Riley Child-Rhymes Part 6

And where the melons grew, Streaked with yellow, green and blue, These jolly sprites went wandering Through spangled paths of dew; And the melons, here and there, They made love to, everywhere, Turning their pink souls to crimson With caresses fond and fair.

[Ill.u.s.tration: This pair of merry fays]

Over orchard walls they went, Where the fruited boughs were bent Till they brushed the sward beneath them Where the shine and shadow blent; And the great green pear they shook Till the sallow hue forsook Its features, and the gleam of gold Laughed out in every look.

And they stroked the downy cheek Of the peach, and smoothed it sleek, And flushed it into splendor; And, with many an elfish freak, Gave the russet's rust a wipe-- Prankt the rambo with a stripe, And the winesap blushed its reddest As they spanked the pippins ripe.

Through the woven ambuscade That the twining vines had made, They found the grapes, in cl.u.s.ters, Drinking up the shine and shade-- Plumpt, like tiny skins of wine, With a vintage so divine That the tongue of Fancy tingled With the tang of muscadine.

And the golden-banded bees, Droning o'er the flowery leas, They bridled, reined, and rode away Across the fragrant breeze, Till in hollow oak and elm They had groomed and stabled them In waxen stalls that oozed with dews Of rose and lily-stem.

Where the dusty highway leads, High above the wayside weeds, They sowed the air with b.u.t.terflies Like blooming flower-seeds, Till the dull gra.s.shopper sprung Half a man's-height up, and hung Tranced in the heat, with whirring wings, And sung and sung and sung!

And they loitered, hand in hand, Where the snipe along the sand Of the river ran to meet them As the ripple meets the land, Till the dragonfly, in light Gauzy armor, burnished bright, Came tilting down the waters In a wild, bewildered flight.

And they heard the kildee's call, And afar, the waterfall, But the rustle of a falling leaf They heard above it all; And the trailing willow crept Deeper in the tide that swept The leafy shallop to the sh.o.r.e, And wept and wept and wept!

And the fairy vessel veered From its moorings--tacked and steered For the center of the current-- Sailed away and disappeared: And the burthen that it bore From the long-enchanted sh.o.r.e-- "Alas! the South Wind and the Sun!"

I murmur evermore.

For the South Wind and the Sun, Each so loves the other one, For all his jolly folly, And frivolity and fun, That our love for them they weigh As their fickle fancies may, And when at last we love them most, They laugh and sail away.

THE JOLLY MILLER

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Jolly Miller--t.i.tle]

[Restored Romaunt.]

It was a Jolly Miller lived on the River Dee; He looked upon his piller, and there he found a flea: "O Mr. Flea! you have bit' me, And you shall sh.o.r.ely die!"

So he scrunched his bones against the stones-- And there he let him lie!

Twas then the Jolly Miller he laughed and told his wife, And _she_ laughed fit to kill her, and dropped her carvin'-knife!-- "O Mr. Flea!" "Ho-ho!" "Tee-hee!"

They _both_ laughed fit to kill, Until the sound did almost drownd The rumble of the mill!

_"Laugh on, my Jolly Miller! and Missus Miller, too!-- But there's a weeping-willer will soon wave over you!"_ The voice was all so awful small-- So very small and slim!-- He durst' infer that it was her, Ner her infer 'twas him!

[Ill.u.s.tration: That cat o' yourn I'd kill her]

That night the Jolly Miller, says he, "It's Wifey dear, That cat o' yourn, I'd kill her!--her actions is so queer,-- She rubbin' 'ginst the grindstone-legs, And yowlin' at the sky-- And I 'low the moon haint greener Than the yaller of her eye!"

And as the Jolly Miller went chuckle-un to bed, Was _Somepin_ jerked his piller from underneath his head!

"O Wife," says he, on-easi-lee, "Fetch here that lantern there!"

But _Somepin_ moans in thunder tones, "_You tetch it ef you dare!_"

'Twas then the Jolly Miller he trimbled and he quailed-- And his wife choked until her breath come back, 'n' she _wailed!_ And "_O!"_ cried she, "it is _the Flea_, All white and pale and wann-- He's got you in his clutches, and _He's bigger than a man!_"

"_Ho! ho! my Jolly Miller," (fer 'twas the Flea, fer sh.o.r.e!) "I reckon you'll not rack my bones ner scrunch 'em any more!_"

And then _the Ghost_ he grabbed him clos't, With many a ghastly smile, And from the doorstep stooped and hopped About four hundred mile!

OUR HIRED GIRL

Our hired girl, she's 'Lizabuth Ann; An' she can cook best things to eat!

She ist puts dough in our pie-pan, An' pours in somepin' 'at's good and sweet, An' nen she salts it all on top With cinnamon; an' nen she'll stop An' stoop an' slide it, ist as slow, In th' old cook-stove, so's 'twon't slop An' git all spilled; nen bakes it, so It's custard pie, first thing you know!

An' nen she'll say: "Clear out o' my way!

They's time fer work, an' time fer play!-- Take yer dough, an' run, Child; run!

Er I cain't git no cookin' done!"

When our hired girl 'tends like she's mad, An' says folks got to walk the chalk When _she's_ around, er wisht they had, I play out on our porch an' talk To th' Raggedy Man 'at mows our lawn; An' he says "_Whew!"_ an' nen leans on His old crook-scythe, and blinks his eyes An' sniffs all around an' says,--"I swawn!

Ef my old nose don't tell me lies, It 'pears like I smell custard-pies!"

An' nen _he'll_ say,-- "'Clear out' o' my way!

They's time fer work an' time fer play!

Take yer dough, an' run, Child; run!

Er _she_ cain't git no cookin' done!'"

[Ill.u.s.tration: Wuz parchin' corn fer the raggedy man]

Wunst our hired girl, one time when she Got the supper, an' we all et, An' it was night, an' Ma an' me An' Pa went wher' the "Social" met,-- An' nen when we come home, an' see A light in the kitchen-door, an' we Heerd a maccordeum, Pa says "Lan'-- O'Gracious! who can _her_ beau be?"

An' I marched in, an' 'Lizabuth Ann Wuz parchin' corn fer the Raggedy Man!

_Better_ say "Clear out o' the way!

They's time fer work, an' time fer play!

Take the hint, an' run, Child; run!

Er we cain't git no _courtin_' done!'"

THE BOYS' CANDIDATE

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Boys' Candidate]

Las' time 'at Uncle Sidney come, He bringed a watermelon home-- An' half the boys in town, Come taggin' after him.--An' he Says, when we et it,--_"Gracious me!

'S the boy-house fell down?"_

THE PET c.o.o.n

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Pet c.o.o.n--t.i.tle]

Noey Bixler ketched him, and fetched him in to me When he's ist a little teenty-weenty baby-c.o.o.n 'Bout as big as little pups, an' tied him to a tree; An' Pa gived Noey fifty cents, when he come home at noon.

Nen he buyed a chain fer him, an' little collar, too, An' sawed a hole in a' old tub an' turnt it upside-down; An' little feller'd stay in there and won't come out fer you-- 'Tendin' like he's kindo' skeered o' boys 'at lives in town.