Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014 https://archive.org/details/sunshineplaytimeOOdoan I SUNSHINE AND PLAY-TIME VERSES BY THK Rt. Rfv. wm. croswfll doane, d.d. ILLUSTRATIONS BY EMMA JUSTINE FARNSWORTH NEW YORK E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY 51 WEST TWENTY-THIRD STREET 1893 Copyright, 1893, by E. P. DUTTON S; CO. Press of J. J. Little & Co. Astor Place, New York PAGE Dedication, .......... 5 ^ ■■ 4^ Grace Before Meat, ........ 7 The Swing, " ' Under an Umdrella, 9 Riches and Poverty, ........... 10 Up a Tree, ............. ii Reflections, . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 Hello, Little Calf, .......... 13 Bed Time, 14 Up in a Haymow, . 15 Gardening, ............. 16 In a High Wind, 17 The Launch, 18 Busy Digging a Soldier's Grave, ....... 19 Bonfires, . 20 I'm Thinking about a Lucky Dog, 21 Pillow-Place .22 3 TO LITTLE ROLAND, THE SUNSHINE OF WHOSE SHORT LIFE GLADDENED MANY HEARTS. SUNSHINE AND PLAYTIME. GRACE BEFORE MEAT. Come, Lord Jcsii, be our giicst ; Share the tjifts that Thou hast given. Daily bread, which Thou hast blest. Comes, like " antjel's food," from heaven. 8 Sr.VSN/N£ A.\'D PLAYTIME. THE SWING. Higher and higher, swing and sing, With my toes tliat bareh' toucii the ground, And ni}' head in the leaves, and everything Swimming and swirling above and around. Up and back, through the rushing air. Faster and faster, like bird on wing; Till the things that fly say, "Who goes there?" And I race with the swallows in my swing. SCVS/ZLVE A.\'D PLAYTIME. UNDER AN UMBRELLA. Here's a puzzle for a fellow, On the first real rainy da)" Since I got my new um- brella : Shall I put it up, or sta}' In the rain and get a wet- ting, And a whipping, maybe, too ? — Which, though followed by a petting, Is a thing I always rue. So the wary little fellow Walked beneath the silk- en dome, And the shiny, new um- brella Brought him, dry and safely, home. SUNSHINE AND PLAYTIME. RICHES AND POVERTY. What is the joy and the pleasure of Hving, Having and keeping, or having and giving? Which is tlie better, to want and receive, Or to have, and be able a want to relieve? Neither is better; for neither 's complete Till the want and the wealth, in an interchange, meet. SC/ASH/A/E AA-D PLAYTIME. II That's all well enough by and by. Just now the ripening cherry, The slowly mellowing apple, the bird's or squirrel's nest, Tempt me rather more, and strike me as more merry ; Or, just to reach the highest bough, and look down on the rest. 12 S(AVS///.V/^ AND PLAVT/ME. REFLECTIONS. What do you take my reflections to be, Dear little brook, as you babble along? One thing seems very clear to nie, That yours are uniformly wrong. Trees don't grow with their roots in the air. At least they don't in our town ; And it looks to me uncommonh' queer To see flowers and weetls with their heads turned down. And yet, on the whole, in m}' poor little head There's a good deal of upside-downness too ; And the more I reflect on \\\v,\t I liave said, The more I feel that it 's (juite like }'ou. SUXSHINE AND PLAYTIME. ■3 Hello, little calf! Do look up and laugh, Let's have some chaff ; You're too sober by half, With your head down snuffing the fresh green grass. I'm young, too. As well as you. But I think there is some- thing better to do Than just to chew. Can't you say moo, When I say good morning, as homeward I pass? Can't you even spare me a flick of your tail. Like the man in the barn that flings the flail 1 Or a kick of your heel ? Come, we're both of us veal : It's time to feel Solemn when old age makes you beef, And makes me a man. Let's play while we can ; You'll really find it a great relief. But the calf preferred its grass to Jiis chaff, And wouldn't look up, nor play, nor laugh ; " For she's busy," the boy said, " making, I see, Sweetbread for mother, sweet milk for me." 14 SUXSmA'E A.XD rLAYTIME. BED TIME. Suckk-n the shackjws leap and start Where the tall trees reach the sky. If only the}' weren't so far apart, I could climb the branches ever so high, And see who lights the evening star, And talk to the bo\-s, if any there are, Up there ; And see what they do In the streets so blue, In the air. It 's hard to have to go to bed W'hen the streets are all so bright. When I'm a man I'll try, instead Of sleeping all the night. To get something to do that Avill make me stay Up all night and in bed all day. I'll be a policeman, trim and trig. Or a bank's night watchman, when I'm big. And now-, if I must go to bed, I'll dream And find out so, how things would seem If day were night, and night were day; And to-morrow, when I wake up, I'll play Just what in dreamland I shall see. Just what my dreams will tell to me. SUXSHIXE AiVD PLAYTIME. 15 UP IN THE HAYMOW. I love the grass when the tiny blade Peeps up in the April days ; and well I love it, when under the summer shade The tossing pitchforks have haycocks made, And the air is rich with the clover smell. But never and nowhere under the sun, Growing or greening or giving its smell, Is the grass so fair or half such fun, As when I can roll and romp and run Up in the hayloft I love so well. i6 SLWSHIXE AXD PLAYTIME. GARDENING. 1 wonder why that cross old man Won't let me dig up seeds, And pick the flowers when I can, And help him pull up weeds? I don't see any use of grass If I must keep the road. And never have a right to pass Across a place he 's sowed. I'll ask my father if I can't Have some place for my own. Where I can dig and sow and plant, And dig up what I've sown. And that old gardener so glum — I'll tell him not to dare Within my garden spot to come. And that will, make us square. SUNSHINE AND PLAYTIME. IN A HIGH WIND. IVIy ! what a blow! wliat a blast! what a bluster! All the wild winds must be out for a muster ; All the dead leaves whirl about in a fluster. And the dust! — I must go home and look for a duster! Down go the flowers, their leaves in a cluster. Gently, dear wind, we don't like such a bluster. Boreas, Zephyrus, Eurus, and Auster, Let's have one at a time and not all in a muster! 1 8 SUJVSN/JVE AXD PLAYTIME. THE LAUNCH. Dear little boat, so trig and trim, To-day you shall have your first real swim; Your sails are set and your flag unfurled — Perhaps you will find some quite new world. Dear little boy, with your eager mind. Soon you'll be launching on life's strong tide Yourself, for a voyage that's sure to find The true new world on the other side. / SUXSHLVE AAD PLAYTIME. '9 Silent, on one side, the funeral drum, Still, on the other, the soldier dumb. He is battered and bruised with many a scar Won in the blows of mimic war; Not even a funeral note will come From the solemn, silent, soundless drum. SUA'SI-IINE AND PLAYTIME. BONFIRES. Up in the sky the trees are on fire — Yellow and red the bright flame goes, Leaping like tongues still higher and higher; All the wild woodland gleams and glows. Maple and birch and tlie vines that wreathe them, Sumach and alder and elm and oak; We'll have a bonfire down here beneath them : — My ! Why can't our fires burn without smok / SUA'S/iLXE AND PLAYTIME. I'm thinking about a lucky dog, And wishing that I was one ; For ni)' dear dog's life just seems to me The nicest kind of fun. Here is the rug so woolly and white, Before the fire so warm and bright, On which he can sleep by day and night ; While / must get up, and go to bed. And have all the bother of combing my head, Clothes off, clothes on, forever ; instead Of just jumping up, with a good sound shake — • No bath, no bother, but just to wake ; All ready, as soon as the day's begun, For whatever first turns up to be done. Yes ; a dog is luck}-. I would give my knife. If I could but live " a lucky dog's life " ! 22 SUXSHINE AXD PLAYTIME. riLLOVV-PLACE. Life is divided, like towns, into places ; Pleasant are some of them, some of them poor. Here, where I'm lying, sometimes I make faces, When nurse, with the medicine, opens the door. But enjoying bad health, I make open confession, Is rather good fun, as you see in this case; When I lie with my toys close at hand, and no lesson, And number my home, " Number One, Pillow-Place."