In My Nursery

THE BABY GOES TO BOSTON

What does the train say?Jiggle joggle, jiggle joggle!What does the train say?Jiggle joggle jee!Will the little baby goRiding with the locomo?Loky moky poky stokySmoky choky chee!Ting! ting! the bells ring,Jiggle joggle, jiggle joggle!Ting! ting! the bells ring,Jiggle joggle jee!Ring for joy because we goRiding with the locomo,Loky moky poky stokySmoky choky chee!Look! how the trees run,Jiggle joggle, jiggle joggle!Each chasing t'other one,Jiggle joggle jee!Are they running for to goRiding with the locomo?Loky moky poky stokySmoky choky chee!Over the hills now,Jiggle joggle, jiggle joggle!Down through the vale below,Jiggle joggle jee!All the cows and horses run,Crying, "Won't you take us on,Loky moky poky stokySmoky choky chee?"So, so, the miles go,Jiggle joggle, jiggle joggle!Now it's fast and now it's slow,Jiggle joggle jee!When we're at our journey's end,Say good-by to snorting friend,Loky moky poky stokySmoky choky chee!

THE FLAG IN THE SCHOOLROOM

[Written for the Central Street Grammar School, Gardiner, Me., Dec. 20, 1880.]Goddess Freedom, look abroadFrom thy snowy mount to-night!In all thy realm so fair and broad,Thou shalt not see a fairer sight.Youthful hearts, so glad and free,Paying homage due to thee:Youthful voices, fresh and strong,Singing thine immortal song.As the stars with many a rayDeck thy banner's azure field,So these children stand to-day,Stars of hope upon thy shield.May each boy, to manhood grown,Ever, Freedom, be thine own;Now thy nursling, frail and tender,Then thy strength and thy defender.In the years that are to come,Be they dark or be they bright,Make in these young hearts thy home,Raise them to thy lofty height.Keep them still, in manhood's glow,Pure as is our northern snow;Keep their faith, till life be done,Bright as is our northern sun!

JOHNNY JUMP-UP

Who wakes earliest in the morn?Sure you'll think it is the lark,Who before the daylight's born,Rises singing through the dark.But though sweet the lark may carol,Early to his mate may call,Johnny Jump-up, Johnny Jump-up,Carols loud before them all.Who wakes latest in the nightWhen the sun is gone to bed,When each tiny blossom brightNods in sleep its pretty head?Other babies all are sleeping,Mother's eyelids droop and fall.Johnny Jump-up, Johnny Jump-up,Waketh later than them all.Johnny's eyes are very lovely,Johnny's eyes are very blue;But one hardly cares to see themSnap and dance the whole night through.Johnny's laugh is clear and ringing,Tinkling like a silver bell;But a child should not be singingMorning, noon, and night as well.Johnny Jump-up, Johnny Jump-up,Rules us with his tiny hand;Lord and master, king and kaiser,In the realm of Nurseryland.Take your pleasure without measure;Laugh and crow, and whoop and call!Johnny Jump-up, Johnny Jump-up,We're your faithful servants all!

THE OUTLANDISHMAN

The Outlandishman came o'er the sea, o'er the sea,In a skipaway flipaway boat;And who so merry, so merry as he,As soon as he got afloat?He sat on the poop to gobble his soupWith a spoon, with a spoon of the best;And part of his fast he broke on the mast,And smashed on the bowsprit the rest.He lowered his line in the deep, in the deep,And invited the fishlikins up;Then he hung them in rows in front of his nose,And wished it were time to sup.Then the Bottlegreen Bovis arose, arose,And asked was he game for a fight;But he seized on the anchor and threw it with rancor,And the foe-fish retired from sight.He danced on the deck with never a checkTill the clock, till the clock struck nine.And his eyes did wink, and he sang "tink a tink!"In the mowl of the merry moonshine.Lo! all of these things the Outlandishman did,As he sailed, as he sailed on the sea.Yea, more! yea, more! both sorry and sore,But you never shall learn them from me.

A SLEIGH-RIDE

Ting! ring! the sleigh-bells jingleMerrily over the frozen snow.Cheeks a-glow and ears a-tingle,Tumble in, children, here we go!Ting! ring! the sleigh-bells jingle!Get along, Dobbin! go along, Jack!Bells and voices merrily mingle,Swift we fly as an arrow's track.Ting! ring! the sleigh-bells jingle!Nose cold, Tommy? Here, rub it with snow!Toes ache, Ned? Just kick till they tingle,Thump! thump! thump! on the dasher, so!Ting! ring! the sleigh-bells jingle!Snow-wreaths fly like a snow-sea's foam.Sweet bells, sweet laugh, hark! how they mingle!Tumble out, children, here we're at home!

The Little Gnome

Once there lived a little gnomeWho had made his little homeRight down in the middle of the earth, earth, earth.He was full of fun and frolic,But his wife was melancholic,And he never could divert her into mirth, mirth, mirth.He had tried her with a monkeyAnd a parrot and a donkey,And a pig that squealed whene'er he pulled its tail, tail, tail.But though he laughed himselfInto fits, the jolly elf,Still his wifey's melancholy did not fail, fail, fail.

THE BLINKING BEAR

"I will hie me," said the gnome,"From my worthy earthy home;I will go among the dwellings of the men, men, men.Something funny there must be,That will make her say 'He, he!'I will find it and will bring it her again, 'gain, 'gain."

THE PATTYPOL

So he travelled here and there,And he saw the Blinking Bear,And the Pattypol whose eyes are in his tail, tail, tail.And he saw the Linking Gloon,Who was playing the bassoon,And the Octopus a-waltzing with the whale, whale, whale.

THE LINKING GLOON

He saw the Chingo Chee,And a lovely sight was he,With a ringlet and a ribbon on his nose, nose, nose,And the Baggle, and the Wogg,And the Cantilunar Dog,Who was throwing cotton-flannel at his foes, foes, foes.All these the little gnomeTransported to his home,And set them down before his weeping wife, wife, wife;But she only cried and cried,And she sobbywobbed and sighed,Till she really was in danger of her life, life, life.

THE OCTOPUS AND WHALE

Then the gnome was in despair,And he tore his purple hair,And he sat him down in sorrow on a stone, stone, stone."I, too," he said, "will cry,Till I tumble down and die,For I've had enough of laughing all alone, 'lone, 'lone."

THE BAGGLE, THE WOGG, and THE CHINGO CHEE

His tears they flowed away,Like a rivulet at play,With a bubble, gubble, rubble, o'er the ground, ground, ground.But when this his wifey saw,She loudly cried "Haw, haw!Here at last is something funny you have found, found, found."She laughed, "Ho, ho! he, he!"And she chuckled loud with glee,And she wiped away her little husband's tears, tears, tears.And since then, through wind and weather,They have said "He, he!" together,For several hundred thousand merry years, years, years.

The Little Dutchess

Once there lived a little Dutchess,Just beside the Zuyder Zee;Short and stout and roly-poly,As a Dutchess ought to be.She had pigs and she had poultry,She had lands and she had gold;And she loved the Burgomaster, —Loved him more than can be told."Surly, burly Burgomaster,Will you have me for your love?You shall be my pouter-pigeon,I will be your turtle-dove."You shall have my China porkers,You shall have each Dorking hen;Take them with your loving Dutchess,Oh, you Dutchiest of men!"Loudly laughed the Burgomaster,"Naught I care for Dorking fowls;Naught for pig, unless 'tis roasted,And on that my doctor scowls."Frumpy, stumpy little Dutchess,I do not incline to wed.Keep your pigs and keep your poultry!I will take your gold instead."I will take your shining florins,I will take your fields' rich hoard;You may go and tend your piggiesTill your spirits be restored."Loudly wept the little Dutchess,Tending sad each China pig;Loudly laughed the Burgomaster'Neath his merry periwig.Till the Dutchy people, angryConduct such as this to see,Took and plumped the pouter-pigeonRight into the Zuyder Zee.

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"Though you're such a Hoddy-Doddy!" —Edward Lear.