Weekly Trinity journal., 1879-09-20

up stairs and down stairs and in my lady's
chamber till her son in law became sen.
sibly alarmed at the fertility of her genius.
Sing she must, however, for was she not n
poet, full of the divine fire VIII ich refuses
to be QuenchedP 1. is we'll for the world
that she was IL law unto herself. No ups
start son-in-law could control her or keep
her frem humming and cooing at her OWE
sweet will.
And now it was not Roman Senate,
buta Boston printer, that her persistent
music awaked. A happy thought occur
red to Thomas Fleet. He printed and
sold songs and ballads ut his printing house
in Pudding lane. Was it not sign of
something good about to come to him,
that this precious mother in-law, with her
endless rocEngs and lullabys. had put her
self fin his way! He stopped asking the
irrepressible songster TO rock less, and
urge her to sing more. And while she sat
room lost in sweet dreams, he careful lily
wrote down what he could of the rhymes
which fell from her lips. His notes rapid
ly accumulated, and in little while he
had enough of them to make volume.
These he now printed, and bound them in,
toa book, which he offered for sale under
the following title: "Songs tor the Nurs-
cry; or Mother Goose's Melodies for Chill.
dren, Printed by T. Fleet, at his Print.
ing House. Pudding Lane, l7l9. Price
two coppers." This title page also bore
II large cut of II vertabe goose, with wde-
open mouth, showing that the proverbial
irreverence OF the sOn-in>,aw is no. II
thing of decent origin. They were just
ms saucy in the days of Mother Goose as
now, and just MS ready to turn penny Al.
the expense oftheir mothers in law. How
the immortal author bore IT, is prolane use
of her name, or what she thought Of the
ungracious but shrewd Thomas Fleet,
history does not say. Wehave every reu-
son tC believe however, that she took it
Just as sweetly as she had taken alhthe
other trials and annoyances of her life.
She possessed her soul in patience, and
continued her gentle ministry to the little
ones; still gathering them into her arms,
and soothing and gladGening their hearts
after the shadows of old age had fallen
about her, not weary OF her delightful task
but busy as ever with it, when the time
came for her motherly soul to spread il.
wings and fly away to the great company
of children in Heaven.
Such j. the true story OF Mother Goose.
Her little book started forth on its errsnd.
II grew aud multiplied with each new edi-
ton. II made her dear name n household
word wherever it went. What shore or
fa,tnes@ has it not Wis tied? Where is the
home in which its loving rhvmes are not
sung? 1t is one of the few books which
cannot grow stale or be destroyed. Not
Homer or Shakespeare il so sure of i'm
mortal fame ms Mother Goose. Cons ider>
ing the love in which her melodies are
everywhere held, their freedom from any
thing which might corrupt or mislead the
infantile mind, their practical wisdom
their shrewd mastery Of the motives oi
human conduct, one is IN all soberness
forced to admit that her name is among
the brightest ofthe jewels which adorn the
brow Of Old South Church. What other
son or daughter of the church, renowned
as many ofthem are in history, has prov
ed greater blessing to mankind, or se-
cure the benedctions of so many bearts2
She is to the new world what Santa Claus
| is to the old And the twain could, by
some poetica license, he made man and
wife, who does not confess that she, though
much the younger, would be by far the
better half? Letus hope that the day is
not distant when memorial statue will
be erected to this venerable lady in one OF
the parks or squares of Boston. Let il be
nm appropriate symbol of her md her
blessed ministry. Let it stand where the
children Of the city may gather in their
daily sports, taunding their hoops and
carts about it, ard singing their doIlies to
| sleep in its shadow. Where could TIM:
memorial mort fitly stand, than on the trI-
angular plot OF ground mt the corner OF
Boylston and Dartmouth streets, So near
to the present Old South meeting house,
and in ull view OF other buildings and in.
sttutions which are the pride Of BostonY
l Ifnot there, yet in some place il should be
reverently set up. And on it should be
the following inscriptions:
Elizabeth Foster.
Known in tho Literature ofthe Nursery as
"Mothcr Goose"
Was born in Charlestown, Mass, 1865;
Married Isaac Goose, OF Boston, 1892
Became a member Of the Old South Church
1898;
Was left widow in ITO
The first edition of her 'MelodieF was
Published in l7IJ.
She died l7j7.
At. W years.
u.Eszz=zzz-us-s--1zzz
edward, y said Mr. Rick, "what dc
| hear? that you have disobeyed your
grandmother, who told you just now not
to jump down these stcps?" "Grandma
didn't tell us not to, papa; she only came
to he door and said, II wouldn't jump
down those steps, boys," and shouldn I
think she would, and old lady like her ~
- -
A SMALL boy undertook to infuse lit
tie astonishment into cross dog, and as a
result got 80 loaded down with surprise
himself that he bursto off three suspender
buttons stepping n,ound the corner to tel
! tho rast of thc hovs about il