The Republican journal., 1895-12-05
Eugene Fields Poetry.
sOMEoF HIS SWEET AND TENDER VERSE &c
CHILDREN,

soMEoF HIS SWEET AND TENDER VERSE FOR
CHILDREN.
Only last spring Eugene Field gave a
reading for children in New Orleans. The
entertainment consisted Of recitations,
songs and stories. He told his hearers of
Lullaby Lady in Hush a-by Street." and
Of the sick oyster that languished on sea
foam and toast, but got we'll when the
doctor changed his prescription to toast
on sea foam. He described "The Sugar
Plum Tree in Shut Eye Town, with it's
chocolate cat and gingerbread dog: the
story of the ''Naughty Doll'' and s1Polly-
pat,'' keeping his little friends in a state
of delighted attention. Here lay the proof
Of the mans genius, that all these things
were equally charming to the young and
the old. They appealed to the former be-
cause of their wealth Of corroborative de-
tail, and to the latter because of their del
icate and artistic touch
Of his poems for children one of the
great favorites was 1.-THE Duel.' 1t tells
how
The bingham dog and the calico cat
Side by side on the table sat;
Twas half-past twelve and, what do you
think.
Neither of them had slept wink.
And the old Dutch clock and the Chinese
plate
Seemed to know as sure as fate
There was going to be an awful spat-
Il wasn't there, simply state
What was told TO me the Chinese plate
Then we have an account of the pre-
liminary skirmsh and the battle, until
Next morning where the two had sat
They found no trace of the dog or cat
And some folks think unto this day,
That burglars stole that pair away.
But the truth about THAT eat and pup,
is that they ate each other up.
Now what do you really think of that?
{The old Dutch clock it told me so,
And that is how came to know.)
In the Little Book of Western Verse;
and in the ''Second Book OF Verse; there
are many poems for and about children.
A characteristic one is s'Little Boy Blue,'
which was written in memory of his own
child, and is justly famous. 1t was pub
lisheG in The journal of Nov. 18th. There
are Scilian Lullaby, Japanese, Corn
ish, and other lullabes, and all full of an
exquisite sympathy with childhood and
motherhood, instinct with true and tender
fatherhood. Here is a
MORSE LULLABY.
The sky is dark and the hills are white
AS the storm king speeds from the north to-
night,
And this is the song the storm king sings,
As over the world his cloak he filings:
'Sleep, sleep, little one sleep;
He rustles his wings and grutf1y sings
Sleep, little one, sleep.
On yonder mountain-sid vine
Clngs at the foot of a mother pine;
The tree bends over the trembling thing,
And only the vine can hear her sing:
"Sleep, sleep. little one, sleep;
What shall you fear when | am here?
Sleep, little one, sleep
The king may sing in his bitter flight,
The tree may Groom to the vine tonight,
But the little snowflake at my breast
Liketh the song sing the best
"Sleep, sleep, little one, sleep;
Weary thou art, aneNt my heart
Sleep, little one, sleep
THE sUGAR-PLUM TREE.
Have you ever heard Of the Sugar-Plum tree T?
lis a marvel of great renown!
1t blooms on the shore of the Lollipop Sea
In the garden of Shut Eye Town.
The fruit that it bears so wondrously sweet
As those who have tasted it say
That good little children have only to eat
Ot that fruit to be happy next day.
When You got to the tree, you would have a
hard time
To capture the fruit which | sing;
The tree is 50 tall that no person could climb
To the hougbs where the sugar-plums
But up i'll that tree sits chocolate cat,
And a gingerbread dog proHs below;
And this is the way you contrlve to get at
Those sngar-pnms tempting you 50.
You say but the word to that gingerbread
dog,
And he barks with such terrible zest
hat the chocolate eat is at once all agog,
AS her swelling proportions attest.
And the chocolate cat goes cavorting around
From this leafy limb unto that
And the sugar plums tumble at once to the
ground.
Hurrah for the chocolate cat,
There are marshmallows, gum drops and
peppermint canes,
With stripings of scarlet or gold,
And you carry away of the treasure that
rains
AS much as your apron can hold
So come, little child, cudde closer to me
In your dainty white night cap and gown,
And IN rock you away to that Sugar-Plum
In the garden of Shut-Eye Town.
Mr.. Fields ''Dutch Lullaby" the one
about 'sWynken, Blynken and Nod,' was
called the gem of all his work by several
English critics while he was living in Lon
don. 1t has been set to charming music
by Miss Eta Parker. Here it is:
Wynken, Blynken and Nod one night
Sailed off in wooden shoe
Sailed on river of misty light
Into a sea of dew.
"Where are you going, and what do you
wish?"
The old moon asked the three.
eve have come to fish for the herring-fish
That live in this beautiful sea;
Nets Of silver and gold have we,"
Said Wynken,
Blynken,
And Nod.
The old moon laughed and sung a song,
As they rocked in the wooden shoe;
And the wind that sped them all night long
Rnff1ed the waves of dew
The lutte stars were the herring-fish
That lived in the beautiful sea,
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