The Portland daily press., 1877-12-27
Mother Goose and Her Melodies.

Mother Goose and Her Melodies.
1t was Andrew Fletcher who said two hun
dred years ago, 81 knew a very wise man
that believed that, if a man were permitted to
make all the ballads, he need not care who
should make the laws of nation" The
"Wise man" has never been identified, but
shrewd commentators suspect that the stout
old Scotchman modestly referred to himself.
However that may be the maxim caught the
fancy of men, and has lived, as it deserved.
If there be reason in the saying of the old
republican of Saltoun then the shade of Moth
er Goose (may it never grow less y need take
little heed of the doings of parliaments and
congresses. The wise and witty lyrics of the
great and good nursery classic have wide
fame which the verses OF no known poet,
however pretentious or meritorious, can ever
hope to reach. They are the fresh delight Of
our children and the lingering memory of our
old men. Where one of US knows Hamlet
thousand know Jack Horner and Boy Blue;
where one of us follows the sad fortunes of
Juliet or Cordelia thousand recall the death
~ AiesOAJ 1AeSSAy, az WAOoC uCullo0 all udtulC
mourned. There is good reason why the i'm
mortal melodies hold their places in our
minds, and intrude themselves among what
we foolshly think more important things;
for they embody in pithy sentences the wide
experience of the world. In childhood we
love them for their Jingle, in manhood for
their wisdom, in old age for their associations.
Who stupidly described them as nonsense
verses? Some one certainly too obtuse TO
discover the face of the sage under the cap
and-bells of the jester; some one who had
forgotten his school-learning, and that Brutus
of old played the clown that he might achieve
the liberties of Rome. While Mother Goose
is read we may not despair of the Republic.
The meaning of the lyrics are at times little
obscure it may be, after the manner of the
seers and sibyls. Mother Goose does not
deem it necessary to come down to the level
of the meaner intelligences; but those who
lovingly and earnestly seek for her meaning
shall have it made clear to them.
Do people read Mother Goose as much az
they once did? In view of the increasing
foolishness of the world it is much to be
doubted. Matters would have gone much
better had our leaders but studied its pages
full of warnings for the future born of the ex-
perience of the past. How many quarrels
might be avoided, personal and national, if
we We would only bethink ourselves in our
disputes of the wisdom of Jack Spratt and his
wife, and agree to equitably divide the goodies
the gods have heaped upon the common
trencher. What lesson of contentment
with unkind fortune do Bryan O'Lin and his
ticker teach US. How clearly the petticoated
sage-in her ballad of the Crooked Man fore
shadows our present bad est ate. The en-
croaching nature Of evil is there set forth,
and the Crooked Man comes at last to use
crooked sixpence-an evident reference to
the silver question and the warped moral
nature of our fnanclers who take the crooked
road to resumption instead of the straight.
Why do we not turn aside from our feverish
search after riches and give ourselves up to
the pastoral life and rural delights of Bo-Peep
and Boy Blue? Or why not take lesson in
living from the jovial ballad of King Cole,
and have music at all our feasts -and pipes
after dinner? Ahl in Mother Goose we find
the concentrated good sense of ages, the wis
dom of philosophers boiled down to syrup
which will soothe the child and sustain the
strong man. When next our protectionist
statesmen legislate on wool let them read
"Ba-ba black Sheep" When next our doc
tors think to quarrel let them remember
.IaOnV WroO and hap fat
our economists wrestle with the population
question let them take to heart the practical
solution of the Malthusian problem offered
by the old woman who lived in a shoe.
When next our amateur politicians aspire to
form new party let them take warning by
that other luuatc who came down too soon
to inquire the way.
All of US can find words of counsel, COM
fort and command in the dear old nursery
classic. Even our men of science see there
their greatest discoveries anticipated. The
survival OF the fittest is taught in many
verses. The ballad of "Hittery Tittery' is
clear foreshadowing of the correlation of
forces. Even the discovery of the Moons of
Mars is indicated in y-diddle-didde; for
it is evident that a COW could not jump over
any object the size of our satellite; of course
it was not large moon like ours; it must
have been small one, and what small ones
are there but those of Mars?
Let us then, each one of us, possess our
selves of copy of Mother Goose, as guide,
counsellor and friend in the year to come.
We need not matter about the edition-goose
is good with any trimmings; let each man
furnish himself according to his purse.