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Title: The Peter Patter Book of Nursery Rhymes

Author: Leroy F. Jackson

Illustrator: Blanche Fisher Wright

Release date: July 7, 2007 [eBook #22014]

Most recently updated: January 2, 2021

Language: English

Credits: Produced by K Nordquist, Close@Hand re-scanned some

illustrations, Jacqueline Jeremy and the Online Distributed

Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PETER PATTER BOOK OF NURSERY RHYMES ***

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THE PETER PATTER BOOK

OF NURSERY RHYMES

THE KING HAD A PLATTER OF BRISKET AND BATTER

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THE PETER PATTER BOOK

of

NURSERY RHYMES

by Pictures by

LEROY F. BLANCHE

JACKSON FISHER WRIGHT

To

ANDREW, PUDGE, AND BOBBY

My first appreciative audience

Copyright © 1918 by Rand McNally & Company.

Renewal copyright 1946

by Rand McNally & Co.

All rights reserved.

PETER PATTER told them to me,

All the little rimes,

Whispered them among the bushes

Half a hundred times.

Peter lives upon a mountain

Pretty near the sun,

Knows the bears and birds and rabbits

Nearly every one;

Has a home among the alders,

Bed of cedar bark,

Walks alone beneath the pine trees

Even when it’s dark.

Squirrels tell him everything

That happens in the trees,

Cricket in the gander-grass

Sings of all he sees;

Rimes from bats and butterflies,

Crabs and waterfowl;

But the best of all he gets

From his Uncle Owl.

Sometimes when its day-time,

But mostly in the night,

They sit beneath an oak tree

And hug each other tight,

And tell their rimes and riddles

Where the catty creatures prowl—

Funny little Peter Patter

And his Uncle Owl.

LIST OF THE RHYMES

- Page

- A Copper Down a Crack   9

- I'm Much Too Big for a Fairy   9

- Did You Ever Play Tag with a Tiger?   9

- The Blue Song   10

- Hippity Hop to Bed   10

- Away to the River   11

- Our Little Pat   12

- The Animal Show   12

- Tommy Trimble  12

- Dickie, Dickie Dexter  14

- On the Road to Tattletown  14

- Polly and Peter  14

- I Went to Town on Monday  15

- Where Are You Going?  16

- Christopher Crump  17

- Pinky, Pinky, Pang  18

- Tick, Tock  18

- Under the Willow  20

- High on the Mantel  20

- Boots, Boots, Boots  21

- Butterfly  22

- Beela By the Sea  22

- A Matter of Taste  23

- Tommy, My Son  23

- Oh, Said the Worm  23

- Buzzy Brown  24

- The Wind  24

- The Hobo Band  24

- A Beetle on a Broomstraw  26

- Mule Thoughts  26

- A Candle, a Candle  27

- Baxter  28

- Loddy, Gin, and Ella Zander  28

- As I Was Going Down the Hill  28

- A Little Boy Ran to the End of the Sky  30

- Discretion  31

- A Beetle Once Sat on a Barberry Twig  31

- The Thieves  32

- Upon The Irish Sea  32

- Duckle, Daisy  32

- I’ve Got a New Book  34

- The Carrot and the Rabbit  35

- Hippy-Hi-Hoppy  35

- Up on the Garden Gate  37

- ’Most Any Chip  37

- A Moon Song  37

- What Makes You Laugh?  38

- Timmy O’Toole  38

- A Man Came From Malden  39

- Baron Batteroff  39

- Six Little Salmon  39

- To Carry on the Toot-Toot  40

- Doubbledoon  40

- The Party  42

- I’ve Got a Yellow Puppy  43

- Doctor McSwattle  45

- Columbus  45

- Terrible Tim  46

- What’s the Use?  46

- All Aboard for Bombay  47

- Water  47

- Old Molly is Lowing  48

- Snowflakes  48

- Dippy-Dippy-Davy  48

- When I’m as Rich as Uncle Claus  50

- Rinky-Tattle  50

- Twenty Little Snowflakes  51

- Slippery Slim  51

- The Freighter  53

- No One at Home  53

- Patters and Tatters  53

- Crown the King with Carrot Tops  54

- The Canada Goose  54

- Hipperty, Clickerty, Clackerty, Bang  55

- Sonny  56

- The Stove  56

- The Thunder Baby  58

- Hinky, Pinky, Pearly Earl  59

- Tipsy Tom  60

- Jolly Jinks  60

- Transformation  60

- The Thief Chase  62

- Somebody  62

- Consolation   63

- The Robin and the Squirrel  63

- The King Had a Platter  63

- Rain  64

- Old Father McNether  64

- Jerry Was a Joker   64

- King Kokem  66

- Old Missus Skinner  67

- Oh, Mother  69

- Cella Ree and Tommy To  69

- If I Were Richer  70

- The Army of the Queen  70

- Romulus  70

- The Hero  72

- Pensive Percy  72

- Moon, O Moon in the Empty Sky  73

- The Rag-Man  75

- Whenever I Go Out to Walk  75

- A Free Show  76

- Billy Bumpkins  76

- Blue Flames and Red Flames  77

- Timothy Grady  77

- Captain Tickle and his Nickel  77

- Grandmother Grundy  78

- Needles and Pins  78

- A Toe Rime  78

- Harry Hooker  78

- Jelly Jake and Butter Bill  80

- Cut Up a Caper   81

- Eat, Eat, Eat  83

- Hetty Hutton  83

- A Big, Fat Potato  84

- A Bundle of Hay  85

- Peter, Popper  86

- Old Father Annum  86

- The Tippany Flower  86

- Here Comes a Cabbage  88

- Plenty  89

- The Runaways  89

- A Race, A Race to Moscow  91

- The Salesman  91

- A Prince from Pepperville  91

- Boats  92

- Pretty Things  92

- Did You Ever?  92

- Hootem, Tootem, Clear the Track  94

- Doctor Drake  94

- Babies  95

- Twenty Thieves From Albion  95

- As I Came Out of Grundy Greet  96

—B. F. Wright—

JINGLE, JINGLE, JACK, A COPPER DOWN A CRACK

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A COPPER DOWN A CRACK

Jingle, jingle, Jack,

A copper down a crack.

Twenty men and all their wives,

With sticks and picks and pocket knives,

Digging for their very lives

To get the copper back.

I’M MUCH TOO BIG FOR A FAIRY

I’m much too big for a fairy,

And much too small for a man,

But this is true:

Whatever I do,

I do it the best I can.

DID YOU EVER PLAY TAG WITH A TIGER?

Did you ever play tag with a tiger,

Or ever play boo with a bear;

Did you ever put rats in the rain-barrel

To give poor old Granny a scare?

It’s fun to play tag with a tiger,

It’s fun for the bear to say “boo,”

But if rats are found in the rain-barrel

Old Granny will put you in too.

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THE BLUE SONG

Hot mush and molasses all in a blue bowl—

Eat it, it’s good for you, sonny.

’T will make you grow tall as a telephone pole—

Eat it, it’s good for you, sonny.

Fresh fish and potatoes all on a blue plate—

Eat it up smart now, my sonny.

’T will make you as jolly and fat as Aunt Kate—

Eat it up quick now, my sonny.

Sweet milk from a nanny-goat in a blue cup—

Drink it, it’s good for you, sonny,

’T will fill you, expand you, and help you grow up,

And make a real man of you, sonny.

HIPPITY HOP TO BED

O it’s hippity hop to bed!

I’d rather sit up instead.

But when father says “must,”

There’s nothing but just

Go hippity hop to bed.

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AWAY TO THE RIVER

Away to the river, away to the wood,

While the grasses are green and the berries are good!

Where the locusts are scraping their fiddles and bows,

And the bees keep a-coming wherever one goes.

Oh, it’s off to the river and off to the hills,

To the land of the bloodroot and wild daffodils,

With a buttercup blossom to color my chin,

And a basket of burs to put sandberries in.

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OUR LITTLE PAT

Our little Pat

Was chasing the cat

And kicking the kittens about.

When mother said “Quit!”

He ran off to sit

On the top of the woodpile and pout;

But a sly little grin

Soon slid down his chin

And let all the sulkiness out.

THE ANIMAL SHOW

Father and mother and Bobbie will go

To see all the sights at the animal show.

Where lions and bears

Sit on dining room chairs,

Where a camel is able

To stand on a table,

Where monkeys and seals

All travel on wheels,

And a Zulu baboon

Rides a baby balloon.

The sooner you’re ready, the sooner we’ll go.

Aboard, all aboard, for the Animal Show!

THE ANIMAL SHOW

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TOMMY TRIMBLE

Billy be nimble,

Hurry and see

Old Tommy Trimble

Climbing a tree.

He claws with his fingers

And digs with his toes.

The longer he lingers

The slower he goes.

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DICKIE, DICKIE DEXTER

Dickie, Dickie Dexter

Had a wife and vexed her.

She put him in a rabbit cage

And fed him peppermint and sage—

Dickie, Dickie Dexter.

ON THE ROAD TO TATTLETOWN

On the road to Tattletown

What is this I see?

A pig upon a pedestal,

A cabbage up a tree,

A rabbit cutting capers

With a twenty dollar bill—

Now if I don’t get to Tattletown

Then no one ever will.

POLLY AND PETER

Polly had some china cows

And Peter had a gun.

She turned the bossies out to browse,

And Peterkin, for fun,

Just peppered them with butter beans

And blew them all to smithereens.

* * *

Now what will pretty Polly do

For milk and cream and butter too?

I WENT TO TOWN ON MONDAY

I went to town on Monday

To buy myself a coat,

But on the way I met a man

Who traveled with a caravan,

And bought a billy-goat.

I went to town on Tuesday

And bought a fancy vest.

I kept the pretty bucklestraps,

Buttonholes and pocketflaps,

And threw away the rest.

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I went to town on Thursday

To buy a loaf of bread,

But when I got there, goodness sakes!

The town was full of rattlesnakes—

The bakers all were dead.

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I went to town on Saturday

To get myself a wife,

But when I saw the lady fair

I gnashed my teeth and pulled my hair

And scampered for my life.

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WHERE ARE YOU GOING?

Where are you going, sister Kate?

I’m going to swing on the garden gate,

And watch the fairy gypsies dance

Their tim-tam-tum on the cabbage-plants—

The great big one with the purple nose,

And the tiny tad with the pinky toes.

Where are you going, brother Ben?

I’m going to build a tiger-pen.

I’ll get iron and steel and ’lectric wire

And build it a hundred feet, or higher,

And put ten tigers in it too,

And a big wildcat, and—mebbe—you.

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Where are you going, mother mine?

I’m going to sit by the old grapevine,

And watch the gliding swallow bring

Clay for her nest from the meadow spring—

Clay and straw and a bit of thread

To weave it into a baby’s bed.

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Where are you going, grandma dear?

I’m going, love, where the skies are clear,

And the light winds lift the poppy flowers

And gather clouds for the summer showers,

Where the old folks and the children play

On the warm hillside through the livelong day.

CHRISTOPHER CRUMP

Christopher Crump,

All in a lump,

Sits like a toad on the top of a stump.

He stretches and sighs,

And blinks with his eyes,

Bats at the beetles and fights off the flies.

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PINKY, PINKY, PANG

A tortoise sat on a slippery limb

And played his pinky pang

For a dog-fish friend that called on him,

And this is what he sang:

“Oh, the skies are blue,

And I wait for you

To come where the willows hang,

And dance all night

By the white moonlight

To my pinky, pinky, pang!”

TICK, TOCK

Tick, tock! Tick, tock!

Forty ’leven by the clock.

Tick, tock! Tick, tock!

Put your ear to Grandpa’s ticker,

Like a pancake, only thicker.

Tick, tock! Tick, tock!

Catch a squirrel in half a minute,

Grab a sack and stick him in it.

Tick, tock! Tick, tock!

Mister Bunny feeds on honey,

Tea, and taters—ain’t it funny?

Tick, tock! Tick, tock!

When he goes to bed at night,

Shoves his slippers out of sight;

That is why Old Fox, the sinner,

Had to go without his dinner.

Tick, tock! Tick, tock!

So says Grandpa’s clock.

TICK, TOCK! TICK, TOCK! FORTY ’LEVEN BY THE CLOCK

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UNDER THE WILLOW

Put down your pillow under the willow,

Hang up your hat in the sun,

And lie down to snooze as long as you choose,

For the plowing and sowing are done.

Pick up your pillow from under the willow,

And clamber out into the sun.

Get a fork and a rake for goodness’ sake,

For the harvest time has begun.

HIGH ON THE MANTEL

High on the mantel rose a moan—

It came from an idol carved in bone—

“Oh, it’s so lonesome here alone,

With no one near to love me!”

A cautious smile came over the face

Of a pensive maid on a Grecian vase

“Are you sure,” she said, with charming grace,

“There’s no one near to love you?”

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BOOTS, BOOTS, BOOTS

Buster’s got a popper gun,

A reg’lar one that shoots,

And Teddy’s got an engine

With a whistler that toots.

But I’ve got something finer yet—

A pair of rubber boots.

Oh, it’s boots, boots, boots,

A pair of rubber boots!

I could walk from here to China

In a pair of rubber boots.

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BUTTERFLY

Butterfly, butterfly,

Sit on my chin,

Your wings are like tinsel,

So yellow and thin.

Butterfly, butterfly,

Give me a kiss;

If you give me a dozen

There’s nothing amiss.

Butterfly, butterfly,

Off to the flowers,—

Wee, soulless sprite

Of the long summer hours.

BEELA BY THE SEA

Catch a floater, catch an eel,

Catch a lazy whale,

Catch an oyster by the heel

And put him in a pail.

There’s lots of work for Uncle Ike,

Fatty Ford and me

All day long and half the night

At Beela by the sea.

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A MATTER OF TASTE

“Thank you, dear,” said the big black ant,

“I’d like to go home with you now, but I can’t.

I have to hurry and milk my cows—

The aphid herds on the aster boughs.”

And the ladybug said: “No doubt it’s fine,

This milk you get from your curious kine,

But you know quite well it’s my belief

Your cows are best when turned to beef.”

TOMMY, MY SON

“Tommy, my son,” said the old tabby cat,

“Go catch us some mice, and be sure that they’re fat.

There’s one family lives in the carpenter’s barn;

They’ve made them a nest of the old lady’s yarn.

But the carpenter has a young cat of his own

That is healthy and proud and almost full grown,

And consider it, son, an eternal disgrace

To come home at night with a scratch on your face.”

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OH, SAID THE WORM

“Oh,” said the worm,

“I’m awfully tired of sitting in the trees;

I want to be a butterfly

And chase the bumblebees.”

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BUZZY BROWN

Buzzy Brown came home from town

As crazy as a loon,

He wore a purple overcoat

And sang a Sunday tune.

Buzzy Brown came home from town

As proud as he could be,

He found three doughnuts and a bun

A-growing on a tree.

THE WIND

The wind came a-whooping, down Cranberry Hill

And stole an umbrella from, Mother Medill.

It picked up a paper on Patterson’s place

And carried it clean to the Rockaby Race.

And what was more shocking and awful than that,

It blew the new feather off grandmother’s hat.

THE WIND CAME A-WHOOPING DOWN CRANBERRY HILL

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THE HOBO BAND

The roads are good and the weather’s grand,

So I’m off to play in the Hobo Band;

With a gaspipe flute and a cowhide drum

I’m going to make the music come.

With a toot, toot, toot, and a dum, dum, dum,

Just hear me make the music come!

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A BEETLE ON A BROOMSTRAW

A robin and a wren, as they walked along one night,

Saw a big brown beetle on a broomstraw.

Said the robin to the wren: “What a pretty, pretty sight—

That big brown beetle on a broomstraw!”

So they got their plates and knives,

Their children and their wives,

And gobbled up the beetle on the broomstraw.

MULE THOUGHTS

A silly little mule

Sat on a milking stool

And tried to write a letter to his father.

But he couldn’t find the ink,

So he said: “I rather think

This writing letters home is too much bother.”

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A CANDLE, A CANDLE

A candle, a candle

To light me to bed;

A pillow, a pillow

To tuck up my head.

The moon is as sleepy as sleepy can be,

The stars are all pointing their fingers at me,

And Missus Hop-Robin, way up in her nest,

Is rocking her tired little babies to rest.

So give me a blanket

To tuck up my toes,

And a little soft pillow

To snuggle my nose.

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BAXTER

Baxter had a billy-goat

Wall-eyed and double jointed.

He took him to the barber shop

And had his head anointed.

LODDY, GIN, AND ELLA ZANDER

Loddy, Gin, and Ella Zander

Rode to market on a gander;

Bought a crane for half a dollar;

Loddy led him by the collar.

Mister Crane said: “Hi there, master,

Can’t you make your legs work faster?

We can’t poke along this way.”

Then he slowly flew away.

Loddy held him fast, you bet,

And he hasn’t come home yet.

AS I WAS GOING DOWN THE HILL

As I was going down the hill

In front of Missus Knapp’s

I saw the little Knapperines

All in their winter wraps—

Purple mitts and mufflers

And knitted jersey caps.

As I was coming back again

In front of Missus Knapp’s

I saw that awful lady

Give about a dozen slaps

To every little Knapperine—

I thought it was, perhaps,

Because they gathered stickers

In their knitted jersey caps.

GOING DOWN THE HILL IN FRONT OF MRS. KNAPP’S

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A LITTLE BOY RAN TO THE END OF THE SKY

A little boy ran to the end of the sky

With a rag and a pole and a gooseberry pie.

He cried: “Three cheers for the Fourth of July!”

With a rag and a pole and a gooseberry pie.

He saw three little donkeys at play,

He tickled their noses to make them bray,

And he didn’t come back until Christmas Day—

With a rag and a pole and a gooseberry pie.

DISCRETION

A man with a nickel,

A sword, and a sickle,

A pipe, and a paper of pins

Set out for the Niger

To capture a tiger—

And that’s how my story begins.

When he saw the wide ocean,

He soon took a notion

’T would be nicer to stay with his friends.

So he traded his hat

For a tortoise-shell cat—

And that’s how the chronicle ends.

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A BEETLE ONCE SAT ON A BARBERRY TWIG

A beetle once sat on a barberry twig,

And turned at the crank of a thingum-a-jig.

Needles for hornets, nippers for ants,

For the bumblebee baby a new pair of pants,

For the grizzled old gopher a hat and a wig,

The beetle ground out of his thingum-a-jig.

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THE THIEVES

Tibbitts and Bibbitts and Solomon Sly

Ran off one day with a cucumber pie.

Tibbitts was tossed by a Kensington cow,

Bibbitts was hanged on a brambleweed bough,

And poor little Solomon—what do you think?

Was drowned one dark night in a bottle of ink.

UPON THE IRISH SEA

Some one told Maria Ann,

Maria Ann told me,

That kittens ride in coffee cans

Upon the Irish Sea.

From quiet caves to rolling waves,

How jolly it must be

To travel in a coffee can

Upon the Irish Sea!

But when it snows and when it blows,

How would you like to be

A kitten in a coffee can

Upon the Irish Sea?

DUCKLE, DAISY

Duckle, duckle, daisy,

Martha must be crazy,

She went and made a Christmas cake

Of olive oil and gluten-flake,

And set it in the sink to bake,

Duckle, duckle, daisy.

DUCKLE, DUCKLE, DAISY

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I’VE GOT A NEW BOOK

I’ve got a new book from my Grandfather Hyde.

It’s skin on the cover and paper inside,

And reads about Arabs and horses and slaves,

And tells how the Caliph of Bagdad behaves.

I’d not take a goat and a dollar beside

For the book that I got from my Grandfather Hyde.

THE CARROT AND THE RABBIT

A carrot in a garden

And a rabbit in the wood.

Said the rabbit, “Beg your pardon,

But you’re surely meant for food;

Though you’ve started in to harden,

You may still be very good.”

HIPPY-HI-HOPPY

Hippy-Hi-Hoppy, the big fat toad,

Greeted his friends at a turn of the road.

Said he to the snail:

“Here’s a ring for your tail

If you’ll go into town for my afternoon mail.”

Said he to the rat:

“I have talked with the cat;

And she’ll nab you so quick you won’t know where you’re at.”

Said he to the lizard:

“I’m really no wizard,

But I’ll show you a trick that will tickle your gizzard.”

Said he to the lark:

“When it gets fairly dark

We’ll chase the mosquitoes in Peek-a-Boo Park.”

Said he to the owl:

“If it were not for your scowl

I’d like you as well as most any wild fowl.”

Said he to the wren:

“You’re tiny, but then

I’ll marry you quick, if you’ll only say when.”

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I’LL TREAT THE CLOWN

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UP ON THE GARDEN GATE

Set me up on the garden gate

And put on my Sunday tie;

I want to be there

With a round-eyed stare

When the circus band goes by.

Give me a bag of suckerettes

And give me a piece of gum,

Then I’ll get down

And treat the clown,

And give the monkey some.

’MOST ANY CHIP

’Most any chip

Will do for a ship,

If only the cargo be

Golden sand

From the beautiful land

Of far-off Arcady.

For faith will waft

The tiny craft

O’er Fancy’s shining sea.

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A MOON SONG

Who hung his hat on the moon?

The owl in his bubble balloon.

One bright summer night

He sailed out of sight,

And, hooting like Lucifer, hung in delight

His three-cornered hat on the moon.

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?

“What makes you laugh, my little lass,

From morning until noon?”

“I saw a dappled donkey

Throwing kisses at the moon.”

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“What makes you cry, my little lass,

And get your eyes so red?”

“I saw a cruel gardener cut

A poor old cabbage head.”

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“What makes you run, my little lass?

You’re almost out of breath.”

“A pumpkin made a face at me,

And scared me half to death.”

TIMMY O’TOOLE

When Timmy O’Toole

Was going to school

He picked up a package of gum.

He treated the preacher

And Sunday-school teacher,

And gave a policeman some.

A MAN CAME FROM MALDEN

A man came from Malden to buy a blue goose.

And what became of the gander?

He went and got tipsy on blackberry juice,

And that was the end of the gander.

BARON BATTEROFF

The mighty baron, Batteroff,

Raised a whale in a watering trough.

When the whale grew large and fat

He ate the baron’s brindle cat.

But pussy, once inside the whale,

Began to tickle with her tail.

This the monster could not stand,

And spewed her out upon dry land.

That night, when all was fine as silk

And she had supped her bread and milk,

She grinned and told old Batteroff

How she got the whale to cough.

SIX LITTLE SALMON

I sing a funny song from away out west,

Of six little salmon with their hats on;

How they all left home—but I forget the rest—

The six little salmon with their hats on.

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TO GARRY ON THE TOOT-TOOT

Oh, I want to go to Garry

On the toot-toot, toot-toot,

You and I together

On the toot-toot, toot-toot.

Go run and ask your mother

For some kind of cake or other,

And a bit of cotton wadding

For your ball-suit.

Get your bobber and a bat,

And be back as quick as scat,

For we’ve got to go to Garry

On the toot-toot.

DOUBBLEDOON

Bobbin rode a rocking-horse

’Way down to Doubbledoon,

He told his little sister

He’d be back that afternoon.

But maybe after all she didn’t

Understand him right,

For he wasn’t back again

Till the middle of the night.

And what did little Bobbin see

’Way down at Doubbledoon?

He saw a crazy Arab

Throwing bubbles at the moon,

A monkey making faces

And a rabbit in a rage,

A parrot shouting “Murder!”

From the ceiling of his cage.

At last a yellow jumping-jack,

A camel, and a coon,

Chased poor little Bobbin

All the way from Doubbledoon.

BOBBIN RODE A ROCKING-HORSE TO DOUBBLEDOON

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THE PARTY

Billy Bluebird had a party

In an elder tree,

But the little black-eyed smarty

Didn’t ask us to his party

Neither you nor me.

This is what they had for dinner,

For I peeked to see:

Apple seeds and beetle finner,

And for drink the little sinner

Gave them tansy tea.

But there came an awful clatter

From that elder tree,

When he served them on a platter

Hopper-hash and brick-dust batter

Trimmed with celery!

All the folks were hale and hearty,

Happy as could be;

And that little black-eyed smarty

Left out of his funny party

Only you and me.

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I’VE GOT A YELLOW PUPPY

I’ve got a yellow puppy,

And I’ve got a speckled hen,

I’ve got a lot of little

Spotted piggies in a pen.

I’ve got a gun that used to shoot,

Another one that squirts,

I’ve got some horehound candy

And a pair of woolen shirts.

I’ve got a little rubber ball

They use for playing golf,

And mamma thinks that’s maybe why

I’ve got the whooping-cough.

DOCTOR McSWATTLE FILLED UP A BOTTLE

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DOCTOR McSWATTLE

Doctor McSwattle

Filled up a bottle

With vinegar, varnish, and rum.

And offered a swallow

To all who would follow

The call of his trumpet and drum.

It’s good, I am told,

For a cough or a cold;

It’s good for a pain in your thumb.

COLUMBUS

Columbus sailed over the ocean blue

To find the United States.

In three small ships he carried his crew,

And none of the three were mates.

He found a land in the western seas,

And Indians galore,

With jabbering parrots in the trees,

And sharks along the shore.

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He filled his pockets with sparkling stones

And took to the mighty main,

With a couple of slaves, some nuts and cones

For the glorious king of Spain.

Now this is the tale Columbus told,

And most of the tale is true,

How he crossed the seas, a sailor bold,

In fourteen-ninety-two.

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TERRIBLE TIM

Haven’t you heard of Terrible Tim!

Well, don’t you get in the way of him.

He eats lions for breakfast

And leopards for lunch,

And gobbles them down

With one terrible crunch.

He could mix a whole city

All up in a mess,

He could drink up a sea

Or an ocean, I guess.

You’d better be watching for Terrible Tim,

And run when you first get your peepers on him.

WHAT’S THE USE?

“What’s the use,”

Said the goose,

“To swim like a frog,

When you go just as far

If you float on a log?”

“Why should I,”

Said the fly,

“Suck an old apple-core,

When there’s sugar and fruit

In the grocery store?”

“It’s but right,”

Said the kite,

“That I follow the wind.

What’s a fellow to do

If he hasn’t a mind?”

“You’ll allow,”

Said the cow,

“That I’m really no thief,

When I turn all the clover

I steal, into beef.”

“Come again,”

Said the hen,

“On some other fine day.

Don’t think ’cause I cackle

I always must lay.”

ALL ABOARD FOR BOMBAY

All aboard for Bombay,

All aboard for Rome!

Leave your little sisters

And your loving aunts at home.

Bring a bit of bailing wire,

A pocketful of nails,

And half a dozen wiener-wursts

For every man that sails.

Tell Terry Tagg, when you go by,

Be sure to bring his dog.

All aboard for Bombay

On a floating cedar log!

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WATER

There’s water in the rain barrel,

And water in the well,

There’s lots of water in the pond

Where Hannah Hawkins fell.

There’s water in the ocean,

And water in the skies,

And when a fellow blubbers

He gets water in his eyes.

But in the Barca desert

Where the hippodoodles play,

The water in the rivers

Just dries up and blows away.

OLD MOLLY IS LOWING

Old Molly is lowing and lowing

’Way down in the old meadow lot.

I’ve given her water and clover,

And all of the apples I’ve got;

But she won’t eat a thing that I give her,

And never drinks even a sup,

For they’ve taken her baby to market

And some one has eaten it up.

I’d just like to go to the city

And cut them all up into halves

And feed them to sharks and to lions—

Those people that eat little calves.

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SNOWFLAKES

The snowflakes are falling by ones and by twos;

There’s snow on my jacket, and snow on my shoes;

There’s snow on the bushes, and snow on the trees—

It’s snowing on everything now, if you please.

THE SNOWFLAKES ARE FALLING BY ONES AND BY TWOS

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DIPPY-DIPPY-DAVY

Dippy-Dippy-Davy,

Half the Royal Navy

In the dampness and the dark

Was driving off a savage shark

To Dippy-Dippy-Davy.

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WHEN I’M AS RICH AS UNCLE CLAUS

When I’m as rich as Uncle Claus,

With whiskers on my chin,

I’m going to have a great big house

To put my people in.

I’ll never let them wander out

Or ride with me to town;

They’ll come a-running when I shout

And tremble when I frown.

I’ll have some men in soldier tents,

A pirate and his mate,

And wildcats all around the fence,

And mad dogs on the gate.

RINKY-TATTLE

Rinky-tattle, rinky-tattle,

Rinky-tattle—who?

Little Tommy Taylor

Is a rinky-tattle too.

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TWENTY LITTLE SNOWFLAKES

Twenty little snowflakes climbing up a wire.

“Now, listen,” said their mother, “don’t you climb up any higher.

The sun will surely catch you, and scorch you with his fire.”

But the naughty little snowflakes didn’t mind a word she said,

Each tried to clamber faster than his fellow just ahead;

They thought that they’d be back in time enough to go to bed.

But they found out that their mother wasn’t quite the dunce they thought her,

The sun bobbed up—remember this, my little son and daughter—

And turned those twenty snowflakes into twenty drops of water.

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SLIPPERY SLIM

Slippery Slim, a garter snake,

Leaned against a garden rake

And smiled a sentimental smile

At Tilly Toad, on the gravel pile,

Till that bashful miss was forced to hop

And hide her face in a carrot-top.

THROUGH FOG AND RAIN I RUN MY TRAIN

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THE FREIGHTER

Through fog and rain

I run my train

Wherever the track is laid,

And over the road

I carry a load

Whenever the freight is paid.

A kaddy of tea

For Genessee,

For Troy an empty crate,

A man in brown

For Uniontown

To help them celebrate.

NO ONE AT HOME

No one at home in the hen-house,

And no one at home in the barn,

Old Brindle has gone to the neighbor’s

To borrow a skein of brown yarn,

To borrow yarn for the darning

Of socks for her wee spotted calf—

The little rollicking rascal

Has never enough by half.

And Speckle is down by the willow

Washing her chicks in the lake,

While old Daddy Cockle is lying

Abed with a bad toothache.

PATTERS AND TATTERS

Patters had a gallant band,

An army made of clay.

But Tatters took the garden hose

And washed them all away.

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CROWN THE KING WITH CARROT TOPS

Crown the king with carrot tops,

Dress him in sateen,

Give him lots of licorice drops,

With suckers in between.

For he’s a king with lots of power

And awful, awful fierce,

He kills a pirate every hour

And washes in his tears.

He rides a charger ten feet high,

A dashing, dappled gray;

Has ginger pop and lemon pie

For breakfast every day.

So get a royal canopy,

The finest ever seen,

And whiskers for his majesty,

And tresses for the queen.

THE CANADA GOOSE

A Canada goose

On the South Palouse

Is singing her summer song.

Her words are wise,

And she greets the skies

With a voice like a steamer gong:

“If you harbor your wealth

And keep your health,

You’ll always be rich and strong.”

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HIPPERTY, CLICKERTY, CLACKERTY, BANG

Hipperty, clickerty, clackerty, bang,

Get in a corner as fast as you can!

The sideboard is tipsy, the table is mad,

The chairs have lost all the sense that they had.

So hipperty, clickerty, clackerty, bang,

Get in a corner as fast as you can!

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SONNY

A sailor gave his sonny

Nearly half a pint of money

And sent him out to buy a ton of coal;

But he met a poor old miser

Who told him it were wiser

To bury all his money in a hole.

A sailor gave his sonny

Nearly half a pint of money

And told him he should buy a suit of clothes;

But he saw a pretty maiden

With all kinds of posies laden,

And he gave her all his money for a rose.

Then the sailor gave his sonny

Nearly half a pint of money

To buy a little garden and a house;

But he found him the next day,

In a shop on Yesler Way,

A-buying cheese and crackers for a mouse.

HE GAVE HER ALL HIS MONEY FOR A ROSE

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THE STOVE

A stove is a thing that gets awfully hot,

And fries up your meat, or whatever you’ve got.

It’s made out of iron and hinges and screws,

And filled up with shakers, and dampers, and flues.

It’s not very long and it’s not very wide;

It’s got black’ning on top and ashes inside.

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THE THUNDER BABY

Have you heard of the Thunder Baby

Way up in the big blue sky?

You’ve seen his cradle, maybe,

And maybe you’ve heard him cry.

Most of the time he’s sleeping,

Rolled up in a big white cloud,

But when he’s awake and hungry

He bellows awfully loud.

And when he’s crying, sometimes

You can hear his teardrops fall

With a patter, patter, patter,

Against the garden wall.

But when he’s madder’n mischief,

He rolls, and growls, and spits,

And kicks the clouds all forty ways,

And gives the weather fits.

Then tears come down in bucketfuls,

And children dance for joy,

Till the sun comes out and soundly spanks

Her Thunder Baby Boy.

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HINKY, PINKY, PEARLY EARL

Hinky, pinky, pearly earl,

Twenty nobles and a churl;

Some are fat and some are lean,

One in red and one in green—

Prior, priest, and pearly earl,

Twenty nobles and a churl.

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TIPSY TOM

Tipsy Tom, the naughty fellow,

Dressed his wife in pink and yellow,

Set her in an apple tree,

And said: “Now catch a bumblebee.”

JOLLY JINKS

Jolly Jinks, the sailor man,

Went to sea in an oyster can.

But he found the water wet,

Fishes got into his net,

So he pulled his boat to shore

And vowed he’d sail the seas no more.

TRANSFORMATION

Auntie Ellen found her poodle—

Mercy! Goodness sake!—

Playing with the mully-wumps

Down along the lake.

And when she called him tenderly

He didn’t want to come;

It took her over half an hour

To get the rascal home.

She washed him well with shaving-soap,

Pumice stone and lye,

She showered him and she scoured him

And she hung him up to dry.

And now he sits there quite serene,

The sweetest poodle ever seen.

TRANSFORMATION

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THE THIEF CHASE

Bricks and bones!

Sticks and stones!

I chased a thief through twenty zones.

I found his hat

On Ararat,

And hurried on as quick as scat.

In a day or two

I found his shoe

Where he had sailed for Timbuktu.

I met the goat

That ate his coat

Upon the road to Terre Haute.

At last all worn

And quite forlorn

I chased him up the Matterhorn.

SOMEBODY

Somebody give me a peanut,

Somebody give me a pear;

I want to go down to the circus

And feed all the animals there.

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CONSOLATION

A dime and a dollar

Took me by the collar

And whispered this word in my ear:

“We must leave you to-morrow,

But prithee don’t sorrow,

We’ll come back to see you next year.”

THE ROBIN AND THE SQUIRREL

Said the Robin to the Squirrel,

“How d’ you do?”

Said the Squirrel to the Robin,

“How are you?”

“Oh, I’ve got some cherry pies,

And a half a dozen flies,

And a kettle full of beetles on to stew.”

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Said the Squirrel to the Robin,

“How d’ you do?”

Said the Robin to the Squirrel,

“How are you?”

“I’ve a nest that’s nice and neat,

And a wife that can’t be beat,

And I’m every bit as happy now as you.”

THE KING HAD A PLATTER

The King had a platter

Of brisket and batter,

The Prince had a Bellington bun,

The Queen had a rose

To put to her nose

As soon as the dinner was done.

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RAIN

The lightning split the sky in two

And set the clouds to leaking

Just as dear old Pastor Brown

Began his Sunday speaking.

He told about the awful rain

That fell in Noah’s day,

And one by one the happy smiles

Began to fade away.

In half an hour the people all

Put on their rubber coats,

And when he finished everyone

Was out and building boats.

OLD FATHER McNETHER

Old Father McNether

He sorts out the weather

And takes what he pleases, I’m told,

With a big turkey-feather

He mixes the weather,

And makes it blow hot and blow cold.

OLD FATHER McNETHER

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JERRY WAS A JOKER

Jerry was a joker.

He carried off the poker

And dressed it up from head to heel

In clover-tops and orange-peel

And fed it bones and barley meal.

Poor old Rusty Poker!

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KING KOKEM

King Kokem lay snoozing upon his brass bed—

Oh, play an old tune on your fiddle!

With shoes on his feet, and a crown on his head—

Oh, tune up your rusty old fiddle!

He dreamed of a land where the lions were tame,

Where they fried their lamb-chops on a griddle,

Where they called all the parrots and monkeys by name—

Oh, play us a tune on your fiddle!

He dreamed of a sea filled with raspberry pop,

With a cocoanut isle in the middle,

Where the stones and the boulders had icing on top—

Go strike up a tune on your fiddle!

He dreamed of a sky where the moonbeams all danced

While a comet was telling a riddle,

Where the stars and the planets and sun-dogs all pranced

While the moon played his fiddle de diddle.

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OLD MISSUS SKINNER

Old Missus Skinner

Had dumplings for dinner

And sat on a very high stool;

When she cut thru the hide

There was nothing inside,

Which I’m sure was not often the rule.

OH MOTHER, OH MOTHER, COME QUICKLY AND SEE

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OH, MOTHER

Oh, Mother, Oh, Mother,

Come quickly and see,

The house and the farmyard

Have gone on a spree.

The pig’s in the pantry,

The chickens are out,

The parrot is perched

On the tea kettle spout.

And mercy, Oh, mercy,

Oh, what shall I do?

A rat has run off

With my very best shoe.

CELLA REE AND TOMMY TO

Two funny friends that you all know

Are Cella Ree and Tommy To.

About as queer as friends can be,

Are Tommy To and Cella Ree.

For hours they sit there grim and stable

Side by side upon the table.

Tom is red and Cella pale,

His blushes are of no avail;

She sits, in spite of his endeavor,

As firm and undisturbed as ever,

A funny pair, you must agree,

This Tommy To and Cella Ree.

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IF I WERE RICHER

If I were richer

I’d buy a pitcher

With scenery on it.

’Jolica ware—

Storks here and there,

And a funny affair

With ladies on it.

In half a minute

I’d mix up in it

A wonderful drink—

Peppermint, ice,

Lemons and spice—

Taste pretty nice,

What do you think?

THE ARMY OF THE QUEEN

O the Army of the Queen,

The Army of the Queen,

Some are dressed in turkey-red

And some are dressed in green;

A colonel and a captain,

A corporal in between,

Their guns are filled with powder

And their swords are bright and keen;

So toot your little trumpet

For the Army of the Queen.

TOOT YOUR LITTLE TRUMPET FOR THE ARMY OF THE QUEEN

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ROMULUS

Romulus, Romulus,

Father of Rome,

Ran off with a wolf

And he wouldn’t come home.

When he grew up

He founded a city

With an eagle, a bear,

And a tortoise-shell kitty.

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THE HERO

My dad was a soldier and fought in the wars,

My grandfather fought on the sea,

And the tales of their daring and valor of course

Put the sand and the ginger in me.

I’m not scared of tigers or any wild beast,

I could fight with a lion all right,

I wouldn’t be ’fraid of a bear in the least—

Excepting, perhaps, in the night.

But sister, she’s skeery as skeery can be,

She’s even afraid of the bark of a tree.

PENSIVE PERCY

Percy when a little boy

Was quiet as a mouse,

He never set the barn afire

Nor battered down the house.

He used to sit for hours and hours

Just gazing at the moon,

And feeding little fishes

Sarsaparilla from a spoon.

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MOON, O MOON IN THE EMPTY SKY

Moon, O Moon in the empty sky,

Why do you swing so low?

Pretty moon with the silver ring

And the long bright beams where the fairies cling,

Where do you always go?

I go to the land of the Siamese,

Ceylon and the Great Plateau,

Over the seas where Sinbad sailed,

Where Moses crossed and Pharaoh failed,—

There’s where I always go.

RAG-MAN, RAG-MAN, TAGGY, TAGGY, RAG-MAN

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THE RAG-MAN

“Rag-man, rag-man,

Taggy, taggy, rag-man,

Tell us what you’ve got there in your sack.”

“Oh—it’s full of rimes and riddles,

Jingles, jokes, and hi-de-diddles—

This bundle that I carry on my back.”

“O tell us, funny rag-man,

Grinny, skinny rag-man,

Where did you pick up your funny rimes?”

“Some were dancing with corn-flowers,

Some were hiding in church-towers,

And sprinkled helter-skelter by the chimes.”

“Rag-man, rag-man,

Nice old taggy rag-man,

Sing us just one jingle, tingle song.”

“Why, my dears, I’ve got a plenty,

Sing you one? I’ll sing you twenty—

I’ve been hoping you would ask me all along.”

WHENEVER I GO OUT TO WALK

Whenever I go out to walk,

All the geese begin to gawk;

And when I start to wander back,

All the ducks begin to quack.

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A FREE SHOW

Mister McCune

Can whistle a tune,

Old Uncle Strong

Can sing us a song,

Benjamin Biddle

Can play on the fiddle,

Captain O’Trigg

Can dance us a jig,

And I, if I’m able,

Will tell you a fable.

BILLY BUMPKINS

Heigho, Billy Bumpkins,

How d’ you grow your pumpkins?

“At six o’clock I sows ’em,

At ten o’clock I hoes ’em,

An’ jes before I goes to bed

I puts ’em in the pumpkin shed.”

Tell us, Billy Bumpkins,

How d’ you sell your pumpkins?

“I lends ’em to the ladies,

I gives ’em to the babies,

An’ trades a hundred for a kiss

To any pretty little miss.”

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BLUE FLAMES AND RED FLAMES

Blue flames and red flames

In a world all dark;

Blue flames and red flames,

And a tiny spark

Hurrying to heaven, lest it should be late;

Lest the cautious seraphim close the shining gate,

And leave the little wanderer forevermore to fly

Like an orphan angel through the endless sky.

TIMOTHY GRADY

Poor little Timothy Grady

Screwed up his face at a lady,

And, jiminy jack!

It wouldn’t come back.

The louder he hollered

The tighter it grew,

His eyes are all red

And his lips are all blue.

Oh, mercy me, what in the world will he do?

Poor little Timothy Grady!

CAPTAIN TICKLE AND HIS NICKEL

Captain Tickle had a nickel

In a paper sack,

He threw it in the river

And he couldn’t get it back.

Captain Tickle spent his nickel

For a rubber ball,

And when he cut it open

There was nothing there at all.

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GRANDMOTHER GRUNDY

O Grandmother Grundy,

Now what would you say

If the katydids carried

Your glasses away—

Carried them off

To the top of the sky

And used them to watch

The eclipses go by?

NEEDLES AND PINS

Needles and pins, hooks and eyes!

I saw a doughnut in the skies.

Flipperjinks the circus clown

Climbed a tree and got it down.

NEEDLES AND PINS, HOOKS AND EYES!

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A TOE RIME

Tassle is a captain,

Tinsel is a mayor,

Tony is a baker-boy

With ’lasses in his hair,

Tipsy is a sailor,

With anchors on his chest,

And Tiny is the baby boy

Who bosses all the rest.

HARRY HOOKER

Harry Hooker had a book

And couldn’t find a teacher.

But still he managed very well,

He climbed a box and rang a bell

And turned into a preacher.

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JELLY JAKE AND BUTTER BILL

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Jelly Jake and Butter Bill

One dark night when all was still

Pattered down the long, dark stair,

And no one saw the guilty pair;

Pushed aside the pantry-door

And there found everything galore,—

Honey, raisins, orange-peel,

Cold chicken aplenty for a meal,

Gingerbread enough to fill

Two such boys as Jake and Bill.

Well, they ate and ate and ate,

Gobbled at an awful rate

Till I’m sure they soon weighed more

Than double what they did before.

And then, it’s awful, still it’s true,

The floor gave way and they went thru.

Filled so full they couldn’t fight.

Slowly they sank out of sight.

Father, Mother, Cousin Ann,

Cook and nurse and furnace man

Fished in forty-dozen ways

After them, for twenty days;

But not a soul has chanced to get

A glimpse or glimmer of them yet.

And I’m afraid we never will—

Poor Jelly Jake and Butter Bill.

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CUT UP A CAPER

Cut up a caper,

You’ve got a paper

And I’ve got a widget of string.

You be the army

And let nothing harm me

For I am the captain and king.

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WE’RE GOING TO HAVE A TREAT

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EAT, EAT, EAT

Here come the sweet potatoes

And here’s the Sunday meat,

I guess we must be ready now

To eat, eat, eat.

I’m going to have the nicey plate

And Daddy’s leather seat,

And wear my patent-leather shoes

To eat, eat, eat.

My Daddy’s talking all about

The war, and some old fleet,

I wonder if he never, never,

Never wants to eat.

We’re going to have some apple-cake,

We’re going to have a treat.

O hurry, hurry, Daddy,

Let us eat, eat, eat.

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HETTY HUTTON

Hetty Hutton,

Here’s a button,

Sew it on your dress.

Willie Waller,

Here’s a dollar,

Maybe more or less.

Mister Shuster,

Here’s a rooster,

Put him in a pen.

Mister Saxon,

Get an ax an’

Let him out again.

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A BIG, FAT POTATO

A big, fat potato lay down on a clod

In the shade of some burdock and tall goldenrod,

And he dreamed he were king of the whole garden plot,

With a palace and throne, and a crown with a lot

Of jewels and diamonds and gold till it shone

Like the front of a show when the lights are turned on.

He had to be minded by all of the plants;

When he whistled the radishes knew they must dance;

When he tooted his horn the cucumbers must sing

To a vegetable crowd gathered round in a ring.

He made all the cabbages stand in a row

While a sunflower instructed them just how to grow;

The bright yellow pumpkins he painted light blue;

Took the clothes off the scare-crow and made him buy new.

He strutted and sputtered and thought it was grand

To be king and commander o’er all the wide land.

But at last he woke up with an awful surprise

And found a blind mole kicking sand in his eyes.

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A BUNDLE OF HAY

A bundle of hay

From Baffin’s Bay,

A johnny-cake from Rome,

A man and a mule

From Ultima Thule

To carry the cargo home.

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PETER, POPPER

Peter, popper, dopper, Dan,

Catch a moonbeam if you can;

Climb a cedar ten feet high

And pick the planets from the sky.

You’re a wonder, little man—

Peter, popper, dopper, Dan.

OLD FATHER ANNUM

Old Father Annum on New Year’s Day

Picked up his bag of months and years,

Thrust in his hand in a careless way,

And pulled a wee fellow out by the ears.

“There you are,” said he to the waiting crowd,

“He’s as good as any I have in my pack.

I never can tell, but I hope to be proud

Of the little rascal when I come back.”

OLD FATHER ANNUM

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THE TIPPANY FLOWER

O what will you take for a tippany flower,

And what will you take for a pansy?

I’ll take a smile for the tippany flower,

And a kiss for the pretty pansy.

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HERE COMES A CABBAGE

Here comes a cabbage with a bonnet on its head,

A pretty purple bonnet with a bow of blue and red;

And here comes a bottle with a collar ’round its neck,

A handsome linen collar, too, without a spot or speck;

Next comes a meat-saw, his job is biting beef,

And according to the cleaver he has gold in all his teeth;

And last of all there comes along, amid the ringing cheers,

A princely Indian corn-stalk with rings in both his ears.

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PLENTY

There are plenty feathers on a hen

And prickers on a rose,

There is plenty roaring in a den

Of lions, goodness knows;

There are plenty fishes in the lake

And islands in the sea;

There are plenty raisins in this cake

For even you and me.

THE RUNAWAYS

A pipe and a spoon and a tenpenny nail

Stole a tin dishpan and went for a sail.

But the cook he grew curious,

Fussy, and furious;

Gathered his trappings, and went on their trail.

He found them that night in a pitiful plight,

And sent them all home on the ten o’clock mail.

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HI! HI! WHO WILL BUY A WEE LITTLE CLOUD

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THE SALESMAN

Hi! Hi! Who will buy

A wee little cloud for the pretty blue sky?

Some are purple, some are red,

And all are soft as a feather bed.

Hi! Little children, won’t any one buy

One little cloud for the pretty blue sky?

A RACE, A RACE TO MOSCOW

A race, a race to Moscow,

Before the close of day!

A race, a race to Moscow,

A long, long way!

First comes a butterfly a-riding on a frog,

Next comes a water rat a-floating on a log;

A caterpillar on the fence, a hopper in the hay—

Who’ll get to Moscow before the close of day?

View larger image

A PRINCE FROM PEPPERVILLE

A prince came down from Pepperville

In satin and in lace,

He wore a bonnet on his head

And whiskers on his face.

And when he came to Battleburg

This is what befell:

He gave the king and cabinet

A half a peanut shell.

View larger image

BOATS

Hitch up your cattle

And drive to Seattle

To see all the boats come in,—

From Kibi and Kobi

And Panama Dobi

And some from the Islands of Myn.

They’re bringing us rices

And cocoa and spices

And pineapples done up in tin,

And maybe Aunt Dinah

Will come back from China

If ever the boats get in.

PRETTY THINGS

Pretty poppies,

Pretty trees,

Pretty little lettuce-leaves,

Pretty pebbles,

Red and brown,

Pretty floating thistle-down.

Pretty baby,

Curly head,

Standing in a pansy-bed,

Pretty clouds

All white and curled—

O the great, big pretty world!

PRETTY THINGS

View larger image

DID YOU EVER?

Did you ever go to the watering trough

And watch the sparrows drink?

Did you ever go to Potter’s pond

And see the divers sink?

Did you ever steal to the barn at night

And watch the hoot-owls think?

View larger image

HOOTEM, TOOTEM, CLEAR THE TRACK

Hootem, tootem, clear the track!

I caught a coon on Kamiak!

Colonel Clapp and Uncle Rome

Have hired a hack to bring it home.

DOCTOR DRAKE

On a hummock by the lake

Stands the home of Doctor Drake,

Poor old doctor, how he works!

Week by week he never shirks—

Pulling teeth for guinea-fowl,

Soothing puppies when they howl,

Whittling out a hickory peg

For a gander’s broken leg,

Giving medicine away

About a hundred times a day,

Linseed oil and elder-bark

To a croaking meadowlark,

Nasty, bitter yarrow-tea

To a tipsy bumble-bee,

A poultice made of plantain leaves

To cure a rabbit with the heaves.

Fever, colic, cramp, or stitch,

Kitten-croup or beaver’s-itch,

Any kind of pain or ache

Is cured by dear, old Doctor Drake.

View larger image

BABIES

Come to the land where the babies grow,

Like flowers in the green, green grass.

Tiny babes that swing and crow

Whenever the warm winds pass,

And laugh at their own bright eyes aglow

In a fairy looking-glass.

Come to the sea where the babies sail

In ships of shining pearl,

Borne to the west by a golden gale

Of sun-beams all awhirl;

And perhaps a baby brother will sail

To you, my little girl.

TWENTY THIEVES FROM ALBION

Twenty thieves from Albion,

All with butcher knives,

Coming on the dead run,

Fighting for their lives.

See the man from our town.

In a fancy vest,

Knocking all the big ones down,

Chasing all the rest.

View larger image

View larger image

AS I CAME OUT OF GRUNDY GREET

As I came out of Grundy Greet

Four cats were marching down the street

One was long and gray and thin

With lots of whiskers on his chin,

And one was round and sleek and fat

(He must have been a butcher’s cat).

One was dapper, slight, and frail,

With bells and tassels on his tail,

And one had starey yellow eyes

Almost as big as pumpkin pies.

These four came marching down the street

As I came out of Grundy Greet.

View larger image

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Table of Contents

THE PETER PATTER BOOK OF NURSERY RHYMES

LIST OF THE RHYMES

A COPPER DOWN A CRACK

I’M MUCH TOO BIG FOR A FAIRY

DID YOU EVER PLAY TAG WITH A TIGER?

THE BLUE SONG

HIPPITY HOP TO BED

AWAY TO THE RIVER

OUR LITTLE PAT

THE ANIMAL SHOW

TOMMY TRIMBLE

DICKIE, DICKIE DEXTER

ON THE ROAD TO TATTLETOWN

POLLY AND PETER

I WENT TO TOWN ON MONDAY

WHERE ARE YOU GOING?

CHRISTOPHER CRUMP

PINKY, PINKY, PANG

TICK, TOCK

UNDER THE WILLOW

HIGH ON THE MANTEL

BOOTS, BOOTS, BOOTS

BUTTERFLY

BEELA BY THE SEA

A MATTER OF TASTE

TOMMY, MY SON

OH, SAID THE WORM

BUZZY BROWN

THE WIND

THE HOBO BAND

A BEETLE ON A BROOMSTRAW

MULE THOUGHTS

A CANDLE, A CANDLE

BAXTER

LODDY, GIN, AND ELLA ZANDER

AS I WAS GOING DOWN THE HILL

A LITTLE BOY RAN TO THE END OF THE SKY

DISCRETION

A BEETLE ONCE SAT ON A BARBERRY TWIG

THE THIEVES

UPON THE IRISH SEA

DUCKLE, DAISY

I’VE GOT A NEW BOOK

THE CARROT AND THE RABBIT

HIPPY-HI-HOPPY

UP ON THE GARDEN GATE

’MOST ANY CHIP

A MOON SONG

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?

TIMMY O’TOOLE

A MAN CAME FROM MALDEN

BARON BATTEROFF

SIX LITTLE SALMON

TO GARRY ON THE TOOT-TOOT

DOUBBLEDOON

THE PARTY

I’VE GOT A YELLOW PUPPY

DOCTOR McSWATTLE

COLUMBUS

TERRIBLE TIM

WHAT’S THE USE?

ALL ABOARD FOR BOMBAY

WATER

OLD MOLLY IS LOWING

SNOWFLAKES

DIPPY-DIPPY-DAVY

WHEN I’M AS RICH AS UNCLE CLAUS

RINKY-TATTLE

TWENTY LITTLE SNOWFLAKES

SLIPPERY SLIM

THE FREIGHTER

NO ONE AT HOME

PATTERS AND TATTERS

CROWN THE KING WITH CARROT TOPS

THE CANADA GOOSE

HIPPERTY, CLICKERTY, CLACKERTY, BANG

SONNY

THE STOVE

THE THUNDER BABY

HINKY, PINKY, PEARLY EARL

TIPSY TOM

JOLLY JINKS

TRANSFORMATION

THE THIEF CHASE

SOMEBODY

CONSOLATION

THE ROBIN AND THE SQUIRREL

THE KING HAD A PLATTER

RAIN

OLD FATHER McNETHER

JERRY WAS A JOKER

KING KOKEM

OLD MISSUS SKINNER

OH, MOTHER

CELLA REE AND TOMMY TO

IF I WERE RICHER

THE ARMY OF THE QUEEN

ROMULUS

THE HERO

PENSIVE PERCY

MOON, O MOON IN THE EMPTY SKY

THE RAG-MAN

WHENEVER I GO OUT TO WALK

A FREE SHOW

BILLY BUMPKINS

BLUE FLAMES AND RED FLAMES

TIMOTHY GRADY

CAPTAIN TICKLE AND HIS NICKEL

GRANDMOTHER GRUNDY

NEEDLES AND PINS

A TOE RIME

HARRY HOOKER

JELLY JAKE AND BUTTER BILL

CUT UP A CAPER

EAT, EAT, EAT

HETTY HUTTON

A BIG, FAT POTATO

A BUNDLE OF HAY

PETER, POPPER

OLD FATHER ANNUM

THE TIPPANY FLOWER

HERE COMES A CABBAGE

PLENTY

THE RUNAWAYS

THE SALESMAN

A RACE, A RACE TO MOSCOW

A PRINCE FROM PEPPERVILLE

BOATS

PRETTY THINGS

DID YOU EVER?

HOOTEM, TOOTEM, CLEAR THE TRACK

DOCTOR DRAKE

BABIES

TWENTY THIEVES FROM ALBION

AS I CAME OUT OF GRUNDY GREET

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE