"There was an old woman toss'd up in a blanket
Ninety-nine times as high as the moon,
But where she was going no mortal could tell,
For under her arm she carried a broom.
'Old woman, old woman, old woman,' said I,
'Whither, ah! whither, whither so high?'
'Oh, I'm sweeping the cobwebs off the sky,
And I'll be with you by-and-by!'"
The wildest idea is suggested by the rhyme of—
"We're all in the dumps, for diamonds are trumps,
And the kittens are gone to St. Paul's;
All the babies are bit, and the moon's in a fit,
And the houses are built without walls."
The economy of the little boy who lived all alone is seen in—
"When I was a little boy I lived by myself,
All the bread and cheese I got I put upon the shelf."
"Draw a pail of water
For my lady's daughter,
My father's a king and my mother's a queen,
My two little sisters are dressed up in green."
The baby game of tickling the palm of the hand will be remembered in—
"Round about, round about, runs the little hare,
First it runs that way, then it runs up there."