"Some grapple with facts that are stiff and cold, And some see visions all tipped with gold; Some hands are tender and others rough, And some are gentle and some are gruff; But each must follow life's pathway through, Doing the things which he likes to do. "Now I find joy when I tramp about, Up hill and down, for my legs are stout And my ears and eyes can pick up things That are maybe lost to the wisest kings; And I'm always grateful, when day is through, That I'm built for the things which I like to do." _A Fairy Story_ Sit here on my knee, little girl, and I'll tell A story to you Of a fairy I knew Who lived in a garden when I was a child. She was lovely to see and whenever she smiled The sunbeams came dancing around just to know Whatever it was that was pleasing her so. She lived in a poppy and used to peek out And shout: "Oh, Yoo-hoo! I've been waiting for you!" And then I'd go over to her house and play And she'd saddle a bee and we'd both ride away, Or sometimes we'd take a most wonderful trip With the sky for the sea and a cloud for our ship. Oft my father and mother would look out and say: "The glad little elf Plays there all by himself, And he comes in and tells us of things he has seen And the marvelous places to which he has been; He tells us of dining with princes and kings-- It's a curious boy who can think up such things." Now this all occurred in the long years ago, And the fairy has fled, And the poppies are dead, And never again may I ride on a bee, Or sail on a cloud with the sky for the sea. But that fairy has promised, when poppies are fair, To come back again and to wait for you there. Yes, you can go out when the skies are all blue And see what I've seen, And go where I've been. You can have fairies to lead you away, To show you strange sights and to share in your play; And the grown-ups may say that your fancies are wild, But fairies are real to an innocent child. Shoes I'll tell you it's a problem, when a youngster's nine years old, To keep his feet in leather and to keep him heeled and soled; Just about the time I fancy I've some money I can use, His mother comes and tells me that he needs a pair of shoes. Now I can wear a pair of shoes for several months or more, But Bud, it seems, is working for the man who keeps the store, And the rascal seems to fancy that his duty is to show How fast a healthy, rugged boy can wreck a leather toe. But shoes are made for romping in, for climbing and for fun, For kicking bricks and empty cans, and I am not the one To make him walk sedately in the way that grown-ups do-- There's time enough for that, I say, when all his boyhood's through.