A Child's Garden of Verses — Robert Louis Stevenson
You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org . If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title : A Child's Garden of Verses Author : Robert Louis Stevenson Illustrator : Jessie Willcox Smith Release date : May 26, 2008 [eBook #25609] Most recently updated: August 8, 2019 Language : English Other information and formats : www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25609 Credits : Produced by Juliet Sutherland Christine D. and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net *** START OF Various characteristics of each ebook are listed to aid in selecting the preferred file. Click on any of the filenumbers below to quickly view each ebook. 19722 (Published in 1916; Black and White illustrations by M. Sheldon) 25608 (Published in 1905; Single Tone illustratons by B. C. Pease) 25609 (Published in 1905; Illustrations in Color by J. W. Smith) 25610 (Published in 1895; Black and White illustrations by C.Robins) 25611 (Publication date unknown; Black and White illustrations) 25617 (Published in 1900; Illustrations in Color by Mars and Squire) 28722 (Published in 1919; Illustrations in Color by Maria L. Kirk) A Child's Garden of Verses ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON Illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, New York Copyright, 1905, By CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS Printed in the United States of America All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without the permission of Charles Scribner's Sons DD-3.64[H] Reset March 1955 TO ALISON CUNNINGHAM FROM HER BOY For the long nights you lay awake And watched for my unworthy sake: For your most comfortable hand That led me through the uneven land: For all the story-books you read: For all the pains you comforted: For all you pitied, all you bore, In sad and happy days of yore:— My second Mother, my first Wife, The angel of my infant life— From the sick child, now well and old, Take, nurse, the little book you hold! And grant it, Heaven, that all who read May find as dear a nurse at need, And every child who lists my rhyme, In the bright, fireside, nursery clime, May hear it in as kind a voice As made my childish days rejoice! R. L. S. THE ORIGINAL TITLE PAGE FOR A CHILD'S GARDEN OF VERSES BY JESSIE WILLCOX SMITH A CHILD'S GARDEN OF VERSES ROBERT LOVIS STEVENSON WITH ILLVSTRATIONS BY JESSIE WILLCOX SMITH CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS NEW YORK MCMV CONTENTS TO ALISON CUNNINGHAM vii BED IN SUMMER 3 A THOUGHT 4 AT THE SEA-SIDE 5 YOUNG NIGHT-THOUGHT 6 WHOLE DUTY OF CHILDREN 7 RAIN 7 PIRATE STORY 8 FOREIGN LANDS 9 WINDY NIGHTS 10 TRAVEL 11 SINGING 13 LOOKING FORWARD 14 A GOOD PLAY 15 WHERE GO THE BOATS? 16 AUNTIE'S SKIRTS 17 THE LAND OF COUNTERPANE 18 THE LAND OF NOD 19 MY SHADOW 20 SYSTEM 22 A GOOD BOY 23 ESCAPE AT BEDTIME 24 MARCHING SONG 25 THE COW 26 HAPPY THOUGHT 27 THE WIND 28 KEEPSAKE MILL 29 GOOD AND BAD CHILDREN 31 FOREIGN CHILDREN 33 THE SUN TRAVELS 35 THE LAMPLIGHTER 36 MY BED IS A BOAT 37 THE MOON 39 THE SWING 40 TIME TO RISE 41 LOOKING-GLASS RIVER 42 FAIRY BREAD 44 FROM A RAILWAY CARRIAGE 45 WINTER-TIME 46 THE HAYLOFT 47 FAREWELL TO THE FARM 49 NORTH-WEST PASSAGE 50 1. Good-Night 50 2. Shadow March 51 3. In Port 52 THE CHILD ALONE THE UNSEEN PLAYMATE 57 MY SHIP AND I 59 MY KINGDOM 61 PICTURE-BOOKS IN WINTER 63 MY TREASURES 65 BLOCK CITY 67 THE LAND OF STORY-BOOKS 69 ARMIES IN THE FIRE 71 THE LITTLE LAND 73 GARDEN DAYS NIGHT AND DAY 79 NEST EGGS 82 THE FLOWERS 84 SUMMER SUN 86 THE DUMB SOLDIER 87 AUTUMN FIRES 89 THE GARDENER 90 HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS 92 ENVOYS TO WILLIE AND HENRIETTA 97 TO MY MOTHER 98 TO AUNTIE 99 TO MINNIE 100 TO MY NAME-CHILD 103 TO ANY READER 105 ILLUSTRATIONS FROM DRAWINGS IN COLOR BY JESSIE WILLCOX SMITH FACING PAGE Bed in Summer 4 In winter I get up at night And dress by yellow candle-light. Foreign Lands 10 I held the trunk with both my hands And looked abroad on foreign lands. The Land of Counterpane 18 I was the giant great and still That sits upon the pillow-hill, My Shadow 20 He stays so close beside me, he's a coward you can see; I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me! Foreign Children 34 Little Indian, Sioux or Crow, Little frosty Eskimo, Little Turk or Japanee, Oh! don't you wish that you were me? Looking-glass River 42 We can see our coloured faces Floating on the shaken pool The Hayloft 48 Oh, what a joy to clamber there, Oh, what a place for play, With the sweet, the dim, the dusty air, The happy hills of hay! North-west Passage 50 And face with an undaunted tread The long black passage up to bed. Picture-books in Winter 64 Water now is turned to stone Nurse and I can walk upon; Still we find the flowing brooks In the picture story-books. The Little Land 74 I have just to shut my eyes To go sailing through the skies— To go sailing far away To the pleasant Land of Play; The Flowers 84 All the names I know from nurse: Gardener's garters, Shepherd's purse, Bachelor's buttons, Lady's smock, And the Lady Hollyhock. To Auntie 100 What did the other children do? And what were childhood, wanting you? A CHILD'S GARDEN OF VERSES 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? Mary Hans 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. Biddy Fifine BED IN SUMMER 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 com