Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1921-06-14
MOTHER GOOSE
Origin Of Age Old Melodies Lost in

Origin Of Age Old Melodies Lost ir
Mystery.
When one sees the bare foot of q
baby, there is an almost. irresistible
impulse to daintily take hold of pink
toe and begin the age-old chant
This little pig went to market,
This little pig stayed at home" and
SO on through the delightful story
down to the thrilling climax. "Thi:
little pig said wee, we-e-e-e, we-e-e-e
all the way home!"
with the familiar rhyme ringing In
ones ears, and the toy-strewn nur'
sery, dancing shadows of the f1re-light
and a mothers voice. all come back
with a -vividness that is startling. A
college professor once made the state
ment that he could pick out those
among his students who had learned
the Mother Goose melodies in child.
hood; from their correct use OF Ian
guage. Be this as it may, the chile
who has not been brought up on tom
Tom, the piper's son." Jack and JILL
Little Bo-Peep," the lady who bor-
rowed "Dapple Grey, and whipped
him, and lashed him and rode hin
through the mirc, Little Boy Blue
and all the rest of them. has beer
cheated out Of something that all the
learning Of later years can never re-
pay.
It is a most unexplalnable thing, bu
nothing has ever been written that has
appealed as strongly to the childish
imagination, or so epdeared itself te
the childish heart; as these 5ingline
RHYMES Others who have loved chill
drcn, have written verses just as sim
pie and seemingly just as perfectly
adapted to a child's mind, but some
how they have failed to strike a res
ponsive cord and have passed over the
heads of the small listeners only to be
lost and forgotten. Exactly what the
charm is has never been explained and
probably never will be, but it is there
all the same, as has been attested by
the love of countless generations OF
little prattlers. The subtle something
that appeals to children when these
hoary jinglers are read, reclted OF
chanted, stirs emotions deeper and
more lasting. than are ever called into
being in later years by the mos'
mastery renditions of the worlds
greatest poems. Though they are OLD
no one knows how old, to each gene
ration of children they are as new ano
fresh as the first violet of spring. IL is
hard to realize that for hundreds o,
years, millions of childish hands nave
clapped their approval Of the merry
verses Not only in our own land, bu'
over the greater part Of Christendom
the children know and love them. In
England centuries before America was
discovered. the children went TO slceE
to dream Of the Mouse that ran ur
the clock" and Of "Taffy" who "came
TO nv house and stole piece Of beer''
and Of the terrors Little Miss Muf-
fct" must have suffered when, along
came spider, and sat down hcsioe
her"
And who knows but that some OF
the great poets got their first inspira
ton. as children, from the lifting
melody Of old bed time stories!
But in those times there was no such
thing as Mother Goose rhymes IN DOOR
form, with beautiful pictures OF VIC
King Cole, Humpty Dumpty ane
Mary's Little Lamb. in fact, they were
not printed at all, or even written out
but parents told them TO their chill
dren and of course the children nevc'
forgot them, because that was I'M
possible and in course of time they re-
neated them to their children, and sc
the verses just kept on living. 1t was
not until the year 1850, that 1t occurred
20 some one in London. that 1t miGh'
be very BOOQ lIilii6 W SSS
together and print them in booK
That first book was probably very
different affair from the claoorateiS
illustrated ones that we have TO-DAY
The first book came out with the tltie
Mother Goose Melodies, but it IS no
known how that name happened to n'
selected, but it is supposed 10 nave
been suggested by the name OF Quehf
Goosefoot legendary parsonage "h'
was said to have loved all chlloren
and was always trying to make thett
happy. About sixty years before INT
RHYMES we're published for the mrs
time in London. Charles Perrau!e'
Frenchman, got out n collection o
children's stories. in which were GIN
dcrella. Puss- in Boots. Little Red KID
ing Hood, Beauty and the Beast a:
we'll as others, and he called his oooF
Mother Goose.
Now-a days; it is hard to think O
Christmas and the. lille ones. without