My Shadow
“My Shadow,” by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-94), is one of the most popular short poems extant. I have taught it to a great many very young boys, and not …
Playing Robinson Crusoe
Pussy can sit by the fire and sing, Pussy can climb a tree, Or play with a silly old cork and string To ‘muse herself, not me. But I …
True Royalty
“True Royalty” and “Playing Robinson Crusoe” are pleasing stanzas from “The Just So Stories” of Rudyard Kipling (1865-). There was never a Queen like Balkis, From here to the …
The Days of the Month
“The Days of the Month” is a useful bit of doggerel that we need all through life. It is anonymous. Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November; February …
Pippa
“Spring’s at the Morn,” from “Pippa Passes,” by Robert Browning (1812-89), has become a very popular stanza with little folks. “All’s right with the world” is a cheerful motto …
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
Twinkle, twinkle, little star! How I wonder what you are, Up above the world so high, Like a diamond in the sky. When the glorious sun is set, When …
He Prayeth Best
These two stanzas, the very heart of that great poem, “The Ancient Mariner,” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), sum up the lesson of this masterpiece—”Insensibility is a crime.” Farewell, …
Little Things
Little drops of water, Little grains of sand, Make the mighty ocean And the pleasant land. Thus the little minutes, Humble though they be, Make the mighty ages Of …
Let Dogs Delight to Bark and Bite
“Let Dogs Delight to Bark and Bite,” by Isaac Watts (1674-1748), and “Little Drops of Water,” by Ebenezer Cobham Brewer (1810-97), are poems that the world cannot outgrow. Once …
The Babie
I found “The Babie” in Stedman’s “Anthology.” It is placed in this volume by permission of the poet, Jeremiah Eames Rankin, of Cleveland (1828-), because it captured the heart …
The Arrow and the Song
“The Arrow and the Song,” by Longfellow (1807-82), is placed first in this volume out of respect to a little girl of six years who used to love to …
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