'Pears like I 'most allus could Swing the highest of the crowd-- Jes sail up there tel I stood Downside-up, and screech out loud,-- Ketch my breath, and jes drap back Fer to let the old swing slack, Yit my tow-head dippin' still In the green boughs, and the chill Up my backbone taperin' down, With my shadder on the ground' Slow and slower trailin' by-- Waitin' fer the cat to die! [Illustration: Barefooted, hungry, lean, ornry boys] Now my daughter's little Jane's Got a kind o' baby-swing On the porch, so's when it rains She kin play there--little thing! And I'd limped out t'other day With my old cheer this-a-way, Swingin' _her_ and rockin' too, Thinkin' how _I_ ust to do At _her_ age, when suddently, "Hey, Gran'pap!" she says to me, "Why you rock so slow?" ... Says I, "Waitin' fer the cat to die!" [Illustration: Why you rock so slow?] NAUGHTY CLAUDE [Illustration: Naughty Claude] When Little Claude was naughty wunst At dinner-time, an' said He won't say "_Thank you_" to his Ma, She maked him go to bed An' stay two hours an' not git up,-- So when the clock struck Two, Nen Claude says,--"Thank you, Mr. Clock, I'm much obleeged to you!" THE SOUTH WIND AND THE SUN [Illustration: The South Wind and The Sun--Title] O the South Wind and the Sun How each loved the other one-- Full of fancy--full of folly-- Full of jollity and fun! How they romped and ran about, Like two boys when school is out, With glowing face, and lisping lip, Low laugh, and lifted shout! And the South Wind--he was dressed With a ribbon round his breast That floated, flapped and fluttered In a riotous unrest; And a drapery of mist, From the shoulder and the wrist Flowing backward with the motion Of the waving hand he kissed. And the Sun had on a crown Wrought of gilded thistledown, And a scarf of velvet vapor, And a raveled-rainbow gown; And his tinsel-tangled hair, Tossed and lost upon the air, With glossier and flossier Than any anywhere. And the South Wind's eyes were two Little dancing drops of dew, As he puffed his cheeks, and pursed his lips, And blew and blew and blew! And the Sun's--like diamond-stone, Brighter yet than ever known, As he knit his brows and held his breath, And shone and shone and shone! And this pair of merry fays Wandered through the summer days; Arm-in-arm they went together Over heights of morning haze-- Over slanting slopes of lawn They went on and on and on, Where the daisies looked like star-tracks Trailing up and down the dawn. And where'er they found the top Of a wheat-stalk droop and lop, They chucked it underneath the chin And praised the lavish crop, Till it lifted with the pride Of the heads it grew beside, And then the South Wind and the Sun Went onward satisfied.