Excerpt
The Child Alone
I The Unseen Playmate II My Ship and I III My Kingdom IV Picture-Books in Winter V My Treasures VI Block City VII The Land of Story-Books VIII Armies in the Fire IX The Little Land
Garden Days
I Night and Day II Nest Eggs III The Flowers IV Summer Sun V The Dumb Soldier VI Autumn Fires VII The Gardener VIII Historical Associations
Envoys
I To Willie and Henrietta II To My Mother III To Auntie IV To Minnie V To My Name-Child VI To Any Reader
A Child's Garden of Verses
I Bed in Summer
In winter I get up at night And dress by yellow candle-light. In summer quite the other way, I have to go to bed by day.
I have to go to bed and see The birds still hopping on the tree, Or hear the grown-up people's feet Still going past me in the street.
And does it not seem hard to you, When all the sky is clear and blue, And I should like so much to play, To have to go to bed by day?
II A Thought
It is very nice to think The world is full of meat and drink, With little children saying grace In every Christian kind of place.
III At the Sea-Side
When I was down beside the sea A wooden spade they gave to me To dig the sandy shore.
My holes were empty like a cup. In every hole the sea came up, Till it could come no more.
IV Young Night-Thought
All night long and every night, When my mama puts out the light, I see the people marching by, As plain as day before my eye.
Armies and emperor and kings, All carrying different kinds of things, And marching in so grand a way, You never saw the like by day.
So fine a show was never seen At the great circus on the green; For every kind of beast and man Is marching in that caravan.
As first they move a little slow, But still the faster on they go, And still beside me close I keep Until we reach the town of Sleep.
V Whole Duty of Children
A child should always say what's true And speak when he is spoken to, And behave mannerly at table; At least as far as he is able....