Pinafore Palace Part 31

Of arbors filled with dainty scents From lovely flowers that never fade, Bright flies that glitter in the sun, And glow-worms s.h.i.+ning in the shade;

And talking birds with gifted tongues For singing songs and telling tales, And pretty dwarfs to show the way Through fairy hills and fairy dales.

Thomas Hood.

_A Boy's Mother_[11]

My mother she's so good to me, Ef I was good as I could be, I couldn't be as good--no, sir!-- Can't any boy be good as her.

She loves me when I'm glad er sad; She loves me when I'm good er bad; An', what's a funniest thing, she says She loves me when she punishes.

I don't like her to punish me,-- That don't hurt,--but it hurts to see Her cryin'.--Nen _I_ cry; an' nen We both cry an' be good again.

She loves me when she cuts an' sews My little cloak an' Sund'y clothes; An' when my Pa comes home to tea, She loves him most as much as me.

She laughs an' tells him all I said, An' grabs me up an' pats my head; An' I hug _her_, an' hug my Pa, An' love him purt' nigh much as Ma.

James Whitcomb Riley.

[Footnote 11: _From "Rhymes of Childhood," copyright, 1905, and by special permission of the publishers, The Bobbs-Merrill Company._]

_Our Mother_

Hundreds of stars in the pretty sky, Hundreds of sh.e.l.ls on the sh.o.r.e together, Hundreds of birds that go singing by, Hundreds of birds in the sunny weather,

Hundreds of dewdrops to greet the dawn, Hundreds of bees in the purple clover, Hundreds of b.u.t.terflies on the lawn, But only one mother the wide world over.

Unknown.

Said I to myself, here's a chance for me, The Lilliput Laureate for to be!

And these are the Specimens I sent in To Pinafore Palace. Shall I win?

William Brighty Rands.