Naughty Claude
When Little Claude was naughty wunst
At dinner-time, an' said
He won't say '_Thank you_' to his Ma,
She maked him go to bed
An' stay two hours an' not git up,--
So when the clock struck Two,
Nen Claude says,--'Thank you, Mr. Clock,
I'm much obleeged to you!'
poem by James Whitcomb Riley
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The Plaint Human
Season of snows, and season of flowers,
Seasons of loss and gain!--
Since grief and joy must alike be ours,
Why do we still complain?
Ever our failing, from sun to sun,
O my intolerent brother:--
We want just a little too little of one,
And much too much of the other.
poem by James Whitcomb Riley
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My Father's Halls
My father's halls, so rich and rare,
Are desolate and bleak and bare;
My father's heart and halls are one,
Since I, their life and light, am gone.
O, valiant knight, with hand of steel
And heart of gold, hear my appeal:
Release me from the spoiler's charms,
And bear me to my father's arms.
poem by James Whitcomb Riley
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From The Headboard Of A Grave In Paraguay
A troth, and a grief, and a blessing,
Disguised them and came this way--,
And one was a promise, and one was a doubt,
And one was a rainy day.
And they met betimes with this maiden,
And the promise it spake and lied,
And the doubt it gibbered and hugged itself,
And the rainy day-- she died.
poem by James Whitcomb Riley
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The Old Tramp
A Old Tramp slep' in our stable wunst,
An' The Raggedy Man he caught
An' roust him up, an' chased him off
Clean out through our back lot!
An' th' Old Tramp hollered back an' said,--
'You're a _purty_ man!--_You_ air!--
With a pair o' eyes like two fried eggs,
An' a nose like a Bartlutt pear!'
poem by James Whitcomb Riley
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Extremes
I
A little boy once played so loud
That the Thunder, up in a thunder-cloud,
Said, 'Since I can't be heard, why, then
I'll never, never thunder again!'
II
And a little girl once kept so still
That she heard a fly on the window-sill
Whisper and say to a lady-bird,--
'She's the stilliest child I ever heard!'
poem by James Whitcomb Riley
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His Mother's Way
Tomps 'ud allus haf to say
Somepin' 'bout 'his mother's way.'--
_He_ lived hard-like--never jined
Any church of any kind.--
'It was Mother's way,' says he,
'To be good enough fer _me_
And her too,--and certinly
Lord has heerd _her_ pray!'
Propped up on his dyin' bed,--
'Shore as Heaven's overhead,
I'm a-goin' there,' he said---
'It was Mother's way.'
poem by James Whitcomb Riley
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With Hale Affection And Abiding Faith These Rhymes And Pictures Are Inscribed To The Children Everywhere
_He owns the bird-songs of the hills--
The laughter of the April rills;
And his are all the diamonds set
In Morning's dewy coronet,--
And his the Dusk's first minted stars
That twinkle through the pasture-bars
And litter all the skies at night
With glittering scraps of silver light;--
The rainbow's bar, from rim to rim,
In beaten gold, belongs to him._
poem by James Whitcomb Riley
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A Parent Reprimanded
Sometimes I think 'at Parents does
Things ist about as bad as _us_--
Wite 'fore our vurry eyes, at that!
Fer one time Pa he scold' my Ma
'Cause he can't find his hat;
An' she ist _cried_, she did! An' I
Says, 'Ef you scold my Ma
Ever again an' make her cry,
Wy, you sha'n't _be_ my Pa!'
An' nen he laugh' an' find his hat
Ist wite where Ma she said it's at!
poem by James Whitcomb Riley
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Climatic Sorcery
When frost's all on our winder, an' the snow's
All out-o'-doors, our 'Old-Kriss'-milkman goes
A-drivin' round, ist purt'-nigh froze to death,
With his old white mustache froze full o' breath.
But when it's summer an' all warm ag'in,
He comes a-whistlin' an' a-drivin in
Our alley, 'thout no coat on, ner ain't cold,
Ner his mustache ain't white, ner he ain't old.
poem by James Whitcomb Riley
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