One day Bobby and Betty had a party.
They played they were shoemakers mending shoes.
All but Bobby sat down on the floor so as to make a ring.
Then they sang:
“Rap-a-tap, tap! Tick-a-tack, too!
This is the way we mend a shoe.”
While they were singing Bobby came into the room.
When they stopped singing, he said;
“Shoemaker, shoemaker, mend my shoe.
Have it done by half-past two.”
“Yes,” said the shoemakers. “We will have it done by half-past two.”
Then the shoemakers worked and sang:
“Rap-a-tap, tap! Tick-a-tack, too!
This must be done by half-past two.”
Soon Bobby came back and said, “It is half-past two. Is my shoe mended?”
“I have passed it to my next-door neighbor,” answered the head shoemaker.
[Illustration]
“Is my shoe mended?” asked Bobby of the next-door neighbor.
“My next-door neighbor has it,” was the answer.
Then Bobby asked the next child; but he always got the same answer.
At last he saw who had the shoe, so he asked the right one.
Then all the shoemakers called out:
“Little boy, little boy, here is your shoe.
It was mended by half-past two.”
[Illustration]
_For study and play_:
Shoemaker, shoemaker, mend my shoe.
Have it done by half-past two.
Stitch it up and stitch it down,
Now see with whom the shoe is found.
Shoemaker, shoemaker, mend my shoe.
Give it a stitch and that will do.
Here’s a nail, and there’s a prod,
And now my shoe is well shod.
Tip-tap, rip-rap,
Tick-a-tack-too.
This way, that way,
So we make a shoe,
Getting rich, every stitch,
Tick-a-tack-too.
When I’m a man,
I’ll be a shoemaker if I can.
I’ll sit on a bench, with my last held so,
And in and out my needle will go.
I’ll sew so strong that my work shall wear,
Till nothing is left but my stitches there,
When I’m a man.
[Illustration]