CONTENTS page [general introduction] vii [introduction to volume one] xv [FATHER AND MOTHER PLAYS ] [Baby’s Ten Little Live Playthings] 2 By J. K. Barry [Monday] 4 By Edith Goodyear [Finger Play] 5 By Edith Goodyear [Counting the Fingers] 6 [An Old Norse Finger Play] 6 [Baby’s Toes] 6 [Baby’s Toes] 7 By Edith A. Bentley [This Is the Way My Fingers Stand] 8 [Thumbkin, Pointer] 8 [Naming the Fingers] 8 By Laura E. Richards [Robert Barns] 8 "[“Shall I, Oh! Shall I?”] 8 [Jack, Be Nimble] 9 [Two Little Hands] 9 [Pat a Cake] 9 [Clap Your Hands] 9 [The Bird’s Nest] 10 A Froebel Finger Play [Two Little Blackbirds] 10 [Master Smith] 10 [Little Robin Redbreast] 10 [Greeting] 10 [A Play for the Arms] 10 [The Little Window] 10 A Froebel Finger Play [Sing a Song of Sixpence] 11 [The Pigeon House] 11 A Froebel Finger Play [Said This Little Fairy] 12 [A Burrowing Game] 12 [Pat a Cake] 12 A Froebel Finger Play [A Knee Game] 12 [A Foot Play] 12 [Putting the Fingers to Sleep] 13 [Ten Little Squirrels] 14 [My Little Garden] 15 [The Family] 16 By Emilie Poulsson [Johnny Shall Have a New Bonnet] 18 [RIDING SONGS FOR FATHER’S KNEE] [To Market Ride the Gentlemen] 19 [Here Goes My Lord] 19 [A Farmer Went Trotting] 20 [Up to the Ceiling] 20 [The Messenger] 20 [Catch Him, Crow] 20 [Ride a Cock-Horse] 21 [This Is the Way] 21 [Ride Away, Ride Away] 21 [To Market, to Market] 21 [Trot, Trot, the Baby Goes] 21 By Mary F. Butts [Ride a Cock-Horse] 22 [Here We Go] 22 [MOTHER GOOSE SONGS AND STORIES] [Who Are These?] 24 [I Saw a Ship a-Sailing] 25 [Goosey, Goosey, Gander] 25 [The Wind] 25 [Once I Saw a Little Bird] 25 [Ring-a-Ring-a-Roses] 25 [Cross Patch] 26 [Happy Let Us Be] 26 [The Old Woman in the Basket] 26 [The Fox and the Old Gray Goose] 28 [Jack and Jill] 29 [Willy Boy] 29 [Bonny Lass] 29 [Oh, Where Are You Going?] 30 [Bobby Shaftoe] 30 [Ding-Dong-Bell] 30 [London Bridge] 31 [Green Gravel] 32 [Old Mother Hubbard] 32 [Little Bo-Peep] 34 [Come Out to Play] 35 [Little Robin Redbreast] 35 [Little Boy Blue] 36 [My Maid Mary] 36 [Hark! Hark!] 37 [Bow-Wow-Wow] 37 [Blow, Wind, Blow] 37 [Bye, Baby Bunting] 37 [Three Little Kittens] 38 [Tom Was a Piper’s Son] 39 [Daffy-Down-Dilly] 40 [Billy Boy] 40 [Three Wise Men of Gotham] 41 [Little Tommy Tucker] 41 [Pussy and the Mice] 41 [When I Was a Little Boy] 41 [Chinese Mother-Goose Rhymes] 42 By Prof. Isaac Taylor Headland [MOTHER GOOSE CONTINUED] By Anna Marion Smith [Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat] 45 [Little Boy Blue] 45 [Pat-a-Cake] 46 [Dickory Dock] 46 [How Many Miles to Babylon?] 47 [Hark! Hark!] 47 [There Was an Old Woman] 48 [Humpty Dumpty] 51 [The Queen of Hearts] 54 [One Misty, Moisty Morning] 54 [Old King Cole] 55 [Pussy Sits Beside the Fire] 56 [The North Wind Doth Blow] 56 [I Had a Little Husband] 57 [There Was a Man in Our Town] 57 [See Saw, Sacaradown] 57 [Sing a Song o’ Sixpence] 58 [I Love Little Pussy] 58 [The Horner Brothers] 59 By Elizabeth Raymond Woodward [A Little Old Man] 60 [Jingles] 60 [Sailing] 61 By Lucy Fitch Perkins [An Up-to-Date Pussy-Cat] 62 By Adeline Knapp [Misery in Company] 63 By Lucy Fitch Perkins [Court News] 64 By Lucy Fitch Perkins [A Message to Mother Goose] 65 By Ellen Manly [SLEEPY-TIME SONGS AND STORIES] [Sweet and Low] 72 By Alfred, Lord Tennyson [The Sleepy-Time Story] 73 By Gertrude Smith [The Go Sleep Story] 75 By Eudora S. Bumstead [The Gentle Dark] 78 By W. Grahame Robertson [The Ferry for Shadowtown] 78 [Hush-a-Bye, Baby] 78 [The Kitten and the Falling Leaves] 78 By William Wordsworth [Late] 79 By Josephine Preston Peabody [A Blessing for the Blessed] 80 By Laurence Alma-Tadema [My Dolly] 80 [The Child and the World] 80 [Evening Song] 80 By C. Frances Alexander [Rock-a-Bye, Baby] 80 [The Sandman] 81 By Margaret Vandergrift [The Fairy Folk] 81 By Robert Bird [Queen Mab] 82 By Thomas Hood [Lullaby] 82 By Gertrude Thompson Miller [Kentucky Babe] 82 [My Possessions] 83 [The Wake-Up Story] 83 By Eudora S. Bumstead [FIRST STORIES FOR VERY LITTLE FOLK] [About Six Little Chickens] 86 By S. L. Elliott [“Trade-Last”] 88 By Lucy Fitch Perkins [Philip’s Horse] 89 [The Kitten That Forgot How to Mew] 90 By Stella George Stern [What Could the Farmer Do?] 93 By George William Ogden [Fledglings] 97 By Lucy Fitch Perkins [“Time to Get Up!”] 98 By Ellen Foster [Maggie’s Very Own Secret] 100 By Sara Josephine Albright [The Good Little Piggie and His Friends] 102 By L. Waldo Lockling [Baby’s Paradise] 105 By Lucy Fitch Perkins [Disobedience] 106 [For a Little Girl of Three] 108 By Uncle Ned [A Funny Family] [Little by Little] [LITTLE STORIES THAT GROW BIG] [The House that Jack Built] 111 [Giant Thunder Bones] 112 By Stella Doughty [The House that Jill Built] 116 By Carolyn Wells [The Old Woman and Her Pig] 119 [The Lambikin] 121 [The Cat and the Mouse] 123 [Henny-Penny] 124 [Three Goats in the Ryefield] 127 Adapted by Cecilia Farwell [Teeny Tiny] 129 [Song of the Pear Tree] 130 [Cock-Alu and Hen-Alie] 131 By Mary Howitt [There Is the Key of the Kingdom] 136 [FUN FOR VERY LITTLE FOLK] [No Dogs Allowed at Large] 137 By Culmer Barnes [Tommy and His Sister and Their New Pony-Cart] 138 By Dewitt Clinton Falls [The Adventures of Three Little Kittens] 139 By Culmer Barnes [The Little Kittens’ Surprise] 140 By Culmer Barnes [Ted’s Foolish Wish] 141 By Charles Fitch Lester [Nonsense Rhyme] 142 [Timothy Trundle] 143 By Frederick Moxon [A Dream of Glory] 148 By Charles Fitch Lester [Pictures] 149 By Culmer Barnes [The Reunion of the Bruin Family at the Sea Shore] 150 By Culmer Barnes [The Baby Mice Are Instructed by Their Fond Papa] 151 By Culmer Barnes [Roly Poly on Vacation] 152 By Culmer Barnes [Mother Goose’s Last Trolley Ride] 153 By Culmer Barnes [Ivan and the Wolf] 154 By Culmer Barnes [Homeward Bound] 154 By Culmer Barnes [Their Little Jar] 156 By Bell [Little Eski and the Polar Bear] 158 By Culmer Barnes [FUNNY VERSES AND PICTURES] [The Frog’s Fiasco] 160 By D. K. Stevens [The Musical Trust] 164 By D. K. Stevens [The Cautious Cat] 168 By D. K. Stevens [Three Little Bears] 171 By M. C. McNeill [The Snowman] 172 By W. W. Ellsworth [ANIMAL STORIES] [Tiny Hare and the Wind Ball] 173 By A. L. Sykes [How Tiny Hare Met Cat] 176 By A. L. Sykes [The Wee Hare and the Red Fire] 179 By A. L. Sykes [The Good King] 182 By Margaret and Clarence Weed [Early and Late] 184 By W. S. Reed [The Little Pink Pig and the Big Road] 185 By Jasmine Stone Van Dresser [Juggerjook] 188 By L. Frank Baum [What You Burying, a Bone] 194 [The Little Gray Kitten] 194 By Mary Lawrence Turnbull [Pussy’s Wheels] 197 By Annie W. McCullough [The Small Gray Mouse] 198 By Nathan Haskell Dole [The Rabbit, the Turtle, and the Owl] 200 [Homes] 201 By Annie W. McCullough [Meal-Time in the Bear-Pits at the Zoo] 202 By I. W. Taben [The Fine Good Show] 204 By Jessie Wright Whitcomb [Gay and Spy] 208 [The Ballad of a Runaway Donkey] 212 By Emilie Poulsson [The Three Bears] 220 [The Little Bear’s Story] 221 By C. F. Holder [The Hare and the Hedgehog] 224 By The Brothers Grimm [The Wee Robin’s Christmas Song] 226 A Scotch Story, attributed to Robert Burns Adapted by Jennie Ellis Burdick [The Fox] 228 [Three Companions] 229 By Dinah Maria Mulock-Craik [“’Fraid Cat!”] 230 By Frank Munro [The Spider and the Fly] 231 By Mary Howitt [EVERY-DAY VERSES] [A Little Gentleman] 233 By Alden Arthur Knipe [Time for Everything] 233 By Alden Arthur Knipe [Umbrellas and Rubbers] 234 By Alden Arthur Knipe [Whispering in School] 234 By Alden Arthur Knipe [Recess] 235 By Alden Arthur Knipe [After School] 235 By Alden Arthur Knipe [Monday’s Lessons] 235 By Alden Arthur Knipe [At Dinner] 236 By Alden Arthur Knipe [Valor] 237 By Lucy Fitch Perkins [A Domestic Tragedy] 238 By Lucy Fitch Perkins [The Capitalist] 239 By Lucy Fitch Perkins [In Merry England] 240 By Lucy Fitch Perkins [The Goose Girl] 241 By Lucy Fitch Perkins [The Philosopher] 242 By Lucy Fitch Perkins [Thirsty Flowers] 243 By Alden Arthur Knipe [Sharing with Others] 243 By Alden Arthur Knipe [Pockets] 244 By Alden Arthur Knipe [Waiting for Dinner] 244 By Alden Arthur Knipe [The Critic] 245 By Lucy Fitch Perkins [Diplomacy] 246 By Lucy Fitch Perkins [If I Were Queen] 247 By Lucy Fitch Perkins [Thoughts in Church] 248 By Lucy Fitch Perkins [THE DAYS OF THE WEEK] [This is the Way] 249 [Days of Birth] 250 [The Washing] 250 [Solomon Grundy] 250 [Baby’s Play Days] 250 [Which Do You Choose?] 251 [Seven Little Mice] 251 By Stella George Stern [Visiting] 252 [Little Tommy’s Monday Morning] 252 By Tudor Jenks [St. Saturday] 254 By Henry Johnstone [NUMBER RHYMES] [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] 255 [Over in the Meadow] 255 By Olive A. Wadsworth [Counting Apple-Seeds] 256 [Twins] 257 By Lucy Fitch Perkins [The Rhyme of Ten Little Rabbits] 258 By Kate N. Mytinger [In July] 260 By A. S. Webber [The Wish of Priscilla Penelope Powers] 262 By Mrs. John T. Van Sant [Winkelman Von Winkel] 262 By Clara Odell Lyon [Ten Little Cookies] 263 [Our Baby] 263 [Long Time Ago] 264 By Elizabeth Prentiss [Buckle My Shoe] 264 [STORIES FOR LITTLE GIRLS] [A Pair of Gloves] 265 By H. G. Duryée [A Very Little Story of a Very Little Girl] 268 By Alice E. Allen [Edith’s Tea Party] 269 By Lois Walters [Rebecca] 271 By Eleanor Piatt [Dorothea’s School Gifts] 272 By Eunice Ward [The Lost Money] 276 By Bolton Hall [A Dutch Treat] 277 By Amy B. Johnson [The Jingle of the Little Jap] 283 By Isabel Eccleston Mackay [The Seventh Birthday of the Little Cousin] [from Constantinople] 284 By Emma C. Dowd [Little Red Riding-Hood] 286 Retold from Grimm [Dolly’s Doctor] 288 [Thumbelina] 288 By Hans Christian Andersen [The Fox and the Little Red Hen] 294 [The Shoemaker and the Little Elves] 294 By The Brothers Grimm [The Gingerbread Boy] 296 [STORIES FOR LITTLE BOYS] [Mischief] 297 By Rosamond Upham [Willie and His Dog Diver] 299 By H. N. Powers [Gordon’s Toy Castle on the Hill] 300 By Everett Wilson [Hans the Innocent] 302 Written and Illustrated by M. I. Wood [A Real Little Boy Blue] 304 By Caroline S. Allen [Travels of a Fox] 306 Adapted by Cecilia Farwell [Oeyvind and Marit] 308 [HAPPY DAYS] [What the Cat and Hen Did] 313 By Alice Ralston [Dot’s Birthday Cake] 316 [Ned and Rover and Jack] 317 [I Had a Little Kitten] 318 [How Polly Had Her Picture Taken] 319 By Everett Wilson [Idle Ben] 321 [The Hole in the Canna-Bed] 321 By Isabel Gordon Curtis [The Conceited Mouse] 323 By Ella Foster Case [RHYMES CONCERNING MOTHER] [A Boy’s Mother] 325 By James Whitcomb Riley [Mother] 325 By Rose Fyleman [The Goodest Mother] 325 [Mother’s Way] 326 By Carrie Williams [Who Is It?] 326 By Ethel M. Kelley [My Dearest Is a Lady] 327 By Miriam S. Clark [How Many Lumps?] 327 [When Mother Goes Away] 328 By Clara Odell Lyon [An Old Song—“There’s No Place Like Home!”] 328 By Blanche Elizabeth Wade [UNCLES AND AUNTS AND OTHER RELATIVES] [Grandmother’s Memories] 329 By Helen A. Byrom [Great-Aunt Lucy Lee] 330 By Cora Walker Hayes [Our Visitors] 334 By Isabel Lyndall [Beautiful Grandmamma] 338 [Thanksgiving Day] 340 By Lydia Maria Child [Grandma’s Minuet] 340 [Aunt Jan] 341 By Norman Gale [After Tea] 342 [AMUSING ALPHABETS] [Tingle, Tangle Titmouse] 343 [An English Alphabet] 344 [Nonsense Alphabet] 346 [Past History] 348 By Edward Lear [The Apple Pie] 351 [Who’s Who in the Zoo] 352 By Carolyn Wells [A Was an Archer] 357 [A Little Folks’ Alphabet] 358 By Carolyn Wells [Child Health Alphabet] 360 By Mrs. Frederick Peterson [Here’s A, B, C, D] 363 [Our Stories] 364
These ten little live playthings can be held in every baby’s hand, five in one and five in the other and be the baby ever so poor yet he always has these ten playthings because, you know, he brings them with him.
But all babies do not know how to play with them. They find out for themselves a good many ways of playing with them but here are some of the ways that a baby I used to know got amusement out of his.
The very first was the play called “Ta-ra-chese” (Ta-rar-cheese). It is a Dutch word and there was a little song about it all in Dutch. This is the way the baby I knew would play it when he was a tiny little fellow.
His Mamma would hold her hand up and move it gently around this way (Fig. 1) singing “Ta-ra-chese, ta-ra-chese!” Baby would look and watch awhile, and presently his little hand would begin to move and five little playthings would begin the play—dear, sweet little chubby pink fingers—for I think you have guessed these are every baby’s playthings.
How glad Mamma is to find that her baby has learned his first lesson!
Then he must learn, “Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake Baker’s man,” (Fig. 2) and “How big is baby?” “So Big! ”
And here are some other ways by which a little sister’s fingers may amuse the baby.
“This the church and this is the steeple, Open the gates—there are all the good people.” (Fig. 3)
“Chimney sweep—Oho! oho! Chimney sweep!” (Fig. 4)
“Put your finger in the bird’s nest. The bird isn’t home.” (Fig. 5)
And then when the little finger is poked in, a sly pinch is given by a hidden thumb and baby is told, “The birdie has just come home!” But you mustn’t pinch hard, of course, just enough to make baby laugh at being caught.
And then there is the play of “Two men sawing wood—one little boy picking up chips.” (Fig. 6) The two finger men are moved up and down and the little boy finger works busily.
Everybody knows the rhyming finger-play:
“Here’s my Father’s knives and forks, (Fig. 7)
Another play is a little act in which three persons are supposed to take part, and it has come down from the old times of long ago.
The middle finger is the Friar. Those on each side of him touch each other and make the door, the little finger is the Lady and the thumb is the Page. (Fig. 11)
The Friar knocks at the door.
Friar . “Knock, Knock, Knock!”
Page . “Somebody knocks at the door! Somebody knocks at the door!”
Lady . “Who is it? Who is it?”
Page . (Going to door) “Who is it? Who is it?”
Friar . “A Friar, a Friar.”
Page . “A Friar, Ma’am, a Friar, Ma’am.”
Lady . “What does he want? What does he want?”
Page. “What do you want, Sir? What do you want, Sir?”
Friar. “I want to come in. I want to come in.”
Page. “He wants to come in, Ma’am. He wants to come in.”
Lady. “Let him walk in. Let him walk in.”
Page. “Will you walk in, Sir? Will you walk in?”
So in he pops and takes a seat.
When each player is supposed to speak he or she must move gently, bending forward and back and when the Friar is invited to enter, the door must open only just far enough to let him “pop in.”
These are only some of the plays with which the baby I knew used to be amused; but they will suggest others to parents and older brothers and sisters. The baby cannot make all of these things himself but he will be quite as much interested when they are made by older hands.
