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.
“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.”
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.
AN ACTION SONG
This is the way we mend our shoes,
Mend our shoes, mend our shoes;
This is the way we mend our shoes,
On a cold and frosty morning!
This is the way the ladies walk,
Ladies walk, ladies walk;
This is the way the ladies walk
On a cold and frosty morning!
This is the way the gentlemen walk,
Gentlemen walk, gentlemen walk;
This is the way the gentlemen walk
On a cold and frosty morning!
A SONG OF THE SHOEMAKER
Stretch the leather over the last,
Fit it and sew it and hold it fast.
Wax the thread, pull it through and through;
Stitch it and stitch it and sing a song, too.
Rap-a-tap, tap! Tick-a-tack, too!
This is the way to make a shoe.
Take a sharp awl and punch a hole
Right through the upper and through the sole.
Put in one peg, put in two;
Chuckle and laugh as you hammer them through.
Rap-a-tap, tap! Tick-a-tack, too!
This is the way to make a shoe.
Stretch the leather over the last,
Fit it and sew it firm and fast.
—Adapted from a poem by an unknown writer
