FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS
[NOT IN CLASSIC LOOK, BUT RICH IN THE CHILD-SAGAS OF THE KITCHEN]
[KNEEL, ALL GLOWING, TO THE COOL SPRING]
[NO BOY KNOWS WHEN HE GOES TO SLEEP]
[WHILE ALL THE ARMY, FOLLOWING, IN CHORUS CHEERS AND SINGS]
[WHERE IT GOES WHEN THE FIRE GOES OUT?]
[THE FAIRY QUEEN OF THE SEASONS]
[SQUINT' OUR EYES AN' LAUGH' AGAIN]
[HE'S A-MARCHIN' ROUND THE ROOM]
[THE OLD TREE SAYS HE'S ALL OUR TREE]
[SHE'S BUT A RACING SCHOOL-GIRL]
[xiv] [THEY WAS GOD'S PEOPLE]
[THEM WUZ THE BEST TIMES EVER WUZ]
[HE'S GO' HITCH UP, CHRIS'MUS-DAY, AN' COME TAKE ME BACK AGAIN]
[A BIG, HOLLOW, OLD OAK-TREE, WHICH HAD BEEN BLOWN DOWN BY A STORM]
[THE YOUNG FOXES IN IT, ON THE HEARTH BESIDE HER]
[AN' ALL BE POETS AN' ALL RECITE]
[ALONG THE BRINK OF WILD BROOK-WAYS]
[WHILE KATE PICKS BY, YET LOOKS NOT THERE]
[LEND ME THE BREATH OF A FRESHENING GALE]
[BOW TO ME IN THE WINDER THERE]
[THE CHILDISH DREAMS IN HIS WISE OLD HEAD]
THE BOOK OF
JOYOUS CHILDREN
THE BOOK OF
JOYOUS CHILDREN
Bound and bordered in leaf-green,
Edged with trellised buds and flowers
And glad Summer-gold, with clean
White and purple morning-glories
Such as suit the songs and stories
Of this book of ours,
Unrevised in text or scene,—
The Book of Joyous Children.
Wild and breathless in their glee—
Lawless rangers of all ways
Winding through lush greenery
Of Elysian vales—the viny,
Bowery groves of shady, shiny
Haunts of childish days.
Spread and read again with me
The Book of Joyous Children.
What a whir of wings, and what
Sudden drench of dews upon
The young brows, wreathed, all unsought,
With the apple-blossom garlands
Of the poets of those far lands
Whence all dreams are drawn
Set herein and soiling not
The Book of Joyous Children.
In their blithe companionship
Taste again, these pages through,
The hot honey on your lip
Of the sun-smit wild strawberry,
Or the chill tart of the cherry;
Kneel, all glowing, to
The cool spring, and with it sip
The Book of Joyous Children.
As their laughter needs no rule,
So accept their language, pray.—
Touch it not with any tool:
Surely we may understand it,—
As the heart has parsed or scanned it
Is a worthy way,
Though found not in any School
The Book of Joyous Children.
"Kneel, all glowing, to the cool spring."
Be a truant—know no place
Of prison under heaven's rim!
Front the Father's smiling face—
Smiling, that you smile the brighter
For the heavy hearts made lighter,
Since you smile with Him.
Take—and thank Him for His grace—
The Book of Joyous Children.