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[Illustration]

[Illustration: A CHILD'S GARDEN OF VERSES]

[Illustration: ROBERT LOVIS STEVENSON]

  EDINBVRGH.   VAILIMA
  1850                                                                1894

[Illustration]


  A CHILD'S
  GARDEN OF
  VERSES


  BY ROBERT
  LOVIS
  STEVENSON

  ILLVSTRATED--BY
  CHARLES
  ROBINSON.

  NEW YORK:
  CHARLES SCRIBNER'S
  SONS

  LONDON:
  IOHN LANE.

  1895

  _Copyright 1895, by Charles Scribner's Sons_

_All rights reserved_

[Illustration]



  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._




CONTENTS


  _Bed in Summer_                                                 _Page_ 3

  _A Thought_                                                            5

  _At the Seaside_                                                       6

  _Young Night Thought_                                                  7

  _Whole Duty of Children_                                               9

  _Rain_                                                                10

  _Pirate Story_                                                        11

  _Foreign Lands_                                                       13

  _Windy Nights_                                                        15

  _Travel_                                                              17

  _Singing_                                                             20

  _Looking Forward_                                                     21

  _A Good Play_                                                         22

  _Where Go the Boats?_                                                 24

  _Auntie's Skirts_                                              _Page_ 26

  _The Land of Counterpane_                                             27

  _The Land of Nod_                                                     29

  _My Shadow_                                                           32

  _System_                                                              34

  _A Good Boy_                                                          36

  _Escape at Bedtime_                                                   38

  _Marching Song_                                                       40

  _The Cow_                                                             42

  _Happy Thought_                                                       44

  _The Wind_                                                            45

  _Keepsake Mill_                                                       47

  _Good and Bad Children_                                               49

  _Foreign Children_                                                    51

  _The Sun's Travels_                                                   53

  _The Lamplighter_                                                     55

  _My Bed is a Boat_                                                    57

  _The Moon_                                                            59

  _The Swing_                                                           62

  _Time to Rise_                                                        64

  _Looking-Glass River_                                                 65

  _Fairy Bread_                                                         67

  _From a Railway Carriage_                                             68

  _Winter-Time_                                                         70

  _The Hayloft_                                                         72

  _Farewell to the Farm_                                                74

  _North-West Passage_

  1. _Good Night_                                                _Page_ 76

  2. _Shadow March_                                                     77

  3. _In Port_                                                          78

  [Illustration]

  _THE CHILD ALONE_

  _The Unseen Playmate_                                                 81

  _My Ship and I_                                                       83

  _My Kingdom_                                                          85

  _Picture Books in Winter_                                             87

  _My Treasures_                                                        89

  _Block City_                                                          91

  _The Land of Story-Books_                                             93

  _Armies in the Fire_                                                  95

  _The Little Land_                                                     97

  [Illustration]

  _GARDEN DAYS_

  _Night and Day_                                               _Page_ 103

  _Nest Eggs_                                                          107

  _The Flowers_                                                        110

  _Summer Sun_                                                         112

  _The Dumb Soldier_                                                   114

  _Autumn Fires_                                                       117

  _The Gardener_                                                       119

  _Historical Associations_                                            121

  [Illustration]

  _ENVOYS_

  _To Willie and Henrietta_                                            125

  _To my Mother_                                                       127

  _To Auntie_                                                          128

  _To Minnie_                                                          129

  _To my Name-Child_                                                   133

  _To any Reader_                                                      136

[Illustration]

  _A CHILD'S
  GARDEN of
  Verses_

_Copyright 1895, by Charles Scribner's Sons_

[Illustration]




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.

[Illustration]

    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?

[Illustration]

[Illustration]




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.

[Illustration]




At The Seaside.


    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.

[Illustration]




YOUNG NIGHT THOUGHT.


    All night long and every night,
    When my mamma puts out the light,
    I see the people marching by,
    As plain as day, before my eye.

    Armies and emperors 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.

[Illustration]

    At first they move a little slow,
    But still the faster on they go,
    And still beside them close I keep
    Until we reach the town of Sleep.

[Illustration: THE TOWN OF SLEEP]

[Illustration]




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.

[Illustration]




RAIN


    The rain is raining all around,
      It falls on field and tree,
    It rains on the umbrellas here,
      And on the ships at sea.

[Illustration]




PIRATE STORY


    Three of us