Lullaby-Land: Songs of Childhood — Lady Button-Eyes, The Ride to Bumpville, Shuffle-Shoon and Amber-Locks, The Shut-Eye Train, Little-Oh-Dear, The Fly-Away Horse, “Fiddle-Dee-Dee”
[Illustration: LADY BUTTON-EYES] When the busy day is done, And my weary little one Rocketh gently to and fro;
When the night winds softly blow, And the crickets in the glen Chirp and chirp and chirp again;
When upon the haunted green Fairies dance around their queen-- Then from yonder misty skies Cometh Lady Button-Eyes Through the murk and mist and gloam To our quiet, cozy home, Where to singing, sweet and low, Rocks a cradle to and fro;
Where the clock’s dull monotone Telleth of the day that’s done;
Where the moonbeams hover o’er Playthings sleeping on the floor-- Where my weary wee one lies Cometh Lady Button-Eyes.
Cometh like a fleeting ghost From some distant eerie coast;
Never footfall can you hear As that spirit fareth near-- [Illustration: “THEN FROM YONDER MISTY SKIES COMETH LADY BUTTON-EYES”] Never whisper, never word From that shadow-queen is heard.
In ethereal raiment dight, From the realm of fay and sprite In the depth of yonder skies Cometh Lady Button-Eyes.
Layeth she her hands upon My dear weary little one, And those white hands overspread Like a veil the curly head, Seem to fondle and caress Every little silken tress;
Then she smooths the eyelids down Over those two eyes of brown-- In such soothing, tender wise Cometh Lady Button-Eyes.
Dearest, feel upon your brow That caressing magic now;
For the crickets in the glen Chirp and chirp and chirp again, While upon the haunted green Fairies dance around their queen, And the moonbeams hover o’er Playthings sleeping on the floor-- Hush, my sweet!
from yonder skies Cometh Lady Button-Eyes!
[Illustration] [Illustration] [Illustration: The Ride to Bumpville.
] [Illustration] [Illustration: THE RIDE TO BUMPVILLE.
] Play that my knee was a calico mare Saddled and bridled for Bumpville;
Leap to the back of this steed if you dare, And gallop away to Bumpville!
I hope you’ll be sure to sit fast in your seat, For this calico mare is prodigiously fleet, And many adventures you’re likely to meet As you journey along to Bumpville.
[Illustration] This calico mare both gallops and trots While whisking you off to Bumpville;
She paces, she shies, and she stumbles, in spots, In the tortuous road to Bumpville;
And sometimes this strangely mercurial steed Will suddenly stop and refuse to proceed, Which, all will admit, is vexatious indeed, When one is _en route_ to Bumpville!
She’s scared of the cars when the engine goes “Toot!
” Down by the crossing at Bumpville;
You’d better look out for that treacherous brute Bearing you off to Bumpville!
With a snort she rears up on her hindermost heels, And executes jigs and Virginia reels-- Words fail to explain how embarrassed one feels Dancing so wildly to Bumpville!
It’s bumpytybump and it’s jiggityjog, Journeying on to Bumpville;
It’s over the hilltop and down through the bog You ride on your way to Bumpville;
It’s rattletybang over boulder and stump, There are rivers to ford, there are fences to jump, And the corduroy road it goes bumpytybump, Mile after mile to Bumpville!
Perhaps you’ll observe it’s no easy thing Making the journey to Bumpville, So I think, on the whole, it were prudent to bring An end to this ride to Bumpville;
For, though she has uttered no protest or plaint, The calico mare must be blowing and faint-- What’s more to the point, I’m blowed if I ain’t!
So play we have got to Bumpville!
[Illustration] [Illustration: Shuffle-Shoon and Amber-Locks] [Illustration] [Illustration: SHUFFLE-SHOON AND AMBER-LOCKS] Shuffle-shoon and Amber-Locks Sit together, building blocks;
Shuffle-Shoon is old and grey, Amber-Locks a little child, But together at their play Age and Youth are reconciled, And with sympathetic glee Build their castles fair to see.
“When I grow to be a man” (So the wee one’s prattle ran), “I shall build a castle so-- With a gateway broad and grand;
Here a pretty vine shall grow, There a soldier guard shall stand;
And the tower shall be so high, Folks will wonder, by-and-by!
” [Illustration] Shuffle-Shoon quoth: “Yes, I know;
Thus I builded long ago!
Here a gate and there a wall, Here a window, there a door;
Here a steeple wondrous tall Riseth ever more and more!
But the years have levelled low What I builded long ago!
” [Illustration] So they gossip at their play, Heedless of the fleeting day;
One speaks of the Long Ago Where his dead hopes buried lie;
One with chubby cheeks aglow Prattleth of the By-and-By;
Side by side, they build their blocks-- Shuffle-Shoon and Amber-Locks.
[Illustration] [Illustration: The Shut-Eye Train.
] [Illustration] [Illustration: THE SHUT-EYE TRAIN.
] Come, my little one, with me!
There are wondrous sights to see As the evening shadows fall;
In your pretty cap and gown, Don’t detain The Shut-Eye train-- “Ting-a-ling!
” the bell it goeth, “Toot-toot!
” the whistle bloweth, And we hear the warning call: “_All aboard for Shut-Eye Town!
_” Over hill and over plain Soon will speed the Shut-Eye train!
Through the blue where bloom the stars And the Mother Moon looks down We’ll away To land of Fay-- Oh, the sights that we shall see there!
Come, my little one, with me there-- ’Tis a goodly train of cars-- _All aboard for Shut-Eye Town!
_ Swifter than a wild bird’s flight, Through the realms of fleecy light We shall speed and speed away!
Let the Night in envy frown-- What care we How wroth she be!
To the Balow-land above us, To the Balow-folk who love us, Let us hasten while we may-- _All aboard for Shut-Eye Town!
_ [Illustration: “TO THE BALOW-FOLK WHO LOVE US”] [Illustration] Shut-Eye Town is passing fair-- Golden dreams await us there;
We shall dream those dreams, my dear, Till the Mother Moon goes down-- See unfold Delights untold!
And in those mysterious places We shall see beloved faces And beloved voices hear _In the grace of Shut-Eye Town_.
Heavy are your eyes, my sweet, Weary are your little feet-- Nestle closer up to me In your pretty cap and gown;
Don’t detain The Shut-Eye train!
“Ting-a-ling!
” the bell it goeth, “Toot-toot!
” the whistle bloweth;
Oh, the sights that we shall see!
_All aboard for Shut-Eye Town!
_ [Illustration] [Illustration] [Illustration: Little Oh-Dear.
] [Illustration] [Illustration: LITTLE-OH-DEAR] See, what a wonderful garden is here, Planted and trimmed for my Little-Oh-Dear!
Posies so gaudy and grass of such brown-- Search ye the country and hunt ye the town And never ye’ll meet with a garden so queer As this one I’ve made for my Little-Oh-Dear!
Marigolds white and buttercups blue, Lilies all dabbled with honey and dew, The cactus that trails over trellis and wall, Roses and pansies and violets--all Make proper obeisance and reverent cheer When into her garden steps Little-Oh-Dear!
And up at the top of that lavender-tree A silver-bird singeth as only can she;
For, ever and only, she singeth the song “I love you--I love you!
” the happy day long;-- Then the echo--the echo that smiteth me here!
“I love you, I love you,” my Little-Oh-Dear!
The garden may wither, the silver-bird fly-- But what careth my little precious, or I?
[Illustration: “A SILVER-BIRD SINGETH AS ONLY CAN SHE”] From her pathway of flowers that in spring-time upstart She walketh the tenderer way in my heart;
And, oh, it is always the summer-time _here_ With that song of “I love you,” my Little-Oh-Dear!
[Illustration] [Illustration: The Fly-Away Horse.
] [Illustration] [Illustration: THE FLY-AWAY HORSE.
] Oh, a wonderful horse is the Fly-Away Horse-- Perhaps you have seen him before;
Perhaps, while you slept, his shadow has swept Through the moonlight that floats on the floor.
For it’s only at night, when the stars twinkle bright, That the Fly-Away Horse, with a neigh And a pull at his rein and a toss of his mane, Is up on his heels and away!
The Moon in the sky, As he gallopeth by, Cries: “Oh!
what a marvellous sight!
” And the Stars in dismay Hide their faces away In the lap of old Grandmother Night.
It is yonder, out yonder, the Fly-Away Horse Speedeth ever and ever away-- Over meadows and lanes, over mountains and plains, Over streamlets that sing at their play;
And over the sea like a ghost sweepeth he, While the ships they go sailing below, And he speedeth so fast that the men at the mast Adjudge him some portent of woe.
“What ho there!
” they cry, As he flourishes by [Illustration: “THE MOON IN THE SKY, AS HE GALLOPETH BY,
CRIES: ‘OH!
WHAT A MARVELLOUS SIGHT!
’”] With a whisk of his beautiful tail;
And the fish in the sea Are as scared as can be, From the nautilus up to the whale!
[Illustration] And the Fly-Away Horse seeks those far-away lands You little folk dream of at night-- Where candy-trees grow, and honey-brooks flow, And corn-fields with popcorn are white;
And the beasts in the wood are ever so good To children who visit them there-- What glory astride of a lion to ride, Or to wrestle around with a bear!
The monkeys, they say: “Come on, let us play,” And they frisk in the cocoa-nut trees: While the parrots, that cling To the peanut-vines, sing Or converse with comparative ease!
[Illustration] Off!
scamper to bed--you shall ride him to-night!
For, as soon as you’ve fallen asleep, With a jubilant neigh he shall bear you away Over forest and hillside and deep!
But tell us, my dear, all you see and you hear In those beautiful lands over there, Where the Fly-Away Horse wings his far-away course With the wee one consigned to his care.
Then grandma will cry In amazement: “Oh, my!
” And she’ll think it could never be so;
And only we two Shall know it is true-- You and I, little precious!
shall know!
[Illustration] [Illustration: Fiddle-Dee-Dee.
] [Illustration] [Illustration: FIDDLE-DEE-DEE] There once was a bird that lived up in a tree, And all he could whistle was “Fiddle-dee-dee”-- A very provoking, unmusical song For one to be whistling the summer day long!
Yet always contented and busy was he With that vocal recurrence of “Fiddle-dee-dee.
” [Illustration: ‘By our St Didy!
the deed must be done’] Hard by lived a brave little soldier of four, That weird iteration repented him sore;
“I prithee, Dear-Mother-Mine!
fetch me my gun, For, by our St. Didy!
the deed must be done That shall presently rid all creation and me Of that ominous bird and his ‘Fiddle-dee-dee’!
” Then out came Dear-Mother-Mine, bringing her son His awfully truculent little red gun;
The stock was of pine and the barrel of tin, The “bang” it came out where the bullet went in-- The right kind of weapon I think you’ll agree For slaying all fowl that go “Fiddle-dee-dee”!
The brave little soldier quoth never a word, But he up and he drew a straight bead on that bird;
And, while that vain creature provokingly sang, The gun it went off with a terrible bang!
Then loud laughed the youth--“By my Bottle,” cried he, “I’ve put a quietus on ‘Fiddle-dee-dee’!
” [Illustration: ‘The “bang” it came out where the bullet went in-’] [Illustration: ‘“By my Bottle” cried he,’] Out came then Dear-Mother-Mine, saying: “My son, Right well have you wrought with your little red gun!
Hereafter no evil at all need I fear, With such a brave soldier as You-My-Love here!
” She kissed the dear boy.
[The bird in the tree Continued to whistle his “Fiddle-dee-dee”!
] [Illustration] [Illustration: POEMS FROM “WITH TRUMPET AND DRUM.
”] [Illustration] [Illustration: The Sugar Plum Tree.
] [Illustration] [Illustration: THE SUGAR-PLUM TREE.
] Have you ever heard of the Sugar-Plum Tree?
’Tis a marvel of great renown!
