BIDDLE-EHYMES 
 
 jPN 6371 
 .P7 
 Copy 1 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 
 
 COPYRIGHT OFFICE. 
 
 No registration of title of this book 
 as a preliminary to copyright protec- 
 tion has been found. 
 
 Forwarded to Order Division ^^-•X/-£-^--?„-_ 
 
 ' (Date) 
 
 (6, i, 1906—2,000. ) <J^ £ 
 
 Qass_^-i- ^ ; \ v 
 
 Book 
 
 £n 
 
Jfi*^" 
 
'Published for and supplied by 
 H. M. CALDWELL CO. 
 
 PUBLISHERS 
 NEW YORK and BOSTON 
 
^j^ S. (h*Xt t 
 
 RIDDLE-RHYMES 
 
 BEING LII WrT-WAKING PUZZLE-POEMS 
 FOR CHILDREN WITH THINKING-CAPS 
 INVENTED. VERSIFIED AND ARRANGED 
 FOR A YEAR OF SATURDAYS BY THE 
 RDDLE-RHYME MAKER 
 
 1 
 
 Pictures and Decorations 
 by H. P. Barnes 
 
 PUBLISHED AT SALEM, MASS., BY 
 SAMUEL EDSON CASSINO & SON 
 
?N 
 
 637/ 
 
 
 T7 
 
 COPYRIGHT. 1905 
 
 
 BY S. E. CASSINO 
 
 
 RlBBARYofCGNetRESS 
 
 
 
 
 Two Copies Received 
 
 
 - / 
 
 
 MAh 11 1907 
 
 
 
 
 Copyright Entry 
 
 
 
 
 CUSS XXc, No. 
 
 
 
 
 COPY B. 
 
 
 
 Received i" 
 
 
 Copyright 
 
 
 
 " 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 J 
 
To 
 the Honor-List and Prize- Winner Children 
 
 of "Little Folks" 
 
 these LII Guessing-Poems are Dedicated 
 
 by the Riddle-Rhyme Maker 
 
 Q 
 
A WORD FOR THE FATHERS AND 
 MOTHERS 
 
 THE first riddle was made, and maybe guessed, by 
 prehistoric man. 
 I don't know what that first riddle was, for sure. It 
 may have been one of the lost riddles of old time — or it 
 may have survived, and you and I may have guessed it 
 in our young days, as the children, mayhap, are guessing 
 it today in its twentieth century form. 
 
 Today the boys and gfirls are asking each other the 
 familiar riddle : 
 
 " What is it that goes first on four foot, then on two 
 feet, and last of all on three feet ? " i 
 
 Likewise the little Greeks of Sophocles' time repeated 
 an old riddle of Theban legend, the riddle the Sphinx 
 propounded to CEdipus : 
 
 "What being has four feet, two feet and three feet; 
 only one voice ; but whose feet vary, and when it has 
 most is weakest ? " 
 
 ! 
 
FOR THE FATHERS AND MOTHERS 
 
 Twenty-four centuries intervene between these two 
 versions of the riddle — and yet it has not greatly changed. 
 
 Now the Sphinx did not invent it — and I have no doubt 
 it is older than the man who invented the Sphinx — older 
 than the earliest civilizations of Egypt and the East. 
 
 And since its answer is Man — man who goes first on 
 hands and knees, then erect on two feet, and in old age 
 hobbles with a cane — it may well have been contem- 
 porary with the earliest men, in those prehistoric days 
 when the third foot was not a gold-headed cane, but a 
 gnarled club of defense and offense as well as support — 
 indeed, it may have been the very first riddle itself ! 
 
 Whatever be the truth about the old riddle whose 
 answer is Man, it is certain that riddles have been popu- 
 lar in all ages and among all peoples. 
 
 Even Solomon, according to Josephus, once had a 
 riddle-guessing contest with Hiram, king of Tyre — in 
 which he won a considerable prize, only to lose it again 
 to a subject of Hiram's who appears to have been a 
 better riddle-maker than either of the kings. The Queen 
 of Sheba, too, attempted to pose Solomon with enigmas. 
 
 If we may believe Plutarch, the poet Homer actually 
 died of chagrin at not being able to guess this riddle of 
 two boys who went hunting: 
 
 2 
 
/ 
 
 FOR THE FATHERS AND MOTHERS 
 
 " All they caught they flung away, and all they could 
 not catch they carried home." 
 
 And the poet Virgil has depicted a trial of wits be- 
 tween shepherds. 
 
 Riddles are found in the Koran and in the Bible — 
 Samson's riddle being of course familiar to every one : 
 
 " Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the 
 strong came forth sweetness.'* Qudges 14: 14.) 
 
 And there are ancient collections of riddles in Arabic 
 and in Persian. 
 
 Riddles in poetic form were common in Greece six 
 hundred years before Christ — Cleobulus, one of the 
 " Seven Sages," having been celebrated for his metrical 
 enigmas. 
 
 In the Middle Ages, the art of riddle-making was 
 further developed. Riddles were even used to convey 
 sacred truths, as in this : 
 
 " Demand : What bare the best burden that ever was 
 borne ? 
 
 " Response : The ass that carried our Lady when she 
 fled with our Lord into Egypt." 
 
 French, German and English riddle-books of this 
 
FOR THE FATHERS AND MOTHERS 
 
 period still exist in MS., and some were printed at an 
 early date. 
 
 During the Reformation, the diversion of riddle-making 
 and riddle-guessing suffered a brief eclipse, but in the 
 seventeenth century it emerged again into the radiance 
 of popular favor, especially in France, where poetical 
 riddles became the rivals of the sonnets and madrigals of 
 the day. Indeed, so fashionable was the riddle that the 
 " Mercure de France " printed a fortnightly collection, and 
 the man who guessed them achieved social distinction. 
 Learned treatises on the art of riddle-making were pub- 
 lished, and the French riddle-makers included such bril- 
 liant writers as Boileau, Voltaire and Rousseau. 
 
 The poets, indeed, have been writers of metrical cha- 
 rades and other enigmas from Theocritus to Schiller ; and 
 among the later English may be counted Cowper and 
 Praed. 
 
 So the Protean riddle — the riddle of a thousand 
 shapes — has come down through the ages. And it 
 continues to flourish among all peoples, from the Zulus of 
 South Africa to the peasants of Northern Russia, among 
 savages and among the highly civilized — appearing and 
 re-appearing, in the simple old forms, and in forms new, 
 elaborated, obscure. 
 
FOR THE FATHERS AND MOTHERS 
 
 One might go further, and trace the evolution of the 
 enigma in the larger modern literature, from Shakespeare 
 to the creator of Sherlock Holmes. One might claim 
 the denouement of " The Merchant of Venice " as Portia's 
 solution of the riddle of granting the letter of the law and 
 at the same time effectually blocking its fulfilment. One 
 might point out that half the fiction of the day is based 
 on some blind intricate problem, where the reader takes 
 the thread put in his hand by the author and follows it 
 through labyrinthine ways to the hidden secret at the end. 
 And the popular detective novels are confessedly riddles — 
 riddles much ramified, it is true, but riddles all the same. 
 From this point of view, the author of the Sherlock 
 Holmes stories is an arch-propounder of conundrums, and 
 Sherlock Holmes himself the apotheosis of the guesser. 
 
 Guesser ! — guessing ! — that is the point to which I 
 have all along been leading up. For I wish to empha- 
 size the fact that riddle-guessing is not merely an amuse- 
 ment, but an intellectual exercise and development. 
 
 Guessing! — it is not " guessing" at all — it is a quick- 
 ening act of perception, of imagination, of comparison, of 
 co-ordination, of reasoning — in brief, of thinking ! 
 
 Not long ago I attended a teachers* meeting, where 
 sixteen teachers endeavored to answer the question of the 
 
FOR THE FATHERS AND MOTHERS 
 
 day's topic : " What is the greatest need of my school ? " 
 These " greatest needs," it appeared, were largely mate- 
 rial, or verging on the immaterial, ranging from a " diction- 
 ary " to a " dipper," from " order M to an "organ." At 
 the last a teacher rose and said with some earnestness 
 that the greatest need in her school was " something to 
 make the children think ! " 
 
 Ah ! " Something to make the children think ! M 
 
 Now I do not imagine that this need is confined to the 
 children of one little district school. Is it not rather 
 universal ? 
 
 Somebody has said that the way to learn to read is — 
 to read ! And it is equally true that the way to learn to 
 think is — to think ! But how shall we start the process 
 when the child hangs back, when the little mind 
 balks ? How shall we stimulate the power of attack ? 
 How shall we establish the habit of initiative, the habit 
 of thinking ? 
 
 You may know ways. Somebody else may know 
 others. I have discovered one way myself. But all 
 these ways must lead, not drive, must allure, not force. 
 All these ways must begin with something interesting to 
 think about — something that interests the child. 
 
 Once establish the habit of attack, the habit of think- 
 
 O J 
 
FOR THE FATHERS AND MOTHERS 
 
 ing, in the face of interesting things, and inevitably there 
 will come confidence, and readiness of initiative, in the 
 face of the uninteresting and the difficult. 
 
 I said I had discovered one way to make children 
 think. 
 
 Several years ago I was led to write a series of riddles 
 in verse, including charades and various sorts of puzzle- 
 poems, for a dozen numbers of " Little Folks ." The 
 demand obliged me to write a second series the follow- 
 ing year, a third the year after — and the fourth is now 
 under way. From the several series this little book of 
 Riddle-Rhymes has been collected. 
 
 Now, during these years, month by month hundreds of 
 letters, thousands altogether, have come to me from chil- 
 dren all over the country — telling how much they en- 
 joyed the Riddle-Rhymes, reporting their answers, and 
 often giving the successive steps in the solution and the 
 reasons for their conclusions. 
 
 These thousands of letters have emphasized two 
 things : the great interest of the children in the Riddle- 
 Rhymes, and the educational value of the intellectual 
 exercise of solving them. 
 
 At first I was impressed by the pleasure-giving ; but 
 soon I was more impressed by the evident brain-training, 
 
FOR THE FATHERS AND MOTHERS 
 
 the development of the power to reason. I felt I could 
 give that teacher of the little sixteenth district school a 
 hint or two. 
 
 And so I say I have discovered one interesting thing 
 that will make children think. 
 
 If you have any doubt of this, the next time you see a 
 little child hanging back from some dull problem, in 
 arithmetic, for instance, just substitute the candle riddle of 
 Mother Goose. Note how the numb mind becomes 
 alert, how the balking brain springs to the initiative — how 
 the child thinks! And when the answer is guessed — that 
 is, reasoned out — ask what the " red nose" is, what the 
 " white petticoat,'* and why " the longer she stands the 
 shorter she grows." 
 
 You may be surprised, as I have been, by the logic of 
 a little child's mind. 
 
 . 
 
A WORD FOR THE CHILDREN 
 
 HOW many weeks are there in a year ? 
 Fifty-two, do you say? Yes; that is right — 
 and that is why there are LII Riddle-Rhymes in this 
 book — because in fifty-two weeks there are fifty-two 
 Saturdays, and, as the title-page says, the book is made 
 for a " year of Saturdays." 
 
 Now, a book of Riddle-Rhymes is not like a book 
 of stories. It *s a bit like a box of candy — you don't 
 want to take it all at once. 
 
 Besides, if you take only one Riddle-Rhyme each 
 Saturday, and read it and guess out the answer, the book 
 will be new for a whole year. In that way, too, you 
 will see what the title-page means when it says the Rid- 
 dle-Rhymes are "arranged for a year of Saturdays" — 
 you will see that many of the Riddle-Rhymes fit exactly 
 the seasons, and even the days, when you come to them. 
 
 Of course, if you are very fond of riddles, and charades, 
 and puzzle-poems, you can read as many a day as you 
 
 Q 
 
A WORD FOR THE CHILDREN 
 
 like — and then you can take them up again, and try 
 them on your friends and playmates, and enjoy the book 
 the whole year round in that way. 
 
 Having said so much about the title-page, perhaps 
 I ought to say a word about the dedication — " to 
 the Honor-List and Prize- Winner Children of 'Little 
 Folks.* M 
 
 !" Little Folks," as some of you may know, is the maga- 
 zine " for youngest readers, little listeners, and lookers at 
 pictures." 
 
 Now, I have just been telling your fathers and mothers 
 that I made these Riddle-Rhymes first for "Little 
 Folks," and that thousands of children have written me 
 letters about them, telling how they liked them, and how 
 they guessed them, and their answers. For several years, 
 each month, the names of those who sent correct answers 
 have been published in an Honor List. Besides this 
 u honorable mention," three or four times a year prizes, 
 twenty perhaps, have been offered, not for correct answers 
 only, but for the best drawings of the answer, or the best 
 little essays about the answer. Well; those boys and 
 girls who sent the right answers, and those who sent the 
 best drawings and essays, are the "Honor-List and 
 Prize- Winner Children " of the dedication. 
 
 10 
 
 j 
 
f 
 
 A WORD FOR THE CHILDREN 
 
 In my talk with your fathers and mothers, I have said 
 something about the way riddles have been told, and 
 guessed, and liked, by all peoples from the earliest times ; 
 and about famous riddles ; and about famous men and 
 women who made or guessed them. Perhaps your fathers 
 and mothers will talk with you about these things — about 
 riddles that were told long ago, before the first Christmas, 
 and which are still told today. 
 
 There is one old riddle which many of you know as 
 well as your fathers and mothers, or your grandfathers and 
 grandmothers. Those who don't will like to find it here. 
 It is from Mother Goose. It is this : 
 
 " Little Nancy Netticoat, 
 With a white petticoat 
 
 And a red nose — 
 The longer she stands 
 
 The shorter she grows. " 
 
 I wonder how many minutes it will take those who 
 never read this before to guess it ! 
 
 One thing I want to say right here* 
 
 Don't ever give a thing up because it seems hard at 
 first. You all know the story of Bruce and the spider — 
 if you don't, that 's another thing to ask your fathers and 
 mothers. 
 
r 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 A WORD FOR THE CHILDREN 
 Don't be discouraged. You know the old song : 
 
 " If at first you don't succeed, 
 Try, try, try again ! " 
 
 The harder you have to work or study, the gladder you 
 will be when you do succeed. 
 
 Among those thousands of letters of which I have 
 told you, were letters from children only four, five and 
 six years old — and they sent the right answers, too, 
 though some had to print their little letters all in funny 
 big capitals with a lead pencil. 
 
 When you take up a new Riddle-Rhyme, first read it 
 through carefully. If you have n't guessed it when you 
 reach the last word, read it again, a verse or a line at a 
 time. If it is a charade, read over the " my first,** " my 
 second," " my third," sections one at a time, and think 
 what each section, each word, means — sometimes a 
 single word will hold the clue to the whole answer. 
 When you think you have the right word, or syllable, see 
 if it fits, not only the part of the description that gave you 
 the hint, but all of it. 
 
 For example : if the description says something has a 
 back and teeth, don't be sure at a jump that it is a 
 child — for a dog has a back and teeth, too — and so 
 
 12 
 
A WORD FOR THE CHILDREN 
 
 has a comb, and a rake, and a harrow. If it also says 
 the something has no feet or hands, or that the teeth are 
 white as pearls, or iron teeth, or wooden, or of ivory, 
 why, then you should be able to guess closer the truth. 
 
 Remember that several things may fit one or more 
 parts of the description, but that the right thing must fit 
 all parts, every word. 
 
 If you come to a new form of riddle, one you don't 
 know how to solve, ask your fathers and mothers to show 
 you the way — and then try another of the same kind 
 by yourself. 
 
 And now I will tell you one or two little secrets about 
 the pages that follow. 
 
 When you have read the first Riddle-Rhyme — and 
 likewise each of the others — you will see in the lower 
 right corner of the page three letters : P. T. O. 
 
 It you have n't guessed the answer, don't mind the 
 P. T. O. — just try again. But if you think you have 
 it, or if after trying and trying again you give it up, and 
 come finally to the P. T. O. once more, why, then I 
 advise you to do it — that is, Please Turn Over ! 
 
 And when you turn the leaf, you will see at the very 
 top an interrogation mark — which means just what you 
 were saying as you turned the leaf : " What can it be ? " 
 
 13 
 
 w 
 
A WORD FOR THE CHILDREN 
 
 And then you will see a line running down and wind- 
 ing up in a coil in the middle — like the tangle the Rid- 
 dle-Rhyme seemed when you could n't guess it. But 
 if you follow the coiling line to the centre, you '11 find it 
 is not a tangle ; you '11 find that it unwinds, and you will 
 follow the easy curve down to the bottom of the page, 
 and there you will see — the Answer ! 
 
 The exclamation point at the end of the curved line 
 means the way you say the answer if you have guessed 
 right, and also the way you say it if you did n't guess it 
 but wonder how it was you could n't. 
 
 Last of all, there is the cover — which perhaps ought 
 to have come first. What I have here been telling you 
 will give some hints at the meaning of the cover de- 
 sign — but I have n't said a word to you about the Sphinx — 
 you might ask your fathers and mothers about that. 
 
 And now the Riddle-Rhyme Maker hopes you all 
 will have good times with the book, and that it will help 
 make merry even more than a "y ear of Saturdays." 
 And if ever any of you should want to tell how many 
 of the LII Riddle-Rhymes you guessed without the help 
 of the P. T. O., why, just write, in care of the publish- 
 ers, to the Riddle-Rhyme Maker, 
 
 14 
 
RIDDLE-RHYMES 
 
 J 
 
RIDDLE-RHYMES 
 
 I 
 
 WITHOUT beginning, without end, 
 Howe'er I go, I always bend; 
 Where'er I go, companions nine, 
 One, two, or more, are often mine : 
 And less am I than e'en the least, 
 Yet, one and all, they are increased 
 Ten -fold if I beside them stand, 
 The humblest one of all the band ! 
 
 o 
 
 P. T. O. 
 
Zero, or Cipher (0) 
 
r 
 
 II 
 
 IT 'S named as if it grew upon a tree, 
 Or were two pages in a book, 
 Yet mostly it abounds when trees are bare, 
 
 And can't be read though close you look - 
 And though it 's always being turned, alack, 
 It 's very apt to find itself turned back ! 
 
 © 
 
 P. T. O. 
 
A New Leaf 
 
r 
 
 A 
 
 III 
 
 T HAVE a head, 
 1 But no body below, 
 And only one leg 
 On which to go ; 
 
 Yet I can trot, 
 
 And can gallop and run, 
 As if I had four 
 
 Instead of one ; 
 
 For when I go 
 
 It is never alone, 
 But with two small legs 
 
 Besides my own. 
 
 © 
 
 P. T. O. 
 
9 
 
 Hobby-horse 
 
IV 
 
 MY * first * is in snow, but not in rain ; 
 My * second ' in knot, and also in skein ; 
 My * third ' is in rat, but not in mouse ; 
 My * fourth * is in hut, but not in house ; 
 My * fifth * in pencil, and also in pen ; 
 My * sixth * in slate, and in sponge again. 
 On my ' whole,' all shod in shining steel, 
 You glide like a bird, or a boat on its keel, 
 You curve, you turn, in a thousand ways, 
 In the merry sport of the winter days. 
 
 © 
 
 P. T. O . 
 
S-k-a-t-e-s 
 
THEY go in pairs, like gloves and hose, 
 Yet have no fingers and no toes ; 
 And, 'most as bad, whatever comes, 
 Alas, " their fingers are all thumbs ! M 
 
 L_ 
 
 ^5J P. T. O. 
 
Mittens 
 
Y 
 
 VI 
 
 MY * first * is one-half of a hollow 'twixt hills ; 
 My ' second ' two-thirds of a fowl ; 
 My * third * is four-fifths of a sort of string ; 
 
 My ' whole,* if you Ve wise as an owl, 
 You '11 guess — and better, much better, you may 
 Get the answer itself on a February day. 
 
 27 P.T.O. 
 
Val-en-tine 
 
r 
 
 VII 
 
 MY ' first ' is what the cleanly do, 
 And so, of course, you do it, too ; 
 My * second ' rhymes with ring and sing, 
 New meaning to a verb will bring ; 
 My * third * *s the measure used alway 
 By those who deal in coal and hay. 
 
 My * whole * was one both good and great, 
 True boy to home, true man to state ; 
 He was the first when right meant war ; 
 And first when peace the new land saw ; 
 And first today, as he was then, 
 Within the hearts of his countrymen ! 
 
 o 
 
 P. T. O 
 
 ' 
 
Wash-ing-ton 
 
VIII 
 
 A 
 
 MY * first ' is a fruit, red, yellow, or black, 
 By girls and by boys well liked but, alack, 
 Liked better by robins and various birds, 
 Who gather the crop without any words ; 
 On my * second * my ' first ' by a slim stem hangs ; 
 My ' whole ' a small hatchet hit terrible bangs, 
 A hatchet held fast in a famous boy's hand, 
 Which made it the famousest one in the land. 
 
 Q 
 
 P. T. O. 
 
 J 
 
^ 
 
 Cherry-tree 
 
IX 
 
 WHAT day is least of all the days, 
 And why the least, for works and plays — 
 The day of all the months and years 
 With fewest smiles and fewest tears ? 
 
 I © 
 
 P. T. O. 
 
 J 
 
February 29th 
 
X 
 
 I MAKE the lakes like marble floors ; 
 I bridge the brooks for children's feet ; 
 I gather in the winter's cold, 
 
 And drive away the summer's heat. 
 
 Q 
 
 P. T. O.J 
 
? 
 
 Ice 
 
I 
 
 XI 
 
 MY * first ' lies somewhere in a thicket, 
 Or in the bushes hides ; 
 My * second ' *s carried in a basket, 
 Or in a watch abides ; 
 
 My ' third ' rides out in every carriage, 
 
 Or in a parlor car ; 
 My ■ fourth,' in truth, is in mid-ocean, 
 
 Or in some whale afar. 
 
 My ' whole ' *s a shy and timid creature, 
 Most swift of foot, and — well, 
 
 If of its ears and tail I told you, 
 Its name you *d quickly tell ! 
 
 P. T. O. 
 
H- 
 
 a-r-e 
 
•\ 
 
 I 
 
 \ 
 
 XII 
 
 I ROAM the world, 
 And surely every one 
 My voice has heard, 
 
 Since first the world began ; 
 Yet never one, 
 
 By star or moon or sun, 
 My form has seen — 
 
 Nor child, nor oldest man. 
 
 P. T. O. 
 
Wind 
 
1 
 
 XIII 
 
 WERE 1 to say each hour has sixty, 
 There *d be but little riddle in it — 
 For every one, from five to fifty, 
 
 Would guess its name in half a ! 
 
 v. 
 
 SI 
 
 P. T. O. 
 
Minute 
 
XIV 
 
 MY * first ' is made of a million, 
 And a million times a billion, 
 Yes, more than ever you reckoned, 
 Of the small things that are my ' second/ 
 
 My ' second ' are round and shiny, 
 And sometimes, too, they are briny — 
 The briny kind roll down faces, 
 And the ancients caught them in vases. 
 
 My ' whole ' in a drouth bring gladness, 
 In seasons of wet bring sadness — 
 They flood the lowlands and cellars, 
 And open ten thousand umbrellas. 
 
 v^. 
 
 o 
 
 P. T. O. 
 
 J 
 
Rain-drops 
 
I 
 
 XV 
 
 AM a little thing that goes, 
 
 From dawn to dark, from dark to dawn : 
 I always go, I never stop, 
 
 Yet never am I gone. 
 
 The flowers and birds are glad of me ; 
 
 I laugh and sing along my way : 
 I always go, I ne'er come back, 
 
 And yet I always stay. 
 
 45 
 
 P. T. O. 
 
 J 
 
9 
 
 Brook 
 
r 
 
 "\ 
 
 XVI 
 
 NOW in and out of rings and holes, 
 With fellows gay, it swiftly rolls, 
 Or lightly hops ; 
 Then into bags and pockets small, 
 With its companions one and all, 
 It quickly pops. 
 
 Q. 
 
 P. T. O. 
 
r 
 
 XVII 
 
 MY ' first * is the color that oftentimes lies 
 In a golden-haired little child's eyes — 
 In the sky just after an April shower — 
 In the dear forget-me-not flower ; 
 My ' second * is something that flies in the air, 
 And lives in a nest somewhere ; 
 My ' whole ' is a kind of my ' second * that sings, 
 And carries my ' first * on its wings. 
 
 49 P. T. O. 
 
Blue-bird 
 
XVIII 
 
 MY ' first * is one of twelve that make 
 The time 'twixt birthdays two — 
 One of the twelve that come and go 
 And leave their gifts with you. 
 
 My ' second ' 's one of thirty-one 
 That make my c first ' alway — 
 
 The time to play, the time to work, 
 And do the good you may. 
 
 My * whole "sa* second ' of my * first * : 
 
 *Tis then a girl may go 
 And be a queen, and wear a crown, 
 
 For just an hour or so ! 
 
 © 
 
 P.T.O 
 
May-day 
 
XIX 
 
 THEY 'RE variously shapen, 
 Though often they are round, 
 And like old treasure-boxes 
 They \e hidden in the ground. 
 
 And some day they will open, 
 And you may see the show 
 
 Of all the jewel colors 
 
 That in the rainbow glow: 
 
 The yellow of the topaz, 
 
 The deepest ruby-red, 
 The sky-blue of the sapphire, 
 
 A hundred yet unsaid. 
 
 And, wonder of all wonders, 
 
 These jewel colors rare 
 Are free to all the children, 
 
 As free as light and air. 
 
 v^ 
 
 53 
 
 P. T. O. 
 
Seed 
 
XX 
 
 MY ' first ' is a step that the light-hearted take, 
 And something the hurried and flurried 
 folk do ; 
 My ' second ' is part of a popular game — 
 Just half it, in fact, if you cut it in two ; 
 My ' third * is made strong with a thousand 
 weak things, 
 All twisted and twined, in and out, through 
 and through ; 
 My * whole* is a plaything made out of my 
 ' third' - 
 And when you would play it my ' first * you 
 must do. 
 
 & 
 
 P. T. O. 
 
Skip-ping-rope 
 
r 
 
 ?i 
 
 XXI 
 
 AHEAD have I, but not a nose, 
 Nor eye, nor ear, as you *d suppose, 
 And yet of service I am full — 
 Though you may have to push and pull ; 
 No hands have I to clasp and fold, 
 Yet many things I fix and hold ; 
 Nor any feet, yet out and in 
 I bravely go through thick and thin ! 
 
 57 P.T.O. 
 
Br 
 
r 
 
 XXII 
 
 I HAVE no head, no hands, no feet — 
 Yet I Ve an eye when I 'm complete, 
 And, though it has not any sight, 
 And cannot tell the day from night, 
 I still can make my way about, 
 Through many holes go in and out — 
 And always in my path I bring, 
 Or take with me, an eyeless thing ! 
 
 © 
 
 P. T. O. 
 
Needle 
 
XXIII 
 
 MY * first ' is the world Columbus reached 
 When he sailed out west from the Old ; 
 My * second * is what Columbus did 
 At the end of his voyage bold ; 
 
 My c third * is something Columbus saw, 
 'Twixt the sea and the sky of blue, 
 
 On October the twelfth, that wonderful year 
 Of fourteen and ninety and two. 
 
 My ' whole ' is a dog, black, shaggy and big, 
 
 Even ready a life to save — 
 The dog that is known as the children's friend, 
 
 And is gentle as he is brave. 
 
 © 
 
 P. T. O. 
 
New-found-land 
 
XXIV 
 
 BY roadside wild, or garden path, 
 Alike I gladly grow ; 
 By cottage door, or palace gate, 
 In yellow, white and red I blow. 
 
 Though I a country child make glad, 
 Or some great queen adorn, 
 
 I send my fragrance freely forth, 
 But guard my beauty with a thorn. 
 
 @ 
 
 P. T. O. 
 
XXV 
 
 BY day, by night, 
 We come, we go, 
 With sound and with light, 
 With rain and with snow 
 
 We rainbows wear, 
 And heaven we roam ; 
 
 We live in the air, 
 
 Yet the sea 's our home. 
 
 © 
 
 P. T. O. 
 
Cloud: 
 
XXVI 
 
 1* M always rather thin, and often slim ; 
 I have a back, but neither head nor limb ; 
 And, oddly, I have teeth, yet do not bite ; 
 I serve both boy and girl, both man and beast, 
 The good and bad, the greatest and the least — 
 I smooth the rough, and set the crooked right. 
 
 © 
 
 P. T. O. 
 
r 
 
 XXVII 
 
 MY ' first ' has often been called 
 " Good servant, bad master H -~ 
 In stoves, it gives us much good, 
 Outside, makes disaster. 
 
 My ' second ' never is good — 
 
 When ice is a-thinning, 
 It oft of terrible things 
 
 Is but the beginning. 
 
 My * third ! is fully two-thirds 
 
 A pronoun possessing — 
 And yet to hear it so called 
 
 Is really distressing. 
 
 My ' whole ' is red and is round, 
 And comes from Chinee-land — 
 
 Yet, strange, we use it to praise 
 The birth of our free-land. 
 
 P. T. O. 
 
Fire-crack-er 
 
r 
 
 XXVIII 
 
 MY ' first ' is in jar, 
 My ' second ' in bowl ; 
 My ' third * is in cliff, 
 
 And my ' fourth ' is in knoll ; 
 My * fifth ' and my * sixth ' 
 
 Both in comet are — 
 And my ' whole ' cleaves the night 
 Like a shooting star ! 
 
 © 
 
 P. T. O. 
 
R-o-c-k-e-t 
 
XXIX 
 
 MY ' first ' makes half the round world light, 
 Yet one by one 
 Makes shadows run 
 To that great shadow we call night. 
 
 My - second ' — well, it 's either half 
 
 Of something sweet 
 
 And good to eat 
 That makes the little children laugh. 
 
 My ' third ' is used to capture things 
 
 That move in air, 
 
 And also where 
 They go with fins in place of wings. 
 
 My - whole ' 's my * second ' plus my ' third/ 
 
 And when in place 
 
 It hides the face, 
 Nor lets my * first * shine in, I 've heard. 
 
 © 
 
 P. T. O. 
 
Sun-bon-net 
 
XXX 
 
 WHEN new, it is all the time opening and 
 shutting ; 
 When older, *t is oftener busy in cutting ; 
 Older still, it may lie, shut tight as a locket, 
 Forgotten at last in some old jacket pocket. 
 
 V (g) P-T.O. 
 
 J 
 
Jack-knifi 
 
XXXI 
 
 MY ' first * is a food that is salted and smoked, 
 And by some is thought very good ; 
 My * second " *s a name for make-believe things, 
 Like scarecrows and nutmegs of wood. 
 
 My ' whole " like the nest of an oriole hangs, 
 A-swing from the branches of trees, 
 
 And invites the tired and lazy folk all 
 To sleep or to rest at their ease. 
 
 © 
 
 P. T. O. 
 
Ham-mock 
 
XXXII 
 
 THE * first * is what the chickens do 
 When they come out of eggs ; 
 The * second * is the French for " and " 
 
 The c whole * can pound in pegs — 
 For, though it 's mostly like an ax, 
 
 It 's like a hammer, too : 
 I know the name of it quite well — 
 Do you, and you, and you ? 
 
 « 
 
 A 
 
 P. T. O. 
 
9 
 
 Hatch-et 
 
XXXIII 
 
 I LIVE in the house with Tommy, 
 Though nobody bids me stay — 
 Indeed, every one of the family 
 Would like to drive me away. 
 
 I woke up, they say, the Baby, 
 
 Asleep in the Grandma's lap ; 
 I spoiled, so I heard him tell Grandma, 
 
 The Grandpa's afternoon nap. 
 
 They drive me away from table, 
 
 Away from the window, too ; 
 They whisk me from books and from pictures, 
 
 And scold, whatever I do. 
 
 So Tommy was set to catch me ; 
 
 And, oh, how Tommy did try ! 
 But Tommy, he never will catch me, 
 
 Because, you see, Ima ! 
 
 81 
 
 P. T. O. 
 
XXXIV 
 
 MY ' first' is what you will do today, 
 When you look at a flower, or boulder 
 
 When you watch a train go whizzing by, 
 Or a fleet of clouds afloat in the sky. 
 
 My ' second * is what you did yesterday, 
 When you watched the base-ball boys at play, 
 When you looked at the last new picture-book, 
 Or the photograph that somebody took. 
 
 My * whole ' goes up, and my ' whole " goes down, 
 Like lips in a smile, like lips in a frown ; 
 Yet, when it goes up, it goes down, too — 
 Which seems a bit odd, I think — don't you ? 
 
 © 
 
 P. T. O. 
 
Se 
 
 e-saw 
 
A 
 
 XXXV 
 
 GOWNED all in white and capped in red, 
 I show you oft the way to bed — 
 But if you go not soon to sleep, 
 If me at service long you keep, 
 Though closed the door and window-way, 
 I slowly vanish quite away ! 
 
 85 
 
 P. T. O. 
 
Candl 
 
r 
 
 XXXVI 
 
 THE \ first * is in hat, yet not in hood 
 The * second * in evil, but not in good ; 
 The * third ' is in height, though not in space ; 
 The * fourth ' is in mouth, yet not in face ; 
 And the ' fifth ' is in you, but not in me : 
 Now, what do you think the five can be ? 
 I *11 tell you — that each is sign of a sound 
 That is sweet or mellow or ringing or round. 
 
 v. 
 
 © 
 
 P. T. O. 
 
The Vowels — a, e, i, o, u 
 
XXXVII 
 
 MY * first ' 's not yellow, red, or blue, 
 Or any bright and lovely hue — 
 And yet, though none of them you see, 
 In it all colors blended be. 
 
 My * second * 's hidden in the dark, 
 Long years and years, by tough tree bark, 
 Until by buzzing saw set free 
 For any boy or girl to see. 
 
 My ' whole * is black as coal, or night, 
 And yet on it appears in white, 
 A picture now, and now a rule, 
 For you, and you, to learn in school. 
 
 © 
 
 P. T. O. 
 
Black-board 
 

 XXXVIII 
 
 
 s> V 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 / V 
 
 
 y ^ 
 
 
 
 
 i> % 
 
 & 
 
 ^ But who can tell the name of me? 
 
 ^ 
 
 © 
 
 P. T. O. 
 
 J 
 
TriangL 
 
r 
 
 ■ 
 
 XXXIX 
 
 I HAVE no wings, 
 And yet I fly, 
 With just a tail, 
 Up in the sky. 
 
 And when you try 
 To pull me low, 
 
 The higher up 
 I try to go. 
 
 But when you let 
 Me have my way, 
 
 I fall to earth, 
 And there I stay. 
 
 ,3 
 
 P. T. O. 
 
9 
 
XL 
 
 OF course my name I cannot tell — 
 That is for you to guess — 
 And yet quite near a well you '11 find 
 My ' first,' I will confess. 
 
 And father, mother, uncles, aunts, 
 
 And cousins, if you please, 
 And brothers, sisters, grand-folk, too — 
 
 My ' second ' is all these. 
 
 When autumn comes, my ripened * whole * 
 
 Quite oft appears in pies — 
 Yet may at night scare timid folk 
 
 With flaming mouth and eyes. 
 
 ,3 
 
 P. T. O. 
 
9 
 
 Pump-ki 
 
 in 
 
_^^ 
 
 XLI 
 
 MY * first ' is the end of some pointed thing, 
 A pen or a pencil, a sword or a spear ; 
 My ' second ' a singing canary may be, 
 Or a hare with a very long ear, 
 Or a deer. 
 
 My ' whole ' is part of a boy's winter dress, 
 Yet often is used in a boy's winter play — 
 
 It twists round the neck like a red-bean vine, 
 And is tied in a knot, in a way 
 That don't stay ! 
 
 V. 
 
 Q7) p. t. o. 
 
9 
 

 XLII 
 
 ALL summer long they stay, high up, 
 Each safe within its own green cup ; 
 Then Jack Frost turns them golden brown, 
 And sends them rattling dancing down ; 
 While boys and girls, and squirrels, too, 
 Hunt all the leafy hollows through — 
 And Grandpa says, a-smiling slow, 
 " Great from little grow ! " 
 
 LOFC. 
 
 P. T. a 
 
Acorns 
 
r 
 
 XLIII 
 
 MY ' first ' is a nickname for Henry — 
 The English so called a big King. 
 My ' second ' 's a name for the tide at its ebb, 
 For tones that are hushed when you speak, 
 when you sing. 
 
 My ' third ' is a short-name for evening — 
 
 More often in verse than in prose ; 
 It rhymes with the green of the myriad-leaved 
 grass, 
 And chimes with the sheen of the hundred- 
 leaved rose. 
 
 My * whole * is a night in the autumn, 
 When strange things in mirrors appear, 
 
 When fairies and witches and imps fly about — 
 If ever they fly, or ever come near ! 
 
 V. 
 
 © 
 
 P. T. O. 
 
HaMow~een 
 
XLIV 
 
 MY ' first ' is in time, but not in tune ; 
 My ' second * in near, yet not in soon ; 
 My ' third ' is in fly, but not in bee ; 
 My ' fourth ' is in flood, though not in sea ; 
 My * fifth ' is in light, but not in sun ; 
 My ' sixth ' in two, and likewise in one ; 
 My ' seventh * is in wail, but not in laugh ; 
 My * eighth * is in whole, though not in half ; 
 And my * ninth * you '11 find, if you. will hark, 
 Somewhere, sometime, maybe, in the dark. 
 My * whole * is a ship, of lovely name, 
 Which sailed, long ago, to fadeless fame. 
 
 103 P.T.O. 
 
 j 
 
M-a-y-f-1-o-w-e-r 
 
r 
 
 XLV 
 
 AS big as a cherry, 
 But more like a berry ~ 
 Inside there are many small seeds, anyway — 
 And always (guess well !) 
 It is turned into " jell," 
 To go with the turkey on Thanksgiving Day. 
 
 (l05) RT.O. j 
 
Cranberry 
 
r 
 
 XLVI 
 
 MY * first * all the boys and girls should return 
 For the good things they have that they do 
 not earn ; 
 It is something the penniless even can pay — 
 It should follow my * second ' without delay. 
 
 My ' second/ although it leaves one with less, 
 With new riches the loser will certainly bless ! 
 And my * second * should never be done with the 
 
 thought 
 That through it the least of my i first ' may be 
 
 bought. 
 
 My ' whole * is the day our forefathers set — 
 The day their descendants will never forget — 
 To render the Lord of the Harvest their best 
 Of my * first * for my * second * with which they 
 were blessed. 
 
 ,07 
 
 P. T. O. 
 
Thanks-giving 
 
"\ 
 
 XLVII 
 
 EVERY boy and girl longs to possess me, 
 Though I 'm no good to any alone — 
 Yet when there are two (can you guess me ?) 
 They pull me till snap goes a bone ! 
 
 > T. O. I 
 
Wishb 
 
 one 
 
r 
 
 XLVIH 
 
 MY ' first ' is cold, yet keeps things warm ; 
 My ' second * thin things are, 't is plain ; 
 My ' whole * may make a children's play, 
 Or block and stop a railway-train ! 
 
 ,„ 
 
 P. T. O. 
 
 i yy *■'■"■ j 
 
Snow-flakes 
 
XLIX 
 
 IT comes at a merry time, 
 And so it rhymes with jolly 
 Now guess it, you little folk, 
 Ned, Nelly, Will and Polly! 
 
 V 
 
 55. 
 
 P. T. O. 
 
 J 
 
Holly 
 
TEN centuries and nine ago, 
 In wane of year and month of snow, 
 With faces glad and reverent, 
 Across Judea's plains they went ; 
 
 And through the night a star led them 
 Toward the town of Bethlehem, 
 Where in a manger sweet with hay 
 The little Christ-Child smiling lay. 
 
 And as they went a great light shone, 
 And angels, in a shining zone, 
 Sang from the heavens all hushed and still, 
 Of peace on earth, to men good-will. 
 
 Now who were they, that wondrous night, 
 Who, led by song and white star light, 
 With gifts and worship took their way 
 To where the Christ-Child smiling lay ? 
 
 115 P. T. O. 
 
The Wise Men (or the Magi) 
 
LI 
 
 I AM a lowly humble thing ; 
 I serve the peasant and the king ; 
 Yet once a year I *m lifted up 
 To be good fortune's favored cup, 
 For once a year I proudly hold 
 A myriad things as good as gold ; 
 And once a year there comes to me, 
 Deep in the night when none may see 
 How all the wonders come to pass, 
 The children's saint, Saint Nicholas. 
 
 V © PTa J 
 
Stocking 
 
LII 
 
 MY ' first * is long and slender, 
 Yet guides and safe controls, 
 When horses go a-prancing 
 And swift the carriage rolls. 
 
 My ' second * draw no carriage, 
 
 No harness they obey, 
 As free they go a-prancing 
 
 Adown the woodland way. 
 
 My** whole * are like my * second f 
 Yet once a year, they say, 
 
 They bear, with joy a-prancing, 
 A Saint upon his way ! 
 
 @ 
 
 P. T. O. 
 
9 
 
 Rein-deer 
 
r 
 
 INDEX 
 
 (January) 
 
 Zero, or Cipher (0) 
 "A New Leaf". 
 Hobby-horse 
 Skates 
 
 Mittens 
 Valentine . 
 Washington 
 Cherry-tree 
 February 29th 
 
 Ice . 
 Hare 
 Wind 
 Minute 
 
 (February) 
 
 (March) 
 
 <2 
 
 Page 
 
 17 
 19 
 21 
 23 
 
 25 
 27 
 29 
 31 
 33 
 
 35 
 37 
 39 
 41 
 
r 
 
 Raindrops 
 Brook 
 Marble 
 Bluebird 
 
 May-day . 
 Seeds 
 
 Skipping-rope 
 Pin . 
 Needle 
 
 INDEX 
 (April) 
 
 (May) 
 
 43 
 45 
 47 
 49 
 
 51 
 53 
 55 
 57 
 59 
 
 
 (June) 
 
 
 Newfoundland . 
 
 
 61 
 
 Rose 
 
 
 63 
 
 Clouds 
 
 
 65 
 
 Comb 
 
 (July) 
 
 67 
 
 Fire-cracker 
 
 
 69 
 
 Rocket 
 
 
 71 
 
 Sunbonnet . 
 
 
 73 
 
 Jack-knife . 
 
 ^ mm %. 
 
 75 
 
 1 
 
 © 
 
 
 J 
 

 INDEX 
 
 
 
 (August) 
 
 
 Hammock 
 
 
 77 
 
 Hatchet . 
 
 
 79 
 
 Fly . 
 
 
 81 
 
 See-saw 
 
 
 83 
 
 Candle 
 
 (September) 
 
 85 
 
 The Vowels — a 
 
 , e, i, o, u , • 
 
 87 
 
 Blackboard 
 
 • • » • • 
 
 89 
 
 Triangle 
 
 
 91 
 
 Kite . 
 
 
 93 
 
 (October) 
 
 Pumpkin . 
 Tippet 
 Acorns 
 Hallowe'en 
 
 Mayflower 
 
 Cranberry 
 
 Thanksgiving 
 
 (November) 
 
 95 
 
 97 
 
 99 
 
 101 
 
 103 
 105 
 107 
 
INDEX 
 
 Wishbone J 09 
 
 Snowflakes ] ] ] 
 
 (December) 
 
 Holly 113 
 
 The Wise Men (or the Magi) . . . 115 
 
 Stocking 117 
 
 Reindeer 119 
 
 126 
 
MAR 11 1907 
 
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 Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
 Treatment Date: Dec. 2007 
 
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