The Peter Patter Book of Nursery Rhymes

THE PETER PATTER BOOK of NURSERY RHYMES by Pictures by LEROY F. BLANCHE JACKSON FISHER WRIGHT
To ANDREW, PUDGE, AND BOBBY My first appreciative audience
Copyright © 1918 by Rand McNally & Company. Renewal copyright 1946 by Rand McNally & Co. All rights reserved.
PETER PATTER told them to me, All the little rimes, Whispered them among the bushes Half a hundred times. Peter lives upon a mountain Pretty near the sun, Knows the bears and birds and rabbits Nearly every one; Has a home among the alders, Bed of cedar bark, Walks alone beneath the pine trees Even when it’s dark. Squirrels tell him everything That happens in the trees, Cricket in the gander-grass Sings of all he sees; Rimes from bats and butterflies, Crabs and waterfowl; But the best of all he gets From his Uncle Owl. Sometimes when its day-time, But mostly in the night, They sit beneath an oak tree And hug each other tight, And tell their rimes and riddles Where the catty creatures prowl— Funny little Peter Patter And his Uncle Owl.

Jingle, jingle, Jack, A copper down a crack. Twenty men and all their wives, With sticks and picks and pocket knives, Digging for their very lives To get the copper back.
I’m much too big for a fairy, And much too small for a man, But this is true: Whatever I do, I do it the best I can.
Did you ever play tag with a tiger, Or ever play boo with a bear; Did you ever put rats in the rain-barrel To give poor old Granny a scare? It’s fun to play tag with a tiger, It’s fun for the bear to say “boo,” But if rats are found in the rain-barrel Old Granny will put you in too.
Hot mush and molasses all in a blue bowl— Eat it, it’s good for you, sonny. ’T will make you grow tall as a telephone pole— Eat it, it’s good for you, sonny. Fresh fish and potatoes all on a blue plate— Eat it up smart now, my sonny. ’T will make you as jolly and fat as Aunt Kate— Eat it up quick now, my sonny. Sweet milk from a nanny-goat in a blue cup— Drink it, it’s good for you, sonny, ’T will fill you, expand you, and help you grow up, And make a real man of you, sonny.