Shuffle-Shoon, and Amber-Locks 71

"When I grow to be a man"
(So the wee one's prattle ran),
"I shall build a castle so—

With a gateway broad and grand;
Here a pretty vine shall grow,

There a soldier guard shall stand;
And the tower shall be so high,
Folks will wonder, by and by!"
Shuffle-Shoon quoth: "Yes, I know;
Thus I builded long ago!

Here a gate and there a wall,
Here a window, there a door;
Here a steeple wondrous tall
Riseth ever more and more!
But the years have leveled low
What I builded long ago!"

So they gossip at their play,
Heedless of the fleeting day;

One speaks of the Long Ago
Where his dead hopes buried lie;
One with chubby cheeks aglow

Prattleth of the By and By;

Side by side, they build their blocks

Shuffle-Shoon and Amber-Locks.

LONG AGO

I ONCE knew all the birds that came

And nested in our orchard trees; For every flower I had a name—

My friends were woodchucks, toads, ana bees; I knew where thrived in yonder glen

What plants would soothe a stone-bruised toeOh, I was very learned then;

But that was very long ago!

I knew the spot upon the hill

Where checkerberries could be found,

I knew the rushes near the mill

Where pickerel lay that weighed a pound! I knew the wood,-the very tree

Where lived the poaching, saucy crow, And all the woods and crows knew me→ But that was very long ago.

And pining for the joys of youth,
I tread the old familiar spot
Only to learn this solemn truth:
I have forgotten, am forgot.

Nightfall in Dordrecht

Yet here's this youngster at my knee
Knows all the things I used to know;
To think I once was wise as he-
But that was very long ago.

I know it's folly to complain

Of whatsoe'er the Fates decree; Yet were not wishes all in vain,

I tell you what my wish should be:
I'd wish to be a boy again,

Back with the friends I used to know,
For I was, oh! so happy then—
But that was very long ago!

73

NIGHTFALL IN DORDRECHT

THE mill goes toiling slowly around
With steady and solemn creak,

And my little one hears in the kindly sound
The voice of the old mill speak.

While round and round those big white wings Grimly and ghostlike creep,

My little one hears that the old mill sings: "Sleep, little tulip, sleep!"

The sails are reefed and the nets are drawn,
And, over his pot of beer,

The fisher, against the morrow's dawn,

Lustily maketh cheer;

He mocks at the winds that caper along
From the far-off clamorous deep-

But we we love their lullaby song

-

Of "Sleep, little tulip, sleep!

Old dog Fritz in slumber sound

Groans of the stony mart

To-morrow how proudly he 'll trot you round,
Hitched to our new milk-cart!

And you shall help me blanket the kine
And fold the gentle sheep

And set the herring a-soak in brine—
But now, little tulip, sleep!

A Dream-One comes to button the eyes
That wearily droop and blink,
While the old mill buffets the frowning skies
And scolds at the stars that wink;

Over your face the misty wings

Of that beautiful Dream-One sweep,

And rocking your cradle she softly sings:

Seein' Things

75

SEEIN' THINGS

I AIN'T áfeard uv snakes, or toads, or bugs, or worms, or mice,

An' things 'at girls are skeered uv I think are awful nice!

I'm pretty brave, I guess; an' yet I hate to go

to bed,

For, when I'm tucked up warm an' snug an' when my prayers are said,

Mother tells me "Happy dreams!" and takes away the light,

An' leaves me lyin' all alone an' seein' things at night!

Sometimes they're in the corner, sometimes they're by the door,

Sometimes they're all a-standin' in the middle uv the floor;

Sometimes they are a-sittin' down, sometimes they 're walkin' round

So softly an' so creepylike they never make a sound!