milk and water except Towser and me. The dolls can only pretend, and then it washes the paint off their lips, And what Charles the canary drinks isn't worth speaking of, for he takes such very small sips. Joe says a kitchen-chair isn't a table; but it has got four legs and a top, so it would be if the back wasn't there; And that does for Charles to perch on, and I have to put the Prince of Wales to lean against it, because his legs have no joints to sit on a chair.

That's the small doll. I call him the Prince of Wales because he's the eldest son, you see; For I've taken him for my brother, and he was Mother's doll before I was born, so of course he is older than me. Towser is my real live brother, but I don't think he's as old as the Prince of Wales; He's a perfect darling, though he whisks everything over he comes near, and I tell him I don't know what we should do if we all had tails. His hair curls like mine in front, and grows short like a lion behind, but no one need be frightened, for he's as good as good; And as to roaring like a real menagerie lion, or eating people up, I don't believe he would if he could. He has his tea out of the saucer after I've had mine out of the cup; You see I am sure to leave some for him, but if I let him begin first he would drink it all up. The big doll Godmamma gave me this birthday, and the chair she gave me the year before. (I haven't many toys, but I take great care of them, and every birthday I shall have more and more.) You've no idea what a beautiful doll she is, and when I pinch her in the middle, she can squeak; It quite frightened Towser, for he didn't know that any of us but he and I and Charles were able to speak. I've taken her for my only sister, for of course I may take anybody I choose; I've called her Cinderella, because I'm so fond of the story, and because she's got real shoes. I don't feel so _only_ now there are so many of us; for, counting Cinderella there are five,-- She, and I, and Towser, and Charles, and the Prince of Wales--and three of us are really alive; And four of us can speak, and I'm sure the Prince of Wales is wonderful for his size; For his things (at least he's only got one thing) take off and on, and, though he's nothing but wood, he's got real glass eyes. And perhaps in three birthdays more there may be as many of us as the Smiths, for five and three make eight; I shall be seven years old then (as old as Joe), but I don't like to think too much of it, it's so long to wait. And after all I don't know that I want any more of us: I think I'd rather my sister had a chair Like mine; and the next year I should like a collar for Towser if it wouldn't rub off his hair. And it would be very nice if the Prince of Wales could be dressed like a Field-marshal, for he's got nothing on his legs; And Cinderella's beautifully dressed, and Towser looks quite as if he'd got a fur coat on when he begs. Joe says it's perfectly absurd, and that I can't take a Pomeranian in earnest for my brother; But I don't think he really and truly knows how much Towser and I love each other. I didn't like his saying, "Well, there's one thing about your lot,--you can always have your own way." And then he says, "You can't possibly have fun with four people when you have to pretend what they say." But, whatever he says, I don't believe I shall ever enjoy a tea-party more than the one that we had on that day.

PAPA POODLE.

Can any one look so wise, and have so little in his head? How long will it be, Papa Poodle, before you have learned to read? You were called Papa Poodle because you took care of me when I was a baby: And now I can read words of three syllables, and you sit with a book before you like a regular gaby. You've not read a word since I put you in that corner ten minutes ago; Bill and I've fought the battle of Waterloo since dinner, and you've not learned BA BE BI BO. Here am I doing the whole British Army by myself, for Bill is obliged to be the French; And I've come away to hear you say your lesson, and left Bill waiting for me in the trench. And there you sit, with a curly white wig, like the Lord Chief Justice, and as grave a face, Looking the very picture of goodness and wisdom, when you're really in the deepest disgrace. Those woolly locks of yours grow thicker and thicker, Papa Poodle. Does the wool tangle inside as well as outside your head? and is it that which makes you such a noodle? You seem so clever at some things, and so stupid at others, and I keep wondering why; But I'm afraid the truth is, Papa Poodle, that you're uncommonly sly. You did no spelling-lessons last week, for you were out from morning till night, Except when you slunk in, like a dirty door-mat on legs, and with one ear bleeding from a fight, Looking as if you'd no notion what o'clock it was, and had come home to see. But _your watch keeps very good meal-time_, Papa Poodle, for you're always at breakfast, and dinner, and tea. No, it's no good your shaking hands and licking me with your tongue,--I know you can do that; But sitting up, and giving paws, and kissing, won't teach you to spell C A T, Cat. I wonder, if I let you off lessons, whether I could teach you to pull the string with your teeth, and fire our new gun? If I could, you might be the Artillery all to yourself, and it would be capital fun. You wag your tail at that, do you? You would like it a great deal better? But I can't bear you to be such a dunce, when you look so wise; and yet I don't believe you'll ever learn a letter. Aunt Jemima is going to make me a new cocked hat out of the next old newspaper, for I want to have a review; But the newspaper after that, Papa Poodle, must be kept to make a fool's cap for you.

GRANDMOTHER'S SPRING.

"In my young days," the grandmother said (Nodding her head, Where cap and curls were as white as snow), "In my young days, when we used to go Rambling, Scrambling; Each little dirty hand in hand, Like a chain of daisies, a comical band Of neighbours' children, seriously straying, Really and truly going a-Maying, My mother would bid us linger, And lifting a slender, straight forefinger, Would say-- 'Little Kings and Queens of the May, Listen to me! If you want to be Every one of you very good In that beautiful, beautiful, beautiful wood, Where the little birds' heads get so turned with delight, That some of them sing all night: Whatever you pluck, Leave some for good luck; Picked from the stalk, or pulled up by the root, From overhead, or from underfoot, Water-wonders of pond or brook; Wherever you look, And whatever you find-- Leave something behind: Some for the Naïads, Some for the Dryads, And a bit for the Nixies, and the Pixies.'"

"After all these years," the grandame said, Lifting her head, "I think I can hear my mother's voice Above all other noise, Saying, 'Hearken, my child! There is nothing more destructive and wild, No wild bull with his horns, No wild-briar with clutching thorns, No pig that routs in your garden-bed, No robber with ruthless tread, More reckless and rude, And wasteful of all things lovely and good, Than a child, with the face of a boy and the ways of a bear, Who _doesn't care;_ Or some little ignorant minx Who _never thinks_. Now I never knew so stupid an elf, That he couldn't think and care for himself. Oh, little sisters and little brothers, Think for others, and care for others! And of all that your little fingers find, Leave something behind, For love of those that come after: Some, perchance, to cool tired eyes in the moss that stifled your laughter! Pluck, children, pluck! But leave--for good luck-- Some for the Naïads, And some for the Dryads, And a bit for the Nixies, and the Pixies!'"