Child Songs of Cheer

<h2><SPAN name="THE_BABYS_RIDE" id="THE_BABYS_RIDE"></SPAN>THE BABY'S RIDE</h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Chee! Chee! Chickadee!<br/></span> <span class="i2">Sing-time and sun!<br/></span> <span class="i0">Aye, aye, baby-bye,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Springtime has begun!<br/></span></div> </div> <hr class="hr1" /> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">In the little willow cart,<br/></span> <span class="i2">On a downy bed,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Pretty parasol of silk<br/></span> <span class="i2">Swinging overhead,<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Let us go along the lane<br/></span> <span class="i2">Where a baby sees<br/></span> <span class="i0">Mighty tufts of grass, and weeds<br/></span> <span class="i2">Tall as forest trees!<br/></span> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Bluebird on the apple-bough,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Sing and sing and sing!<br/></span> <span class="i0">Sing your very sweetest now<br/></span> <span class="i2">For babyhood and spring!<br/></span></div> </div> <hr class="hr1" /> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">"Bah! Bah!" from the pasture,<br/></span> <span class="i2">And "Caw! Caw!" from the crow,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And bleating from the little calf<br/></span> <span class="i2">That has not learned to low.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr class="hr1" /> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Apple-buds, apple-buds breaking apart,<br/></span> <span class="i2">The baby looks upward with love-laden gaze;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Oh, shower some petals down here in his cart,<br/></span> <span class="i2">One honey-sweet cluster of pretty pink sprays!<br/></span> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Apple-buds, apple-buds, scornful and too<br/></span> <span class="i2">Vain of your loveliness, stay where you are!<br/></span> <span class="i0">The cheeks of the baby are pinker than you,<br/></span> <span class="i2">And finer and softer and sweeter by far!<br/></span></div> </div> <hr class="hr1" /> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">See the pretty little lambs,<br/></span> <span class="i2">How they frisk and play!<br/></span> <span class="i0">See their silky fleeces shine<br/></span> <span class="i2">White as buds in May!<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">White as are the fleecy clouds<br/></span> <span class="i2">Softly blowing by&mdash;<br/></span> <span class="i0">What if they were little lambs<br/></span> <span class="i2">Playing in the sky?<br/></span></div> </div> <hr class="hr1" /> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Robin on the peach-bough,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Swinging overhead,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Sing a little song and say<br/></span> <span class="i2">Why is your breast so red?<br/></span> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Why is your voice so sweet, and<br/></span> <span class="i2">Your song so merry, say?<br/></span> <span class="i0">And wherefore do you spread your wings<br/></span> <span class="i2">And quickly fly away?<br/></span></div> </div> <hr class="hr1" /> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Ho, ho! see the queer little prints there<br/></span> <span class="i2">That cover the road, baby, look!<br/></span> <span class="i0">At the web-footed tangle that hints where<br/></span> <span class="i2">The ducks have gone down to the brook!<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">The Muscovy mammas that waddled<br/></span> <span class="i2">Zigzag, you can trace in their tracks,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And the dear little ducklings that toddled<br/></span> <span class="i2">And tumbled sometimes on their backs!<br/></span></div> </div> <hr class="hr1" /> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Buttercup, buttercup, buttercup gold,<br/></span> <span class="i0">O give us a handful of riches to hold!<br/></span> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</SPAN></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Ho, ho! laughs the baby, and grasps in his glee<br/></span> <span class="i0">His wealth, but soon shows what a spend-thrift is he!<br/></span> <span class="i0">&mdash;Nay, nay, he is king, though he never was crowned,<br/></span> <span class="i0">And royally scatters his gold on the ground!<br/></span></div> </div> <hr class="hr1" /> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Bough of the willow-tree<br/></span> <span class="i2">Over the brook,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Down darts a kingfisher,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Look, baby, look!<br/></span></div> <div class="stanza"> <span class="i0">Back on the willow-bough,<br/></span> <span class="i2">Fishing is done;<br/></span> <span class="i0">Happy and nappy now<br/></span> <span class="i2">There in the sun.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr class="hr1" /> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</SPAN></span> <span class="i0">Happy and nappy the baby is, too,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Softly his eyelids droop over the blue,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Golden his curls on the white pillow lie,<br/></span> <span class="i0">Sleep, baby, sleep, baby, hush-a-by-bye.<br/></span></div> </div> <hr style="width: 65%;" /> <p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</SPAN></span></p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />