The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-12-02

with slippers and q watering pot faints under
the stress OF her emotions. In the words OF
the poet:
But what presently took place.
Right before this lsdy's face,
Made her shut her eyes. 50 dazed
That she smiled like one half crazed
Drew heavy sigh. and soon
Gasped and sank down In q swoon.
Everything comes out right In the end. and
Il l. possible that the story has moral. though
the pictures are really the principal thing. Nor
Is IL any dlscredit to the story that they should
be; we do not often see pictures like them.
anew Mother Goose" with 250 pictures by
+ Opper. is published by the Lppincott Com
pany. The frontispece Is n picture 10 colors
representing old King Cole. with his pipe and
his bowl. listening with evident pleasure 20 his
fillers three. The King and his fddlers are
undoubtedly classical. and so is the page es-
Gaping with an empty plate at one corner. Mr..
opper says in his preface that illustrations for
Mother Goose" hitherto have been addressed
TO children only: his own are addressed to
children. and as we'll to anybody up to the age
OF 81. Though he respects the conventional
form at times he does not feel called upon to
do this always. Fox "E was an Esquire.
with pride on his brow" he presents
the Brton OF tradition. but when he
comes to IF was a Farmer" and TO
IL was hunter. ne tdkeS tue llDeTtb W OleE
those things which are so characteristic OF him
and which We go well know. His farmer Is
lean and crooked, with exaggerated boots aud
hat. and his hunter Is the same figure on snow
shoes. His ''R was Robber," shows tho
robber. q person OF dwarnsh dimensions.
masked and armed with bludgeon. looking
around the corner OF the letter n" at o gen.
teman with shoulders nine feet across Just
sallying forth from the door OF an athletic club.
His shoe In which the old woman lived
shows a place with dormer windows and a
at On the roof. and his jack and Jill
60 up the hill on bicycles. His DR..
Foster who went to Gloucester In a shower OF
rain is highly expressive figure. and his Jack
Nimblc who jumped over the candlestick
leaves nothing TO be desired. The three wise
men OF Gotham who went to sea In q bowl are
exactly the sort OF mep, according to the pic
ture. who would venture upon such perform
ance IL Is probable that the lean and eager
seagull In the picture will batten on their hats
and um hrellas. The pleman whom Simple
Simon meets is a good English peman. with
something Puritan and dyspeptic about him.
and Simple Simon himseliis all that the poem
calls for. Peter the pumpkin eater and his
wife are represented as inmates OF
dime museum He Is eating pumpkin and she
Is sitting In evening dress In pumpkin
shell and tanning herself. Two gentlemen and
a boy from New Jersey regard them with much
seriousness. A sign on the wall says that these
are Mr. and Mrs. Peter. and another sign says
that they have photographs for sale. The four
and-twenty black birds that were baked In pie
and set before the king are shown here singing
at great rate Each one sings a different tune.
and among the tunes We remark Ben Bolt
and "Old Dog Tray" and Coming Through the
Rye" Little Tommy Tucker singing for his
A ~tsV Nhnn not
and causes hIs mother 10 put her fingers In her
ears. "Pat-n-cake. pat-a-cake. bakers man"
shows an unhappy gentleman trying to interest
u Boston child by singing this primitive
song to him. The gentleman claps his
hands together as no sings. The child.
seated In u hiah chair. holds In his lap Mils's
PRINCIPLES Of Political Economy and looks
souriy at the gentleman through largo pair
OF spectacles. 1t is not safe to critlcise the
text Of Mother Goose" There are things
here which we had not supposed were included
In that anthology. and II seems to us that
other renderings have presented certain things
better. 1t is said here:
Jack spratt could eat no fat,
His wife could eat no lean;
And 80 botwixt them both, YOU soc,
They licked the platter clean.
There is more offer of rhyme in the version
which had II:
70 'twixt them both they cleared the cloth
And licked the platter clean.
Again. we have never been able to under
stand how anybody could be contented, In the
poem of Hey! didde. dildle!" with the line.
THE little dog laughed TO see such sport.
when the other line. The little dog laughed
TO soc such craft" was available Still again.
we do not see how anybody can be satisfied
with the clumsy rendering OF the instructive