Charles Welsh

“ When the wind is in the east,
'T is good for neither man nor beast;
When the wind is in the north,
The skilful fisher goes not forth;
When the wind is in the south,
It blows the bait in the fishes' mouth. ”

“ THE direct simplicity, dramatic imagination, and spontaneous humor of the rhymes and jingles of Mother Goose will probably never be excelled by any modern verse. They will for the most part doubtless remain for all time "the light literature of the infant scholar." Although some fragments of what has been written since the collection was first made may go to swell the volume of this inheritance from past ages, the selection of any permanent additions will be made finally by the mother and the child. ”

“ A golden apple doth appear.
No doors there are to this stronghold,
Yet thieves break in and steal the gold
Egg.
Black we are, but much admired,
Men seek for us till they are tired,
We tire the horse but comfort man ”

“ It will be seen from the present collection that not only do these rhymes and jingles fall naturally into the four great divisions of Mother Play, Mother Stories, Child Play, and Child Stories, but there is a logical order in which each section may be advantageously presented to the child,—an order which, by the way, the mother-instinct almost always finds out without any consciousness of following a law. The mother may generally be safely trusted to present these rhymes and jingles to the child in the natural order of the awakening of the child's interest and growing intelligence. ”

“ If "ifs" and "ands,"
Were pots and pans,
There would be no need for tinkers!
Birds of a feather flock together,
⁠And so will pigs and swine;
Rats and mice will have their choice,
⁠And so will I have mine. ”

“ I spent a penny of it, I spent another,
⁠And I took nothing home to my wife.
Oh, my little nothing, my pretty little
⁠nothing,
⁠What will nothing buy for my wife?
I have nothing, I spend nothing,
⁠I love nothing better than my wife. ”

“ So I'll not pull her tail, nor drive her away,
But pussy and I very gently will play.
So, with sparrows and owls,
⁠With rats and with dogs,
With ducks and with crows,
⁠With cats and with hogs,
A fine song I have made,
⁠To please you, my dear ”

“ On level ground spare me not,
And in the stable forget me not.
Shoe the horse, and shoe the mare;
But let the little colt go bare.
SEE, see! what shall I see?
A horse's head where his tail should be. ”

“ See a pin and pick it up,
All the day you'll have good luck;
See a pin and let it lay,
Bad luck you'll have all the day.
Riddle me, riddle me, riddle me ree,
None are so blind as those that won't see. ”

“ For example, the Mother-Play rhymes and jingles, which are generally accompanied by movements and gestures, and those which affect the child's own personality,—the parts of his body, etc.,—infants sensibly appreciate and enjoy before they can talk, and it is but natural that they are among the first things which they repeat as they learn to talk. ”

“ And here comes a chopper to chop off your head.
⁠London bridge is broken down,
⁠Dance over, my Lady Lee;
London bridge is broken down,
⁠With a gay lady.
How shall we build it up again?
⁠Dance over, my Lady Lee;
How shall we build it up again?
⁠With a gay lady.
Build it up with silver and gold,
⁠Dance over, my Lady Lee,
Build it up with silver and gold,
⁠With a gay lady
Silver and gold will be stolen away. ”

“ The third said it was a cheese,
⁠And half o' 't cut away.
A Man of words and not of deeds,
Is like a garden full of weeds;
For when the weeds begin to grow,
Then doth the garden overflow.
Oh, who is so merry, so merry, heigh ho! ”

“ She is not governed by the hardness of the words, the difficulty of the sentences, or any principle of grading which is attempted in school books or by school teachers. For there are certain of these rhymes and jingles which belong to certain periods of the child's progressing acquaintance with the world that lies about him from his infancy, just as certain foods and certain dress are necessary and suitable at different stages of his physical growth. ”

“ Oh that I was where I would be!
Then would I be where I am not!
But where I am I must be,
And where I would be, I cannot.
In time of prosperity friends will be plenty,
In time of adversity not one amongst
⁠twenty. ”

“ And he'd go and fetch the drake, drake,
⁠drake.
The drake was a swimming, with his curly tail,
The little man made it his mark, mark, mark!
He let off his gun, but he fired too soon;
And the drake flew away with a "Quack!
⁠quack! quack!" ”

“ And tried what she could, as a shepherdess should,
⁠That each tail should be properly placed.
Hickory, dickory, dock,
The mouse ran up the clock;
⁠The clock struck one,
⁠And down he run,
Hickory, dickory, dock.
BAH, bah, black sheep,
Have you any wool?
Yes, marry, have I,
Three bags full:
One for my master,
And one for my dame,
And one for the little boy
Who lives in the lane.
———————
Young lambs to sell!
Young lambs to sell!
If I'd as much money as I could tell,
I never would cry—Young lambs to sell
Some little mice sat in a barn to spin ”

“ The choice will be by no means a haphazard one, for it will be founded on psychological principles, on basal elements of human character, and it will, for the very same cause, be an absolutely autocratic choice. ”

“ You parents all that children have,
⁠And you that have got none,
If you would have them safe abroad,
⁠Pray keep them safe at home.
The King of France went up the hill,
⁠With twenty thousand men ”

“ And hung them out to dry;
"O mother dear,
Do you not hear,
That we have washed our mittens? '
"Washed your mittens!
Oh, you 're good kittens.
But I smell a rat close by! '
"Hush, hush ! mee-ow, mee-ow!
We smell a rat close by! ”

“ The man in brown soon brought him down,
⁠Dickery, dickery, dare.
A long-tailed pig, or a short-tailed pig,
Or a pig without e'er a tail,
A sow-pig, or a boar-pig,
Or a pig with a curly tail.
Betty Pringle had a little pig. ”

“ When a twister a twisting, 112.
When I was a bachelor, 84.
When Jacky 's a very good boy,
69.
When little Fred went to bed,
56.
When the days begin to lengthen, 95.
When the wind is in the East. ”

“ They went to the church and married was
she, —
The fly has married the bumble-bee.
FOUR-AND-TWENTY tailors
Went to kill a snail,
The best man among them
Durst not touch her tail;
She put out her horns
Like a little Kyloe cow,
Run, tailors, run! ”

“ But Foreman, he can dance alone,
Foreman, he can dance alone.
And so on with the others—naming the second finger "Longman." the third finger "Ringman." and the fourth finger "Littleman." Littleman cannot dance alone. ”

“ A cat came fiddling out of a
barn, 21.
A diller, a dollar, 88.
A for the Ape, 161.
A good child, a good child, as I
suppose you be, 11.
A long-tailed pig or a short-
tailed pig, 40.
A man of words and not of
deeds, 147. ”

“ Feedum, fiddledum fee, 26.
Fiddle-de-dee, 46.
For every evil under the sun,
139
Formed long ago, 118.
Four-and-twenty tailors, 47.
Gay go up and gay go down,
107
Girls and boys, come out to
play, 105. ”