Produced by Jason Isbell, Christine D. and the Online
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file was made using scans of public domain works in the
International Children's Digital Library.)
[Illustration]
[Illustration: A CHILD'S GARDEN OF VERSES]
[Illustration: ROBERT LOVIS STEVENSON]
EDINBVRGH. VAILIMA
1850 1894
[Illustration]
A CHILD'S
GARDEN OF
VERSES
BY ROBERT
LOVIS
STEVENSON
ILLVSTRATED--BY
CHARLES
ROBINSON.
NEW YORK:
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S
SONS
LONDON:
IOHN LANE.
1895
_Copyright 1895, by Charles Scribner's Sons_
_All rights reserved_
[Illustration]
TO ALISON CUNNINGHAM
FROM HER BOY
FOR THE LONG NIGHTS YOU LAY AWAKE
AND WATCHED FOR MY UNWORTHY SAKE:
FOR YOUR MOST COMFORTABLE HAND
THAT LED ME THROUGH THE UNEVEN LAND:
FOR ALL THE STORY BOOKS YOU READ:
FOR ALL THE PAINS YOU COMFORTED:
FOR ALL YOU PITIED, ALL YOU BORE,
IN SAD AND HAPPY DAYS OF YORE:--
MY SECOND MOTHER, MY FIRST WIFE.
THE ANGEL OF MY INFANT LIFE--
FROM THE SICK CHILD, NOW WELL AND OLD,
TAKE, NURSE, THE LITTLE BOOK YOU HOLD!
AND GRANT IT, HEAVEN, THAT ALL WHO READ
MAY FIND AS DEAR A NURSE AT NEED,
AND EVERY CHILD WHO LISTS MY RHYME,
IN THE BRIGHT, FIRESIDE, NURSERY CLIME,
MAY HEAR IT IN AS KIND A VOICE
AS MADE MY CHILDISH DAYS REJOICE!
_R. L. S._
CONTENTS
_Bed in Summer_ _Page_ 3
_A Thought_ 5
_At the Seaside_ 6
_Young Night Thought_ 7
_Whole Duty of Children_ 9
_Rain_ 10
_Pirate Story_ 11
_Foreign Lands_ 13
_Windy Nights_ 15
_Travel_ 17
_Singing_ 20
_Looking Forward_ 21
_A Good Play_ 22
_Where Go the Boats?_ 24
_Auntie's Skirts_ _Page_ 26
_The Land of Counterpane_ 27
_The Land of Nod_ 29
_My Shadow_ 32
_System_ 34
_A Good Boy_ 36
_Escape at Bedtime_ 38
_Marching Song_ 40
_The Cow_ 42
_Happy Thought_ 44
_The Wind_ 45
_Keepsake Mill_ 47
_Good and Bad Children_ 49
_Foreign Children_ 51
_The Sun's Travels_ 53
_The Lamplighter_ 55
_My Bed is a Boat_ 57
_The Moon_ 59
_The Swing_ 62
_Time to Rise_ 64
_Looking-Glass River_ 65
_Fairy Bread_ 67
_From a Railway Carriage_ 68
_Winter-Time_ 70
_The Hayloft_ 72
_Farewell to the Farm_ 74
_North-West Passage_