Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman

“ A wonderful garden the darling found
Around the Castle in Spain:
Apple-branches all white with flowers,
A hive of stingless bees,
Robins, with nests of woven gold,
On the boughs of the cherry-trees;
Original Lilies as tall as the darling's self,
Of silver and gold and blue,
Banks of primrose and mignonette,
And violets wet with dew;
Poppies, with bees asleep in their cups,
Tulips of purple and red,
Honeysuckles and humming-birds,
Rose-branches over her head;
A velvet sward in an open space,
A fountain of tinkling pearls ”

“ And he saw the street, and the people pass—
And the morrow was Christmas Day.
"The children are out, and they laugh and
shout,
I know what it's for," said he;
"And they're dragging along, my pretty
mamma,
A fir for a Christmas-tree."
He came and stood by his mother's side:
"To-night it is Christmas Eve;
And is there a gift somewhere for me.
Gold mamma, do you believe?"
Still the needle sped in her slender hands:
"My little sweetheart," said she,
"The Christ Child has planned this Christ-
mas, for you,
His gift that you cannot see." ”

“ That regulated the green sea-tide!
It's always the loveliest things in the world
Which the treasure-castles of ogres hide.
With the treasures, the dog, the pheasant and
ape,
Little Peachling home to his parents ran;
And the old woodman and his loving wife
Were the happiest couple in all Japan.
A SWING. O THEY made her a swing on a gossamer-
tree, on the lowest bough of a gossamer-tree;
And she swung so far, I have heard, she could
see
The next year's rose and honey-bee, and the
gifts on the next year's Christmas-tree—
But I fear 'tis a story, O dear me! ”

“ XII. Then the brothers tended their fairy plants
Till they shot up brave and tall,
And the leaves grew thick. "Now soon shall
we pick
A rose like a golden ball;
XIII. "Or else we shall see a lily, maybe,
With a bell o' bright silver cast,"
They thought; and they cried with joy and
When the blossom-buds shaped at last.
XIV. "Now, heyday!" shouted the elder son,
And he danced in the garden walk,
"A hat I will buy, as a steeple high,
An' the neighbors will stare an' talk. ”

“ About that little fairy girl,
Who bound the ogre with a fetter
Of spiderwort and grass and pearl;
Then singing in the gateway sat,
Till up the road the prince came prancing,
A jewelled feather in his hat,
And set the cherry-boughs a-dancing.
How low he bent his handsome head
Before the fairy girl, and said "—
Sheep: Ba-a, ba-a! Who the day so sweetly
passes
As a lamb who never stops,
But from dawn to twilight crops
Clover-heads and dewy grasses? ”

“ If I hold but my fairy gold,
My father's toil is done!
XVII. "He shall hammer no more with his tired
old hands,
He shall shoe not the bay nor the gray;
But shall live as he please, an' sit at his ease,
A-resting the livelong day." ”

“ As the smiling old wife to the river-side
went:
"Oh, red is the sun!" she cheerily sang,
As she patiently over her washing bent.
"Oh, red is the sun! and the rice-fields green—
Now what is that in the river I see?
It's the rosiest peach in the whole of Japan;
And it's coming a-floating, a-floating to me.
"Now, here is a feast for my darling old man,
Oh, the great Shogun not a finer can get!
Some stewed lily-bulbs, and this beautiful peach,
When he comes home from work, before
him I'll set." ”

“ When I'm a man I mean to drive
A wagon full of posies,
And sing so sweet to all I meet:
"Hail, Hyacinths and Roses!"
THE SNOWFLAKE TREE. THE hawthorn is dead, the rose-leaves
have fled
On the north wind over the sea:
Now the petals will fall that are rarest of all,
Sweetheart, from the Snowflake Tree.
The Tree, it doth stand in that marvellous
land
Whose shore like a sapphire gleams,
Where a crown hangs high in the northern
sky,
Forth raying its golden beams.
It tosses its boughs with their crystalling
blows ”

“ THE SICK FAIRY. BREW some tea o' cowslips, make some
poppy-gruel,
Serve it in a buttercup—ah, 'tis very cruel,
That she is so ailing, pretty Violetta!
Locust, stop your violin, till she's feeling better.
THE ENCHANTED TALE OF BANBURY CROSS. "Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross,
To see an old woman jump on a white horse;
With rings on her fingers and bells on her toes,
She shall make music wherever she goes." ”

“ Just perfect she was, the mite of a darling,
From her flower of a head to her pink
slipper-toes!
You will laugh, but she seemed as I looked
at her, Fanny,
A little girl copied right after a rose!
Well, you know how it is: they have petted
the darling,
Her papa and mamma, her uncles and
aunts—
Till, saving the moon, which they can't get
for princes,
There isn't a thing but she has if she wants. ”

“ XXV Then he tenderly pulled up the fairy plant,
And lo, in the frosty mould,
Like a star from the skies to his dazzled eyes,
Was blazing a bulb of gold!
XXVI. "Now,"—cling, clang,—"whoa, my bonny
gray mare!
Or gallop or trot, as ye may!
This happy old smith will shoe ye no more,
For he sits at his ease, all day! "
A VALENTINE FOR BABY. The rose is red, the violet's blue,
Pinks are pretty, and so are you."
THE rose is red, my rosy dear ”

“ Up on the fair Queen's breast.
"Oho, Willie Winkie; and hey, Willie
Winkie!
The moonbeams they sleep on the sea:
Catch the loveliest dreams in the poppy-fleet,
And here is a kiss for thee."
Wee Willie Winkie sat up in bed,
Stubbornly shaking his curly head,
When his mother had shut the door:
"Is the Prince asleep? I would like to see;
Is the robin asleep in the cherry-tree,
And every little flower?
"The flowers are awake and play with the
bees,
The robins, they sing in the cherry-trees,
And the Prince is the gladdest of all ”

“ NANNY'S SEARCH. O NANNY, my dear little Nanny! and
where have you been to-day?
Y our little coat's old, and the wind blows cold,
and where have you been, I pray?"
"Dear Granny, I've been to the forest to look
for a Christmas-tree—
Santa Claus is so kind, I thought I would find
one growing there wild, maybe,
Full of cakes, with a doll, and candy, and all
for a wee little body like me."
GRANDMOTHER'S STORY. NOW hang up your sunbonnet, Marthy,
And get out your patchwork square,
And sit down here and sew for a while
In your little rocking-chair ”

“ They clasped her golden-threaded robe—
"Darling, thou art so fair!"
With strings of pearls, amid the curls,
They dressed her flowing hair.
"Now, pardy!" cried the emperor,
"The rose-tree is in flower!
In the world green was never seen
Queen half so sweet before!"
The people, dressed as for a feast,
Thronged round the palace doors;
Original The minstrels sung, the joy-bells rung,
The roses fell in showers. ”

“ The moon shone bright as day;
"I'll run through the town myself," said he,
"And see if they all asleep can be—
I think they are all at play!"
Wee Willie Winkie—no shoes on his feet,
No hat on his head—ran down the street,
And he called at every lock:
"Are your babies asleep in their cradles now?
Do your lilies asleep in the night-wind blow?
For 'tis now ten o'clock!"
Wee Willie Winkie in his nightgown,
Little fat, rosy boy, ran thro' the town,
His curly head damp with dew:
Original "Are the robins and babies and rosies all
Abed and asleep?" ”

“ Green with grass that shakes and swings,
Rustling 'till it almost sings,
From her open window show
For a pleasant mile or so.
She with earnest, pensive look,
Bending o'er an open book,
Her own happy self forgets
Following a story-child's
Pretty pleasures and regrets.
Straightening up her golden head,
Now she sees the fields instead,
Where the grass and clover stir,
And her glad self and her day
Radiantly come back to her.
THE THREE MARGERY DAWS. SEE-SAW, see-saw, up and down we gay-
ly go!
See-saw, see-saw, such a lovely teeter, O! ”

“ And little Boy Blue, with his curly pate,
Still untroubled by aught like sheep,
Lay 'neath the hay-stack fast asleep.
Oh, what is that rustling amongst the corn?
Oh! little Boy Blue, come blow your horn!
"The cows are eating the golden grain!"
The little boy stirred—then slept again.
"Ho! Buttercup! Buttercup! out of the corn! ”

“ Macleod close furled the fairy flag:
"Ye've served me once in blessed stead,
But sorely I'll be pressed again
Ere I will wave ye twice!" he said.
Original Size All day the chief had held the field,
Nor quailed until the sun sank low:
His followers, bleeding, round him lay,
And he was hemmed in by the foe.
Oh, life is sweet! "exclaimed Macleod;
"I love my bairn and lady dear:
I'll wave again the fairy flag—
But will it bring me succor here?"
Macleod waved high the fairy flag ”

“ When dear old Grandma her "meetin' bun-
nit"
Had carefully tied, on the Sabbath Day,
She always put in her best-gown pocket
A generous handful of caraway.
For the dear old soul would grow a-weary
To sit so long in the cushionless pew ”

“ See-saw, see-saw! robins, they know how to
play
See-saw, see-saw, as well as children any day;
See-saw, see-saw! lads and lassies, don't you
know,
Grass across a daisy-stalk makes a lovely
teeter, O!
A LITTLE SEAMSTRESS. SHE sat in her little rocking-chair, a-sigh-
ing and twirling her thumbs:
"Oh, everything for my doll is done, and
never to mending comes!
I haven't a morsel of sewing!—dear mother,
in all the town,
Can't you find me one doll, no matter how
small, who will wear out her gown?"
THE GOLDEN SLIPPERS.
Original Size MY lady's ready for the ball ”

“ I thought I would see for myself, because
I doubted a little, just like you,
Whether or no the story was true;
"And so one Christmas Eve I staid
Awake till twelve—Oh, I was afraid!
The wind was a-blowing, and no moon shone,
But I went to the stable myself, alone.
"And when I had slid the big doors back
I couldn't go in, it was so black;
But—solemn and true—I do declare
I heard the cows when they knelt down! There!"
ROSALINDA'S LAMB. THE Princess Rosalinda's lamb-
Silken is his fleece, they say,
Original And he feeds on pinks alway. ”

“ And the darling five-year-old.
"Oh," he cries, "he's taken the bundle!"
As carefully round he peers;
"And the Brownie has gotten a Christmas
After a thousand years!"
THE CHRISTMAS BALL. THE fiddlers were scraping so cheerily, O,
With a one, two, three, and a one, two, three,
And the children were dancing so merrily, O,
All under the shade of the Christmas-tree.
O, bonny the fruit on its branches which
grows! ”

“ Girls can't slide without a sled! "
"Oh! where in the world is there aught so nice
As to slide down the pasture-hill on the ice?
Quite down to the bar, sis, see, we are going,
Where the cows each night in summer stood lowing. ”