“Dzdzdzdz. You think you’re wonderful, you poor little creeping worm tied to the earth! I pity all you slow, slow things that I look down on as I fly through the sky. Ox made way for horse, horse made way for engine, car and auto but all,—all make way for me. For if you want speed, I’m just what you need. Dzdzdzdzdz.”
And the great aeroplane wheeled and rose like a giant bird. The automobile watched him, too humbled to speak. Up, up, up, went the aeroplane—up, up, up ’til it was out of sight.
SPEED
The hounds they speed with hanging tongues;
The deer they speed with bursting lungs;
Foxes hurry,
Field mice scurry.
Eagles fly
Swift, through the sky,
And man, his face all wrinkled with worry,
Goes speeding by tho’ he couldn’t tell why!
But a little wild hare
He pauses to stare
At the daisies and baby and me
Just sitting,—not trying to go anywhere,
Just sitting and playing with never a care
In the shade of a great elm tree.
And the daisies they laugh
As they hear the world pass,
What is speed to the growing flowers?
And my baby laughs
As he sits in the grass,
We all laugh through the sunshiny hours,—
Through the long, dear sunshiny hours!
For flowers and babies
And I still know
’Tis fun to be happy,
’Tis fun to go slow,
’Tis fun to take time to live and to grow.
FIVE LITTLE BABIES
This story was originally written because the children thought a negro was dirty. The songs are authentic. They have been enjoyed by children as young as four years old.