A Treasury of Verse for Little Children (page 1/3)

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A Good Thanksgiving

Said Old Gentleman Gay, “On a Thanksgiving Day,
If you want a good time, then give something away.”
So he sent a fat turkey to Shoemaker Price,
And the shoemaker said, “What a big bird! how nice!
And since a good dinner’s before me, I ought
To give poor Widow Lee the small chicken I bought.”

“This fine chicken, oh, see!” said the pleased Widow Lee,
“And the kindness that sent it, how precious to me!
I would like to make some one as happy as I—
I’ll give Washerwoman Biddy my big pumpkin pie.”
“And oh, sure,” Biddy said, “’tis the queen of all pies
Just to look at its yellow face gladdens my eyes.

Now it’s my turn, I think; and a sweet ginger cake
For the motherless Finigan children I’ll bake.”
“A sweet cake, all our own! ’Tis too good to be true!”
Said the Finigan children, Rose, Denny, and Hugh;
“It smells sweet of spice, and we’ll carry a slice
To poor little Lame Jake—who has nothing that’s nice.”

“Oh, I thank you, and thank you!” said little Lame Jake;
“Oh, what beautiful, beautiful, beautiful cake!
And oh, such a big slice! I will save all the crumbs,
And will give ’em to each little sparrow that comes!”
And the sparrows they twittered as if they would say,
Like Old Gentleman Gay, “On a Thanksgiving Day,

If you want a good time, then give something away.”

—Marian Douglas.
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Title Page from Treasury of Verse

This title page includes a peacock and two little children reading books. [more...] [$]

Frontispiece: What the sun looks like when it’s asleep

A small boy kneels between two trees in a dark forest; behind him is a brown house. In front of him and beneath him is a great cave, brightly lit by the sleeping sun, who has taken the formof a man lying in bed with a beautific smile on [...] [more...] [$]

Initial Letter I

A decorative capital letter “I” with a child peeking out from behind the letter; it was used as a drop cap (dropped capital) at the start of a paragraph. [more...] [$]

Snow in Town

The title for this poem show a boy gathering a snowball, and some houses with roofs covered in snow, and an old-fashioned lamp-post. [more...] [$]