CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY S.'-^! Cornell University Library PS 3531.077M8 Morning Face 3 1924 021 660 166 .,.,,,.1 MORNING FACE The schoolboy with his satchel And shining morning face. Shakespeare " If I have moved among my race, And shown no glorious morning face- "Call us up with morning faces." Stevenson '^ "Call us up with morning faces " — R. L. S. MORNING FACE When the sun scatters the shadows of night, Until Kestler's tamaracks turn gold in its light, When the sky is blue, and the clouds rose-pink, When the redbird wakens the sleeping chewink, When dew bejewels the pond lily's face. While red waves shimmer 'neath silver foam lace. When rainbows of light are gaily unfurled, Then, morning has come to the rest of the world. When its light reaches your little white bed. Brightening sun-rav' lings that halo your head. Touching cheeks of wild rose, eyes of sky blue. The wondering smile that wakens with you, Your lips line of red, the pearl of your teeth. The pulsing white throat, the warm body beneath. Of pain or of trouble, no faintest trace, There, morning for me, dear, dawns on your face. .u L-t \ •* ■ ^■. is 'J -"^'3f^:'s=?=- Swinging on a grapevine swing. Hear old Redbird's whistle ring! Hear him cry: "Good cheer. Good cheer! I live in Gene's woods all ■"■" " MORNING FACE With Illustrations BY GENE STRATTON-PORTER author of "the song of the cardinal," "moths of the limberlost," "music of THE WILD," "FRECKLES," "THE HARVESTER," "LADDIe" GARDEN CITY NEW YORK DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 1916 \ 1 /I /P '^33^1 A T-5 ft ^n •v' »J V 017/Hsy- Copyright, 1916, by Gene Stratton-Porter All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign languages, including the Scandinavian Baby Oriole Morning Face: "Now Bob, that is a serious plant." Bob Black: "But what is a 'serious plant,' dear?" Morning Face: "The kind where Gene looks serious if you touch it." 8 DEDICATION ONE LITTLE GIRL WITH A FACE OF MORNING, A WONDERING SMILE HER LIPS ADORNING, WISHES HER PICTURES AND STORIES TO SHARE, SO SHE SENDS THEM TO CHILDREN, EVERYWHERE LIST OF BOOKS Novels Nature Books Freckles The Song of the Cardinal A Girl op the Limberlost Friends in Feathers At the Foot of the Rainbow Birds of the Bible The Harvester Music op the Wild Laddie Moths of the Limberlost Michael O'Halloran Morning Face CONTENTS Publisher's Note .... Sing-Song of ^Yildflower Woods Bread and Milk The Indigo Blue Birds . The Spider's Trap .... How the Flowers \Yere Made An Invitation Little Chickens Bob White and Phoebe Beecher Romeo and Juliet Squirrel Good Children and Bad Children How the Cardinal Got His Red Coat The Blue Turtle The Horned Owl The Barn Owl The Screech Owl A Kiss .... Miss Cynthia Samia Why the Loons Went Crazy John and Jane Alligator . Flower Sing-Song . The Queer Rain. 11 PAGE 17 21 25 28 29 31 44 45 46 50 51 53 61 63 65 67 68 69 71 77 78 81 CONTENTS The Pathetic Caterpillar The Hickory Moth Katydid and Gallinipper Screech Owl Babies. The Unhappy Cats . The Snow Boys Spotty and Dotty Kingfisher's Quarrel Babes o' the Woods The Hermit Bird Sammy and Susy Shrike Rompers .... The Cuckoo Clock . The Bad Little Ducks . Morning Glory of Music Ruben and The Redbird Father Pigeon . The First Concert . Baby Flickers Nestin' PAGE 83 85 87 89 90 91 93 101 102 103 105 107 109 111 113 117 119 125 127 12 '^'^ ^« 'WM ILLUSTRATIONS By Author unless Otherwise E^.«*f^^"*',^^j|||^™ Indicated PAGE Morning Face F. N. Wallace 4 " I Live in Gene's Woods " . 6 Orchids . G. B. Monroe 7 Baby Oriole .... 8 Morning Face G. B. Monroe 9 ^ Kittens 10 ^-^■1:.... ^'■■'^^ Rabbits 11 Cardinal 13 Morning Face J. P. Monroe 15 Mourning Cloaks 16 Gene's Orchid Bed 20 Screech Owl 21 Mister Coon 21 Pewee Nest 22 "I'd Live There" J.P.Monroe 23 "Old Robin Brought a Worm" 24 "Bluebirds Had Worms" 26 Missus Wren . . 27 Morning Face G. J. Parrot 27 Indigo Blue Birds 28 The Spider's Trap 29 "How the Flowers Were Made" . J. P. Monroe 30 Tiny Misty Ones 32 Cupped Petals 33 13 ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Balls Like Small Suns 35 Showy Party Lady Slippers 37 Lily Bells on Pawpaw Branches 38 Pitcher Plants 40 Daisies 43 Where the Hairbell Is Ringing ...... 44 Little Chickens 45 Bob White and Phoebe Beecher 46 Bob White 49 Romeo and Juliet Squirrel 50 Good Children 51 Bad Children 51 The Cardinal's Red Coat 52 Cardinal Flower 54 "Raise Your Wings" 57 "Get into the Water and Bathe" 59 Morning Face G. B. Monroe 61 The Horned Owl 62 The Barn Owl 64 The Screech Owl 66 A Kiss 68 Cynthia Samia 69 "She Met Her Mate" 69 ," Why the Loons Went Crazy" . . G. J. Parrot 70 I "Wet Things and Green Things" 73 John and Jane Alligator 77 Morning Face B. Lloyd 78 Foxfire 79 The Queer Rain G.B.Monroe 81 "One Was Fat as Any Cruller" 82 The Hickory Moth 85 14 ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE "At the Slipper I'll Meet You" 86 Katydid 87 The Screech Owl Babies 88 The Unhappy Cats 90 The Snow Boys 91 Dotty and Spotty Kingfisher 92 "I Shall Ask Politest" 95 "I Shall Push You into the Pond" 96 Father Billy Kingfisher 99 Babes o' the Woods 100 The Hermit Bird 102 Sammy and Susy Shrike 103 "When I Go to Play With Gene" . W. Burns 104 "We're the Real Cuckoo Clock" .106 "Twenty-seven Small Ducks" 108 The Glories of the Corn Ill Roadside Redbird 112 "In the Thicket" 115 Father Pigeon 117 "They Carefully Built Their Sitting-room" . 118 The Future of the Wood Robin Family . . .123 Baby Flickers 125 "Gene, Sing Nestin'" .... G. J. Parrot 126 Mother Jay 128 Bird Nest 128 Tailpiece 129 Joy sailed over the morning's crest, Freighting a Mourning Cloak's painted wing, Straight to its homing place in m^^ breast, So my enraptured heart began to sing. 16 PUBLISHER'S NOTE THE CHILD A FEW years ago providence sent for a time, a tiny girl- child into the home of Gene Stratton-Porter; a sunshiny little girl having eyes wide with the marvel and beauty of the world around her, and a heart naturally so full of joy that she invariably awakened from sleep with a wondering smile on her lips, even when so small that it was diflfi- cult to differentiate a smile from a muscular cramp. Always, especially tender and brilliant was the morning awakening. Studying the baby with the eyes of love, Mrs. Porter soon noticed this, so the little visitor had been only a few days at the Cabin in Wildflower Woods, when she named her "Morning Face," because the child constantly brought to her mind Stevenson's lines in "The Prayer," "Call us up with morning faces," and from "The Celestial Surgeon": " If I have moved among my race, And shown no glorious morning face " From the hour of this little girl's ])irth, Mrs. Porter improvised and recited for her amusement endless sing- song chants, rhymes, jingles, or told stories about the flowers, birds, and animals surrounding the Cabin, mak- ing amusing pictures to illustrate them. When Morn- ing Face was taken East by her parents, she missed 17 MORNING FACE her play-fellow and her entertainment, so once a week Mrs. Porter wrote a new story or chant for her, send- ing it in a letter with the illustration pasted on the back. The day came inevitably when Morning Face demanded that her stories and pictures be made into a book, then later the further request that her book be "made like the other books," so that she could give copies of it to her little relatives and playmates. So the book has been reproduced for all children, exactly as Mrs. Porter designed it for this one child of her heart. THE BOOK Mrs. Porter makes no slightest claim to being a poet, or that many of the subjects of this book are poetical. It merely represents her methods of entertaining and teaching natural history to the babies of her own family. Most of the contents were improvised and recited for years before being recorded. When the fact was pointed out to Mrs. Porter that some of the chants were irregular in rhythm, she retorted that others were perfect, which proved that she could have made all of them so, had she chosen; but in the constant use of the names of insects, birds, animals, flowers, she would be exact, using only familiar speech; so instead of conforming the words to the metre, in the proper reading of the book, there are places where it becomes necessary to conform the metre to the words. This is the key-note of the book: it is for the ear; to be read aloud; in many of the rhymed lines the in- tended and proper effect can be obtained only by chanting 18 PUBLISI-IER'S NOTE the lines and lengthening or shortening the sijlUihles to fit the metre, like a rune or incantation. The book is about living things, for the most part baby creatures, for which all children have natural affection. The irregularity of rhythm, which was designed to make the lines native to children, was intentional and used for that purpose. It will require only a little practice to enable those reading to catch the rhythm, so that they will instinctively shorten or lengthen syllables to fit the metre. So chanted the ])ook will give to all children the peculiar delight the little people of Limberlost Cabin find in it. THE ILLUSTRATIONS In a lifetime of field work in natural history illustration with half a dozen cameras, operating in different ways; through making friends with the birds and animals by days of slow approach and painstaking work, in order to secure the most characteristic studies possible with which to illustrate her books on natural history, Mrs. Porter frequently secured intensely characteristic pictures, cun- ning pictures, truly speaking likenesses of her wild sub- jects. \Yhenever such a picture was produced, one that she regarded as a real triumph, one which sometimes meant days or weeks of patient approach, again the flash of the thousandth part of a second, Mrs. Porter laid it away "to save for something good enough." All of these pictures go into "Morning Face." It represents the cream and culmination of a lifetime of field work, which she hopes wall give to all children the joy it has brought to one little girl she so loves. 19 M/-. Mn.s/c i?a/ left his 'dobe house. On Gene's orchid bed to browse. " Gene, do Sing- Song 'Bout WILDFLOWER WOODS" Listen to old Screech Owl screech, Down in his house in the Ijig gray beech. Mister Coon went there to dine, And stuck his mouth with porcupine. Swinging on a grapevine swing, Hear old Redbird's whistle ring! Hear him cry: "Good cheer. Good cheer! I live in Gene's woods all the year." Mister Rattlesnake, down in the grass, Wouldn't let Mud Turtle pass. Turtle bit a diamond off his back, Guinea on the fence cried: "Rack! Pot rack!" )ld Miss Swallow wanted a drink, 51ack Bass gobbled her, quick as wink. Cingfisher watching from a dead tree, .aughed : "Ha, ha ! You can beat me ! " ;.Iissus Field Mouse found a great big hole ljt)ug in her house by Miss Ground Mole. Look what you've done!" she cried in surprise. I' Look .'"' said Miss Mole. "Without any eyes?" 21 Mister Coon MORNING FACE Ground Puppy had a crick in his back, He went to Dr. Duck, a dreadful quack. Duck cured the pain, but Puppy didn't thrive, 'Cause his doctor ate him alive. Missus Pewee built her nest 'bove the door, Red Squirrel threw her eggs on the floor. When he ran to the closest tree, Yellow Hammer hammered him com-plete-ly. 'Missus Pewec built her nest 'bove the door." WILDFLOWER WOODS Mother Ground Hog stold a cabbage head, The Paris-green made her sick in bed. Mr. Ground Hog gave her "pod-o-phyl-lene," To counteract the dose of Paris-green. Old Mr. Musk Rat left his 'dobe house, On Gene's rarest orchid bed to browse, Blue Jay cried: "I'm going straight to tell!" So he rang the big dinner bell. Gene came flying with the kitchen broom. Musk Rat hiked back to his closest room. If I could do just what I really wish, I'd live there so I could help Grandad fish. "I'd live there so I could help Grandad fish.'' 23 "OW Robin brought a slick fishivorm. To feed her child: it swallowed the squirm." BREAD AND MILK Every morning before we eat, My mother prays a prayer sweet. With folded hands and low-bowed head: "Give us this day our daily bread." But I'd like tarts and ginger cakes, Puffs and pie like grandmother makes. So 'smorning I said my appetite Must have cake, or 'twouldn't eat a bite. Then mother said: '"Fore you get through, You'll find just bread and milk will do." She always lets me think things out, But I went to the yard to pout, What I saw there — Upon my word! I'm glad I'm a girl, — not a bird. Redbreast pulled up a slick fishworm. To feed her child: (7 ale the squirm. Bee-bird came flying close to me. And caught a stinging honey bee. She pushed it down her young, alive. She must have thought him a beehive. "Bluebirds had worms, where I could see, For breakfast, in their hollow tree." Missus a BREAD AND MILK Old Warbler searched the twigs for slugs, Rose Grosbeak took potato bugs. Missus Wren snapped up a spider, To feed her baby, close beside her. Little Kingbirds began to squall, Their mother hurried at their call. She choked them with dusty millers. Cuckoos ate hairy caterpillars. Blue birds had worms, where I could see. For breakfast, in their hollow tree. Then little Heron made me squeal. Beside our lake he ate an eel. When young Screech Owl gulped a whole mouse, I started fast for our nice house. Right over me — for pit-tee sake. Home flew a hawk, with a big snake! So 'fore my tummy got awful sick, I ran and kissed my mother quick. I acted just as fine as silk And asked pohte for bread and milk. Wren snapped up spider.'' 27 '^fjWJ^f^''- "Gene, tell 'bout the Indigo Blue Bird.'' THE INDIGO BLUE BIRD 'Cause we are Indigo Babies you'd think we are blue, But we're gray and brown with smaU touches of white. You can see that our tummies are stuffed bursting tight, Wp flew 'way up here from our cradle all right, And we are going to act big and sleep up here, too ! I am always a good bird and behave most polite, But my little Brother is one of the very worst, He stretches the tallest and grabs the biggest bug first. If he'd swallowed one more worm to-day, he'd have burst, Mummy says he can be trusted to act a perfect fright. I couldn't ])e ])lamed much, if I'd start family fights. Brother is going to be blue, but I got to stay brown. He always swallows the biggest, juiciest bites down, I think I am the one to squall, scold and frown, I beheve I'll be progressive and vote for women's rights! 28 •■^•■■■;i THE SPIDER'S TRAP A BIG black spider, homed in my tulip bed, So that her children might be comfortably fed. She wove her dainty wel), with such cunning art, Around every stamen in the tulips' heart, That never a bee, called by the colours gay, Lived to hunt honey on another fair day. 29 "Gene, iell me 'bout how the flowers were made." HOW THE FLO^YERS WERE MADE You know, Morning Face, that old Mother Nature made all the pretty things in the world, so of course she made the flowers. You know, too, that the earth is her house, so like every woman, she wanted it to be beauti- ful. In the beginning of the world she had plain moss green carpet for her floor, green vines, bushes and trees for her walls, with IdIuc, cloud-covered sky for her roof. She had the sun for light by day, the moon was her big lamp at night and each little twinkly star was her candle. The winds were her fan. She had gay colour forever shining on the faces of the seas and lakes, reflected by the sky, the sun, moon, stars, and clouds. Sometimes she had a wonderful rainbow of light all stripes of violet, blue, yellow, and red; but the forests, the fields, and mountains were all some shade of green, while the deserts were gray and sand colour. Now Mother Nature is perfectly beautiful herself. Her hair is yellow as sunshine, her eyes are sky blue, her cheeks cloud pink, while she wears a green silky dress all em- broidered in leaves and vines. She knows she is beautiful, 31 MORNING FACE so she wants her house beautiful also. She likes the sky and the water best, because of their colour, but she could not live there all the time ; for each day her work was filling the earth with butterflies, birds, and animals, so of course, she knew that before very long the little children would be So one day she sat looking at her green house with its floor and walls all of one colour until she cried: "Mercy me, such a sameness! I wish I could brighten my house up a little before my children come." She looked at the sky and the water a long time, then at the earth; at last, right out loud she said it: "I really beheve I shall try." Now when Mother Nature tries to do anything, she usually does such perfectly wonderful things that it takes us years and years to learn how and why she did them. She started slowly flying around the world, gathering all the exquisite colour she could find; big sheets of moonlight, starshine, and heaps of sea foam. She took sunshine where it fell from deepest gold to palest yellow, every blue of the sky, armloads of pink and purple clouds with every single rainbow she could find. Then she carried them to earth, sat down in the midst of the heap, took out her scissors and began cutting flower faces from them. 32 "She cut tiny ones of misty sea foam for many." HOW THE FLOWERS WERE MADE "She made bowls of cupped petals to float on the still waters." First she tried moonlight and starshine, because she had so much of that. She began on simple, easy ones, cutting little rounded petals that she set in a circle, touching it with her lips in the centre to put in life and add sweetening. Like this ! See? When she stuck a few on a little plant at her feet, her hps began to quiver, her eyes to shine, while her shears flashed in the light, and her fingers flew so fast you could not watch them; because at once she saw what would happen when she had her whole earth-house brightened with different colours and shapes of flowers. She began with the walls, putting tiny ones of misty sea foam on the cornel and many others, larger ones, on the hawthorne, and big creamy ones on the magnolias. She cut long slender petals for the daisies; stars with snipped edges for the campion. Every one she finished she grew wilder with joy. From pale moonlight she fashioned big snow-white lily trumpets for the fields, while from creamy starshine she made bowlsof narrow-cupped petals to float on the still waters. To use up the scraps she made white violets and from the teeniest of all chickweed and dodder bloom. 33 MORNING FACE Then she began on blue. She had heaps of that because she could take big pieces from the sky and then patch the place with pink clouds, so it really looked better than be- fore. First she cut a few plain, easy petals for hepatica; then she made violets of every shape. The more she made, the more skillful she grew, the lovelier things she could think of to try next, while always her hands flew faster. She thought the blue of the sky the perfect colour, so her heart throbbed, her lips quivered with de- light, and her eyes were brighter than the sky, as she be- gan cutting out tiny little tinkly hairbells, and blue bells, bell flowers, and blue flags. She loved the colour so that for the very last of the season, after everything else would be gone, she cut big broad petals, snipped the edges finely, and made fringed gentians for late October. From the little specks of scraps she made forget-me-nots and blue- eyed grass, while with two small pieces she fashioned two petals to stand up, then was forced to use white for two down: that made such a wonderful little flower she kissed its face twice to put in the life and sweetening, as she named it blue-eyed Mary. When she began on yellow her eyes were gleaming, her hps smihng, her hands flying, because she loved her work so wefl. She had such stacks and heaps of sunshine she sifted it all over the forest trees for tree bloom, while she heaped it in rough stacks for goldenrod, rolled it in sheets from which to cut petals for daisies and sunflowers, and patted it into big bafls Uke small suns to float on the stifl 34 HOW THE FLOWERS WERE MADE water for yellow lilies. She made gloves for the foxes and had gold sUppers all ready for the ladies when they came. She shredded gold for the petals of coltsfoot and dande- lion, while for the forest floor, for the fields and the moun- tains, with lavish hand she cut or moulded flowers of gold. She laughed as she made violets from the teeny pieces, then with her fingers she rolled the very last little scraps of all, into sprawling, spidery flowers that she stuck on the bare branches of witch hazel for November. When she reached the pink cloud heap, it was so ver>'^ small she was forced to cut carefully; she saw that she would have to make those flowers big and very showy, or there would be so few of them they never would be seen at all among so many others. So for the bushes she made azaleas, laurel bloom, rhododendron, for the trees pink dogwood and peach blossoms, while 35 J5^* a^ "She patted it into big balls like small suns for yellow Lilies." MORNING FACE she thoughl out wild roses for the highways, when they were made, and bordered the rivers with big blushy mallows. She made moss pink and Bouncing-Bet. From the small scraps she trailed arbutus among the leaves for the fairy folk. She mixed white with what was left to make it go farther, then made apple blossoms for the trees and wild crab bloom, which she loved so she got it almost too sweet. She put a tinge of pink on a turtle head like the white ones she had made, painted a splash of pink on some of the trillium petals, and then made big flaring trumpets of white with broad pink stripes, for the glory of morning. Then she made the most beautiful sho^vy party lady slippers, white with pink toes ; because she knew by how lonely she was that when the ladies came to earth, they would want to have a party almost right away. There was much more in the purpUsh heap, so she used her scissors and fingers deftly in making tears for the red- bud, the delicate tube of beardtongue, she cut fine moc- casins so they would be ready for the Indians, curved the petals of corncockle, and made purple-flowering raspberry, like wfld roses. She fashioned Queen of the Prairie and meadow beauty for the fields, whfle she laughed gaily as a bird sings when she thought out shooting stars of flowers, and shook the fringy heads of milkweed bloom; while she cried for very joy over heather and clover. When she thought she had finished she saw a heap of a queer colour she never had seen before. She found that she had overlooked some dark blue and purplish pink 36 "She made beautiful showy party Lady Slippers, white with pink toes. AiORNING FACE lying in a wet place until they had run together and made maroon. She thought from that she would try to make some flowers as peculiar as the colour. When she began to think them out she laughed and laughed over the joke they would be on her chil- dren when they came, and began to hunt to find every single flower she had made for them. First she made some beau- tiful lily befls, then she hung them up on the pawpaw branches. The next ones were almost like pawpaw bloom, not nearly so funny as she had intended them to be, so she bent their stems and hid them under trillium leaves where her children would have to search a long time to find them, then she named them "wake-robin," so they would be sure to hunt until they did find them. For fear they would become discouraged, she cut some narrower petals and set them on the leaves with 38 Lily bells on pawpaw branches. HOW THE FLOWERS WERE MADE no stem, so they would be easy to find. She cut out and made a beautiful pulpit, but it was a queer little Jack she stood in it, to tell all the children who came to the wood to be gentle and loving with the flowers, and never, never drag them up by the roots. She was not quite cer- tain how Jack should look, because she had not yet made any children; she merely had the thought in the back of her head that when she got the world all ready, the chil- dren surely would come. She rolled ginger cups, notched the edges and stuck them at the roots of the plant instead of the top. She cut some of the colour through and through until it resem- bled raw meat and from it made beefsteak betony. She made a big maroon hood for the heart of the skunk cab- bage, and dabbled the outside with splashes of green and yellow. When she went to put in the sweetening the gnats and mosquitoes bothered her so she rolled them into a little ball and put some of that inside instead. Then she laughed loudest of all. That made her think it would be a good idea to put some flowers on long stems above the pitcher plants, so when the insects came to hunt the sweets they would faU into the pitchers, and help feed the plants. She put hairs inside the pitcher hp so when the insects tried to climb out they could not. She cut little ragged strips and made bloom for Adam and Eve orchids, then used small scraps for clusters of bloom on the ground-nut vine. To the last tiny specks she could find, she added some yellow, so she would have enough and 39 .^>^ « wt m"^j» HJ *./ /■ ^ fWiK!^- .^' ■' m #M£ '^^i^Skj^ r.',-f i^..^*," , -^^^ >\.' V^^ / 1 , ^^TIIILl .'SBhS^ fe*]SL •!_. -\- ^■n^v ■%,•■' ^^Mi l8?^r^ Z"^^--';^/^ , ^^s -.^^Id . • '■ .. '^ ■ \ i - i«^ C^ ^;j^nmB^M^^BH^BPS^aKl^ # - tB "^yj. .-^u '^'"^■f^ iiL ^** ^^«.^ - ■* ^ ' - ' ^"? *« .' •m^r^ 4 ' : ''. - #^ '»«.-"^v-^ .- ^lj% ■ ^v". ■ flHiL* •• i#ti?* it - ■ • *■ * v<* ^jij:'<-^'i*J 1 IIIM 1 1 <« SftcH^b^i^ ^s" .^si!^ c^: :.^.^ - -^i:^^:;.. :%;^ ^ /^"""::,--J ^':-^'-^^^-#'":^^.- ■^.^'- ■>•■ ' \ •^ -, " /■■■■'■■■"■ \ ■ ^ ■ i- -. ■ 1 ■ •' THE HERMIT BIRD In wooded tangle where vibrant air, With wing of down and gauze is stirred, A miracle of pain-sweet sound burst forth, And lo, the voice of the Hermit Bird! SAMMY AND SUSY SHRIKE Sammy Shrike and Susy Shrike, They went and fought, oh my! Till their mother sent them both to bed Each wearing a black eye. 103 When I go to play with Gene, Munner always starts me clean. ROMPERS When I am munner's little girl, Every hair's brushed in a curl. I wear 'broidery an' ruffley lace, You never saw a cleaner face; Socks an' sashes an' butterfly bows. I'm all sweet smelly, like a rose. When I go to play with Gene, Munner always starts me clean, But she says just omperns are right, 'Cos I'm sure to come back a sight. But I have the mostest fun. Dressed so I can climb and run. Gene can't bother with dry goods. When we plant flowers in her woods. We can't fuss with ribbon and frills, . When we go to wild strawberry hills. We can drink from leaves of pawpaw, But such spilly business you never saw. We catch speckly fish in the brook. With our hands 'stead of a hook. We string raspberries on a straw, And gather apples of scarlet haw. When I go home munner says: " It's true, \ATien you play with Gene, just 'omperns' will do." 105 4g- . m ,0 K mt. Jk M 11 t z W^ -' ^"S.^J^ K ,^, -^ r.'-r'UlM mff ^m' ^---^ r. ^ k'- ' 'V" ' . ^00 w ' is- ^^ V**^ ^' ^ 4 ^P;-- ^ ■ ^■V'-^H^ ,.'.''^>A, ■•: /'V'-- ■ -■ " We're the real cuckoo clock. THE CUCKOO CLOCK P'raps 'twill give your nerves a shock, But we're the real Cuckoo Clock. Our first: "Cuck-ooh!" that's your warning, To jump from bed early in the morning. "Cuck-ooh!" at noon, plow-boy or tinner. Hurries straight home to eat his dinner. "Cuck-ooh!" again, sure as you're alive! Calls you to supper, at half-past five. When we cry "Cuck-ooh!" last time at night. Jump into bed and shut your eyes tight. Any other time we call "Cuck-ooh" plain. That's a sure sign it's going to rain. 107 Twenty-seven small ducks, each cutting an antic. Ran straight to that puddle, which drove the hen frantic." THE BAD LITTLE DUCKS Twenty-seven small quackers, all yellow and fluffy, Lived with their hen mother in a coop that was stuffy. Unheeding her warnings they would run far away, So she clucked and she scolded the whole livelong day. She told them to eat ])ugs, and scratch for a living. But she should have saved the advice she was giving. You can see very plainly no one had taught her, A duck can't be kept from a puddle of water. So when thunder rolled, like a great big bass drum, She spread her wings widely and begged them to come; But the harder it rained the worse they amazed her. Such things as they did completely crazed her. They ran through the rain, and gobl^led in feeding, They cjuacked and they quarreled as if they'd no breeding. The more the hen scolded the wetter they got ; Soon a big puddle formed, right in the barn lot. Twenty-seven small ducks, each cutting an antic, Ran straight to that puddle, which drove the hen frantic. They swam and they dived, they drank and they go])l)led. While poor Mother Orpington jumped 'till she woliblcd. 109 MORNING FACE One small yellow duck gulped a nice fat snail, Of little brown duck she could see only the tail. The other young rascals all ate, drank and paddled, Until the old settin' hen went entirely addled. She was so flustered she 'most died of fright. For they stayed in that puddle until it was night. Then they came waddling back, each little sinner, With a tummy ciuite full of his favourite dinner. And if you'll believe me, after acting so badly, After scaring and grieving their mother so sadly. She spread her yellow wings and clucked them to rest. All the heads she could cover against her warm breast. 110 w... MORNING GLORY MUSIC We found these glories among the corn, On a crisp, glowing Septem- ber morn. Seeds the song birds had im- planted there, Flaunted their gay trumpets everywhere; While many a Fairy, in robe of lace, To make glad music for Morning Face, Came gaily dancing over the corn, I^ach blowing a Morning Glory horn. Ill 'Roadside redbird courting sang: 'Good Cheer! Good Cheer!'"' RUBEN AND THE REDBIRD March "Good Cheer!" Ruben went to see his sweetheart, March day cool and clear, Roadside redbird courting sang: "Good Cheer! Good Cheer!" On the way they met their Quaker maidens gray, All their hearts were singing, "Good cheer," all that day. Chorus: "Good cheer!" little sweethearts, "Good cheer," all the day, Happy hearts and faces make a sunnier way. Never time for pining or an hour that's drear. While the heart is singing: "Cheer! Good Cheer! Good Cheer!" April "Wet year!" Once in changeful April, Ruben's steps lagged slow, "Wet year!" sang the redbird, sweetheart's tears o'er- flow. Ruben's heart was melted, he was filled with grief, "Wet year!" sang the redbird, for his heart's relief. Chorus: "Wet year!" little sweethearts, life is sometimes pain. Hearts must stoutly battle when the day brings rain. Sunshine in the morning, evening may be drear, Redbird will be singing: "Year! Wet year! Wet year!" 113 MORNING FACE Mav "Come here!" Then on bhthesome Mayday, Ruben's arms spread wide, "Come here!" coaxed the redbird, "come and be his bride ! Come for joy or sorrow! Come for health or pain. Come here! Come here, sweetheart, never part again!" Chorus: "Come here, httle sweetheart, come to love and life. Come to him who waits you, be his happy wife. Come on sunny Mayday, banish Autumn gloom, Come here, come here, sweetheart, all the world's in bloom." June "So dear!" "So dear!" sang the redbird, every day in June, "So dear," sang glad Ruben, all the world in tune. In the thicket redbird sang in trembling fear. In a cottage Ruben, "Dear, so dear! So dear!" Chorus: "So dear," little sweethearts, life is joyful pain, "So dear," in the sunshine, "So dear," in the rain, "So dear," in the evening, or the morning clear, "So dear," little sweethearts, always "Dear! So dear!" 114 "/n the thicket redbird sang in trembling fear, In a cottage Ruben: 'Dear! So dear. So dear!'" MORNING FACE July "See here!" "See here!" sang the redbird, wild in July glee, "See here!" shouted Ruben, "you're ahead of me! But next year I'll join you in a song of cheer, When my nesthng's cradled, I'll sing: "Here! See here!" . Chorus: "See here!" little sweethearts, life is full and wide. Nestlings winging, toddling footsteps, ever at your side, "See here," little mothers, hearts of loving fear, "See here," happy fathers, "Here! See here! See here!" 116 FATHER PIGEON Father pigeon loves his wife, For kisses he hourly begs; Once he crowded up so close, He pushed her off her eggs. 117 " They carefully built their sitting-room." THE FIRST CONCERT After Ihe Hood Wood Ro])in with his mate Bell chose a damp, cool location ])esidc the water, where pink mal- lows flowered and soft winds spiced with wine-coloured pawpaw bloom waved the fringy willows. Here, among the wild grape that clambered over a giant elm tree, they carefully ])uilt their sitting-room. The very next day they heard a voice they recognized and Wood started to find exactly where it came from. He soon discovered that his cousin and only rival Hermit Thrush and his mate the Swamp Angel were building their sitting-room across the little Ixiy. They were work- ing on a home in a tangle of button Inishes, al)ove which giant forest trees shut out most of the light, and beneath tall fern fronds and feathery marsh grasses waved over leaf-lined pools whose purple surfaces were broken by ragged patches of silver, where the light fell strongest and sentinel torches of fox lire flamed at the very edge of the water. Wood went home appearing thoughtful. "What is the trouble?" inquired BeU, as she tucked a piece of grape bark into the cradle lining. 119 MORNING FACE "Cousin Hermit has settled in the button bushes across the bay." "Lee! Lee!" exclaimed BeU. "I am delighted. With only one pair living of every family on earth, company is so scarce, we certainly are unusually blest in having a near relative so close." "If the musical reputation of the family depended on you, perhaps you would not be so pleased." "Why not?" "Lee! Lee! If you would take more interest in me and less in that cradle, you would understand." "You forget, Wood, that on the outcome of this cradle rests the future of our family. If we do not produce a brood before anything happens to either of us. Hermit is left undisputedly the Prince of Song." "Lee! Lee! I had forgotten that. But he is not the Prince of Song now, is he ? Are not my notes more musical than his ?" "Of course I think so, but you may believe the Swamp Angel does not. Why don't you call the birds together to-night and challenge him to sing against you at a con- cert and aUow them to decide once for all which is the sweeter singer?" "Suppose they decide he is." "That will be no worse for us than it will for them if the majority decides on you. Solomon Owl has the reputa- tion of being the wisest bird, Jim Crow the smartest, and Quaker Dove the most tender and truthful. Go ask 120 THE FIRST CONCERT them to come listen this evening, then arrange with Her- mit to sing all your notes, one strain al a time, against each other and accept their decision as final. That will be perfectly fair to each of you, and I know who wiU win." So Wood Robin arranged for the rival concert, and that evening when the latest rays of the sun fell in long, red banners of hght across the water while all the woods were quiet, he hopped from l^ranch to branch of the elm tree peering across the ])ay and listened intently. At last he fluffed his feathers, lifted his beak, swelled his throat and softly, oh, so softly sent this challenge over the water: "Uoli? Uoli?" Among the ferns across the purple water a soft wind carried the answer, indescribably sweet and faint: "0 fear all!" Then stronger and clearer: "0 fear all!" Then clear, high, cool and passionless from the button- bush that was his home rang the notes: "0 fear all!" ^Yood Robin's challenge was answered. He lifted his shoulders, his wing butts pressed his sides, his throat swelled fuller. "A-e-o-l-i!" Lovingly rounding, fulling, accenting each vibrant note he spelled it out with utmost care. Immediately the Hermit raised to his pitch, and through the damp green silence of the wood, evenly, clearly, with molten sweetness, poured the answer: "Oh, u-o-lee! Oh, u-o-lee!" "Noli, nol!" flung back Wood Robin's silver-bell- toned voice. 121 MORNING FACE "Oh, kler-ah-wah! Kler-ah-waih ! " rolled the serene, piercing sweetness of the Hermit. Wood Robin's knees stiffened. His beak parted farther. He bent far toward his rival, and sweeter than the finest golden-toned flute struck his notes: "A-e-o-lee, lee, lee! A-e-o-lee, lee, lee!" Then with a tense shiver he listened. High, pure and clear, across the little bay swept the Hermit's melody: "0 kler-ah! kler-ah!" Wood Robin stretched to his utmost height, filled his lungs and swelled his breast, pointed his beak Heaven- ward and in meUow cadence, rising higher and higher to piercing, painful sweetness, and then tenderly caressing each tone in the golden throat, he sank to a whisper and silence. "UoK? UoH? A-e-o-le! Noh, nol! A-e-o-lee! lee! lee!" The Hermit gripped the twig he stood on, tucked his tail, lifted his beak, and in calm, even tones of pure serene sweetness, with delicate prelude, shaking trills and throb- bing melody, poured his full strain in answer, "Oh fear all! Fear all! Ohu-o-lee! Ohu-o-lee! kler-ah-wah! kler-ah-wah! kler-ah! Kler-ah!" Wood Robin closed his beak and hopping to a lower branch went before the judges for the decision. A little later he returned to Bell who anxiously awaited the answer. "Have they agreed?" she chirped. "They have all agreed," answered Wood Robin slowly. 122 'The future of the Wood Robin family." MORNING FACE "They are unanimous?" "Yes." "And it is " "They have decided that I can beat him on colour and richness of tone; but that he has a serene purity that I cannot surpass." "Lee, Lee!" cried Bell. "I think that is lovely. Now neither of you can boast over the other. That means that some will like one of your songs better while some will care most for the other." "That is what it means," replied Wood Robin. 124 »4 \^' / -A- BABY FLICKERS 'They are climbing up the old dead tree, Every minute going quicker, I don't want them to get away, But Gene says: 'Let them flicker!'" 125 Gene, take me up and sing about ' Nestin'.' " NESTIN' "Oh Mary, me darlin', 'tis a bright April morn, Oh Mary, accushla, I'm so glad ye were born!" "Oh Robin, me laddie, fair is the day, Oh Robin, ye blarney, I hke what ye say!" CHORUS DUET "Heigh-lo, heigh-oh. Spring ever is fine. Heigh-ho, heigh-lo, young blood flows like wine. There's always a l^ird and a tree that's too high, ^Yhile Robin and Mary are just you and I." THRUSH CHORUS "Aeole, hiole, hilo, hilee, Holy-a-olee, hi-oh-a-li-lee, Oh-lee, heigh-oh-lee, a-o-lee, li, lee, Holy, a-oh-lee, li-oh-li-lec-lee!" 127 MORNING FACE " Come where the bell bird and the wild dove Are straining their throats with telling their love!" "Sure, swate is the song-bird, fine is the flower, I'll go with ye laddie, for one little hour." CHORUS "Now Mary, accushla, watch each budding tree, And tell me, you darlin', what 'tis that you see!" "In every tree, building 'round her own breast. Oh Robin, me laddie, a bird weaves her nest!" CHORUS "Oh Mary, me darlin', in the wood love is free. Oh come now, me sweetheart, be nestin' for me'" "How can I, ye rascal, when trees are so high. How can I be buildin' up twixt earth and sky ?" CHORUS "Oh Mary, me darlin', me soul sings with glee, Oh Mary, me darlin', I'll cut down the tree!" "With joy like the birds, and with song like them too. Then Robin, me laddie, I'U be nestin' for you!" CHORUS THE COITNTRT LIFE PRESS GARDE>f CITY. N. T.