Within a fountain crystal clear,

A golden apple doth appear.

No doors there are to this stronghold,

Yet thieves break in and steal the gold. (An egg.)

Little Nanny Etticoat,

In a white petticoat,

And a red nose;

The longer she stands,

The shorter she grows. (A candle.)

Long legs, crooked thighs,

Little head and no eyes. (A pair of tongs.)

Thirty white horses upon a red hill,

Now they tramp, now they champ, now they stand still.

Formed long ago, yet made to-day,

Employed while others sleep;

What few would like to give away,
Nor any wish to keep. (A bed.)

Elizabeth, Lizzy, Betsy and Bess,
All went together to seek a bird's nest;
They found a nest with five eggs in it;
They each took one and left four in it.

Thomas a Tattamus took two T's,
To tie two tups to two tall trees,

To frighten the terrible Thomas a Tattamus!
Tell me how many T's there are in all THAT!

Old Mother Twitchett had but one eye,

And a long tail which she let fly;

And every time she went over a gap,

(The teeth.)

She left a bit of her tail in a trap. (A needle and thread.)

As I went through a garden gap,

Who should I meet but Dick Red-Cap!

A stick in his hand, a stone in his throat,

If you'll tell me this riddle, I'll give you a groat. (A cherry.)

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall;

All the king's horses and all the king's men

Cannot put Humpty Dumpty together again. (An egg.)

As I was going to St. Ives,

I met a man with seven wives,
Every wife had seven sacks,
Every sack had seven cats,
Every cat had seven kits-

Kits, cats, sacks, and wives,

How many were going to St. Ives? (One.)

Two legs sat upon three legs,

With one leg in his lap;

In comes four legs

And runs away with one leg;

Up jumps two legs,

Catches up three legs,

Throws it after four legs,

And makes him drop one leg.

(A man, a stool, a leg of mutton, and a dog.)

OLD SUPERSTITIONS

See a pin and pick it up,

All the day you'll have good luck.

See a pin and let it lay,

Bad luck you will have all day.

Monday's child is fair of face,

Tuesday's child is full of grace,

Wednesday's child is full of woe,
Thursday's child has far to go,
Friday's child is loving and giving,
Saturday's child works hard for its living,
And a child that is born on the Sabbath day
Is fair and wise and good and gay.

The maid who, on the first of May,

Goes to the fields at break of day,

And washes in dew from the hawthorn tree,
Will ever after handsome be.

Friday night's dream on a Saturday told,
Is sure to come true, be it never so old.

Sneeze on a Monday, you sneeze for danger;
Sneeze on a Tuesday, you'll kiss a stranger;
Sneeze on a Wednesday, you sneeze for a letter;
Sneeze on a Thursday, for something better;
Sneeze on a Friday, you sneeze for sorrow;
Sneeze on a Saturday, your sweetheart to-morrow;
Sneeze on a Sunday, your safety seek,

For you will have trouble the whole of the week.

WEATHER WISDOM

A sunshiny shower

Won't last half an hour.

Rain before seven,

Fair by eleven.

The South wind brings wet weather,
The North wind wet and cold together;
The West wind always brings us rain,
The East wind blows it back again.

March winds and April showers
Bring forth May flowers.

Evening red and morning gray
Set the traveler on his way;

But evening gray and morning red
Bring the rain upon his head.

Rainbow at night is the sailor's delight;
Rainbow at morning, sailors, take warning.

If bees stay at home,
Rain will soon come;
If they fly away,
Fine will be the day.

When clouds appear like rocks and towers,
The earth's refreshed by frequent showers.

BEDTIME

'Tis bedtime; say your hymn, and bid "Good-night;
God bless Mamma, Papa, and dear ones all."
Your half-shut eyes beneath your eyelids fall,
Another minute, you will shut them quite.
Yes, I will carry you, put out the light,
And tuck you up, although you are so tall!
What will you give me, Sleepy One, and call
My wages, if I settle you all right?

I laid her golden curls upon my arm,
I drew her little feet within my hand,
Her rosy palms were joined in trustful bliss,
Her heart next mine beat gently, soft and warm
She nestled to me, and, by Love's command,
Paid me my precious wages-"Baby's kiss."

Francis Robert St. Clair Erskine

MY BED IS A BOAT

My bed is like a little boat;

Nurse helps me in when I embark;
She girds me in my sailor's coat
And starts me in the dark.

At night, I go on board and say

Good night to all my friends on shore;

I shut my eyes and sail away
And see and hear no more.

And sometimes things to bed I take,
As prudent sailors have to do;
Perhaps a slice of wedding-cake,
Perhaps a toy or two.

All night across the dark we steer;
But when the day returns at last,
Safe in my room, beside the pier,
I find my vessel fast.

Robert Louis Stevenson

ESCAPE AT BEDTIME

The lights from the parlor and kitchen shone out
Through the blinds and the windows and bars;
And high overhead and all moving about,

There were thousands of millions of stars.

There ne'er were such thousands of leaves on a tree, Nor of people in church or the Park,

As the crowds of the stars that looked down upon me,
And that glittered and winked in the dark.

The Dog, and the Plow, and the Hunter, and all,
And the star of the sailor, and Mars,

These shone in the sky, and the pail by the wall
Would be half full of water and stars.