NINE LITTLE GOSLINGS.
by
SUSAN COOLIDGE,
Author of "The New Year's Bargain," "Mischief's Thanksgiving," "WhatKaty Did," "What Katy Did at School."
With Illustrations.
CURLY LOCKS. GOOSEY, GOOSEY GANDER. LITTLE BO-PEEP. MISTRESS MARY. LADY BIRD. ONE, TWO, BUCKLE MY SHOE. RIDE A COCK-HORSE. LADY QUEEN ANNE. UP, UP, UP, AND DOWN, DOWN, DOWN-Y.
Boston:Roberts Brothers.1893.
Copyright, 1875.By Roberts Brothers.
University Press . John Wilson & Son,Cambridge.
_When nursery lamps are veiled, and nurse is singing In accents low, Timing her music to the cradle's swinging, Now fast, now slow,--_
_Singing of Baby Bunting, soft and furry In rabbit cloak, Or rock-a-byed amid the toss and flurry Of wind-swept oak;_
_Of Boy-Blue sleeping with his horn beside him, Of my son John, Who went to bed (let all good boys deride him) With stockings on;_
_Of sweet Bo-Peep following her lambkins straying; Of Dames in shoes; Of cows, considerate, 'mid the Piper's playing, Which tune to choose;_
_Of Gotham's wise men bowling o'er the billow, Or him, less wise, Who chose rough bramble-bushes for a pillow, And scratched his eyes,--_
_It may be, while she sings, that through the portal Soft footsteps glide, And, all invisible to grown-up mortal, At cradle side_
_Sits Mother Goose herself, the dear old mother, And rocks and croons, In tones which Baby hearkens, but no other, Her old-new tunes!_
_I think it must be so, else why, years after, Do we retrace And mix with shadowy, recollected laughter Thoughts of that face;_
_Seen, yet unseen, beaming across the ages, Brimful of fun And wit and wisdom, baffling all the sages Under the sun?_
_A grown-up child has place still, which no other May dare refuse; I, grown up, bring this offering to our Mother, To Mother Goose;_
_And, standing with the babies at that olden, Immortal knee, I seem to feel her smile, benign and golden, Falling on me._
CONTENTS.
CHAP PAGE I. CURLY LOCKS 1 II. GOOSEY, GOOSEY GANDER 40 III. LITTLE BO-PEEP 65 IV. MISTRESS MARY 101 V. LADY BIRD 137 VI. ONE, TWO, BUCKLE MY SHOE 165 VII. RIDE A COCK-HORSE 197 VIII. LADY QUEEN ANNE 228 IX. UP, UP, UP, AND DOWN, DOWN, DOWN-Y 259