The Project Gutenberg eBook of Gobolinks; or, Shadow Pictures for Young and Old
Title: Gobolinks; or, Shadow Pictures for Young and Old
Author: Ruth McEnery Stuart
Albert Bigelow Paine
Release date: March 2, 2011 [eBook #35452]
Most recently updated: January 7, 2021
Language: English
Credits: Produced by Jason Isbell and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
Gobolinks
or
Shadow-Pictures
For Young and Old
by Ruth McEnery Stuart And Albert Bigelow Paine
New York
The Century Co.
1896
Copyright, 1896, by The Century Co.
DEDICATION
TO OLD FRIENDS WITH YOUNG HEARTS AND YOUNG HEARTS GROWING OLD.
At the curious things in this curious book,
And should you, with quizzical countenance, ask
The how and the why of our curious task— We could truly reply
To the query of "why—"
To the smile on your lip, and your questioning eye,
That the work was begun
In a spirit of fun,
To amuse when the work of the daylight was done;
And continued, because we believed it would be
Amusement to such as were weary as we
To drift for awhile among goblins and elves,
Or haply make shadows and rhymes for themselves.
For though years have passed since we drifted apart,
We're all of us more or less children at heart.
And maybe yourselves and the youngsters 't will please
To dwell for an hour with such creatures as these.
We cannot make pictures of what we've not seen;
But such an assertion deserves only scorn,
For the shape of the Gobolink never was born.
He comes like the marvelous mimes of our dreams,
When one has been supping on salads and creams,
And curious changes of vision take place—
The horse may appear with an elephant face—
The goat with a cane, and the goose with a hat—
Six legs on the dog, and two tails on the cat;
We never can tell, though we're sorely perplexed,
What shape will be shown us, or what will come next;
And these are the things that our Gobolinks do—
Dear friends, and dear children, we give them to you.
THE GOBOLINK AND HOW TO MAKE HIM.
Drop a little ink on a sheet of white paper. Fold the sheet in the center and press the ink-spots together with the fingers. All of the pictures in this book were made in this manner——none of them having been touched with a pen or brush.
A great deal of practice will only go to show that the Gobolink, as his name implies, is a veritable goblin of the ink-bottle, and the way he eludes the artist's design proves him a self-made eccentric creature of a superior imagination.
It is hardly to be expected that the animals and birds of prey referred to under more or less familiar names in the accompanying rhymes will be strikingly correct as to anatomy; and because, as upon page 15, the elephants, or whatever they may be, happen to have each a row of interesting tails continuing along the full length of the spinal column, no unkind criticism should be made upon the ability of the overworked and conscientious artists, who would have made fewer tails if they could, and have added nothing to the price of the book on account of undue liberality in the matter of caudal appendages.
In fact the most unexpected and startling results will often occur—results grotesquely and strangely beautiful, well worthy of preservation. The authors of this book will be glad to receive a few examples of some of the more unusual Gobolinks or Shadow-Pictures that may occur to those interested in the amusement. They may be sent care of The Century Co.
THE GAME OF GOBOLINK.
Persons of all ages may obtain amusement out of Gobolinks, or Shadow-Pictures, as they are also called.
The following is a very good method for playing the game:
Let three of the company be selected by the hostess as judges. To each of the others she then distributes from five to ten sheets of paper, from which they must produce at least one completed picture and rhyme in a given length of time, say five minutes, at the end of which the hostess rings a bell and the judges proceed at once to take up the pictures. These are then passed upon by them while the hostess is distributing a fresh round of paper, and the best two and the worst one are laid aside.
Those whose pictures have been selected now act as judges, surrendering their places at the tables to their predecessors, and another lot of pictures and rhymes are made.
The game is continued in this manner until the hostess announces the arrival of the time for final judgment, or until a certain hour specified in the beginning.
The three judges then in office now select one of the company as "reader," and such person selected shall take up his position in strong light, and after reading the verses on each picture shall display it in full view of all present. It should then be pinned to a suspended sheet or screen where it may be easily examined by the company.
This shall be continued until all the pictures selected by the judges have been so treated and displayed. The reader then acts as chairman, and the company proceed to vote on them for first, second, and booby prizes.
The Gobolink receiving second largest number of votes for first prize is awarded second. The ballot for booby should be, of course, taken separately. Pictures should be signed or otherwise identified.
Where a number are making the pictures, it is well to seat them around a large table with the ink-supply in the center.
Jet-black ink should be used, and a good quality of unglazed paper. The ink should not be too thin.
The table should be protected from accident with several thicknesses of newspaper.
A filled pen or tincture-dropper may be used for supplying the ink.
For a specially invited Gobolink party the company may dress in any grotesque fashion, remembering only that both sides of their costume shall be the same, this being a feature peculiar to Gobolink attire.
No game could be more productive of amusement than Gobolink.
CONTENTS.
| PAGE | |
| Drum-Major | 1 |
| Somethings | 2 |
| Bubblers | 3 |
| Jack-o-my-Goblin | 3 |
| Friendly Chickens | 4 |
| Unfriendly Chickens | 5 |
| They Stayed at Home | 5 |
| The Butterfly | 6 |
| Dipsey Doodle | 7 |
| His Relative | 7 |
| Striking Resemblance | 8 |
| Mask | 9 |
| Human Nature | 9 |
| Red Riding-Hood's Wolf | 10 |
| Witch Broth | 11 |
| Just Like Other Children | 12 |
| Sea Dance | 13 |
| Singers | 13 |
| Birds on the Wire | 14 |
| A Hard Question | 15 |
| Moon Dance | 16 |
| Prehistoric Animals | 17 |
| Graceful Polly-Wogs | 18 |
| South-Sea Idol | 19 |
| Preparing for Winter | 20 |
| Bathers | 21 |
| Bad Boy | 21 |
| Brotherly Consolation | 22 |
| Butterfly Man | 23 |
| Transferred Smile | 24 |
| Royal Grotto | 25 |
| Modest Miss Kangaroo | 25 |
| Gargoyle | 26 |
| Elf Party | 27 |
| Unpleasant Companions | 28 |
| Grenadier | 28 |
| Kings' Jesters | 29 |
| Funny Octopus | 30 |
| Nymphs and Ostriches | 31 |
| A Convenience | 32 |
| Fox and Geese | 33 |
| Entomology | 33 |
| Tail of Taddy Pole | 34 |
| Arabesque | 35 |
| Wind Maidens | 36 |
| Gobolinks' Mirror | 36 |
| Pugilists | 37 |
| What They Left | 38 |
| Gobolink Horses | 39 |
| Miss De Lisle | 40 |
| Her Curling-Tongs | 41 |
| Bears and Harlequins | 42 |
| Faithful Notes | 43 |
| Polite Colly-Wobbles | 43 |
| Brave Warriors | 44 |
| Steeple Men | 45 |
| Sheet-and-Pillow Party | 45 |
| Moss-Backs | 46 |
| What-is-it | 47 |
| Merry Water-Weedles | 48 |
| Narrow Escape | 49 |
| Vicious Golly-Pops | 50 |
| Captives | 50 |
| Divers | 51 |
| Shadow-Harp | 52 |
| Glad Return | 53 |
| Grotesques | 54 |
| Crests | 55 |
| Frontier Coat-of-Arms | 56 |
| Fanciful Elk | 56 |
| T' other and Which | 57 |
| Cathodes | 58, 59 |
| In the X-Ray | 60 |
| Beetleville Dance | 61 |
| Queen Beetle | 62 |
| King Beetle | 63 |
| Other Beetles | 63 |
| Our Pet | 64 |
| Good Breeding | 64 |
| The Washerwomen | 65 |
| A Marine Ball | 66 |
| Queer Mollusks | 67 |
| Sea Weeds | 68, 72 |
| Finis | 73 |
Gobolinks
THE DRUM MAJOR
Behind him all the shadow people come,
As he bravely leads the way
For the Gobolink array
With a bearing most important, and his uniform so gay;
Oh, it's very plain to see that he's the hero of the day,
This jolly little major of the drum.
THE SOMETHINGS
In the mists of Shadowland.
They ran against each other,
And came quickly to a stand.
And Something Two, said he,
"That's just the very question that
At once occurred to me."
THE BUBBLERS
And now forget their troubles—
They both are sitting on a stool,
And blowing crooked bubbles.
THE JACK-O-MY-GOBLIN
A Jack-o-my-goblin is he.
The sea-urchins made him to place on the sand,
And frighten the monsters that dwell on the land.
They took a sea-pumpkin and carved it by hand,
And lighted it up in their glee
With a phosphorus fish from the sea;
Now all the day long on the shore doth he stand,
While Land-loodles terrified flee,
Oh, yes,
The terrified Land-loodles flee.
THE FRIENDLY CHICKENS
They have little to show but pin-feathers;
But their friendship is strong,
And they sing us a song
Regardless of wherefores or whethers.
THEY STAYED AT HOME
On a costume for a ball,
And became so much elated
That they didn't go at all.
THE UNFRIENDLY CHICKENS
Know neither wrong nor right—
They can't be good like you and me,
Who sometimes really do agree—
So all day long they fight.
THE BUTTERFLY
Across the seas of clover.
How blue the arching summer sky
That hangs the country over.
He drifts across the meadow.
His harmless flight you may behold
From Yucatan to Yeddo.
DIPSEY DOODLE..
Sometimes called the great Kioodle.
HIS RELATIVE
They have ears like one another.
A STRIKING RESEMBLANCE
By the shores of a shimmering sea;
And one of them said to the other, "I pray,
Now what's your opinion of me?"
"My charming companion," said he,
"The things that I think I am loath to relate,
You look so exactly like me."
THE MASK
I don't know of whom or of what—
I've never had courage to ask;
A saint's I am sure it is not.
HUMAN NATURE?
That they must surely sever,
But lo! that day, they found that they
Were better friends than ever.
RED RIDING-HOOD'S WOLF
When she came to her grandmother's bed,
Her ears were so long and her eyes big and round,
While her voice had a strange and a terrible sound
When she answered what Riding-hood said,
For alas, the grandmother was dead.
And Little Red Riding-hood sprang with a bound
Through the doorway and hastily fled,
Oh, my,
In terror she hastily fled.
WITCH BROTH
Brew your broth of mystery.
Snail and toad and lizard in it—
Tail of cat and tongue of linnet,
Rabbit's foot and wing of bee—
Witches, witches, none for me.
JUST LIKE OTHER CHILDREN
Were sent to do the dishes,
Instead of which they ran away
And fished for shadow-fishes.
And but a leaf they caught, O,
And then they wished and wished and wished
They'd done the thing they ought to.
With plumage drooping sadly,
And there they bowed their heads and wept
Because they felt so badly.
A SEA-DANCE
Joined hands with a haughty sting-ray,
And away danced the three
Through the depths of the sea
In a most irresponsible way.
THE SINGERS
And frequently before us
They stretch their mouths from ear to ear,
And sing to us in chorus.
THE BIRDS AND THE WIRE
As hearkening to a lyre,
The sparrows gather at the break of day.
Perhaps that vibrant string
Is tuned that they may sing
An anthem to the glories of the May.
A HARD QUESTION
I hardly know their habits—
Perhaps they may be elephants—
Perhaps they may be rabbits.
Withdrawn from one another,
As if attempting to decide
What name to give the other.
THE MOON DANCE
To dance a jig because the moon was high:
But the moon obscured its face,
For she thought 't was a disgrace.
While the little stars were laughing in the sky.
PREHISTORIC ANIMALS
Ere the dawn of history,
On the land, and in the seas
Manufactured mystery.
Who, like Doctor Dry-bone
Bring them into form again
From a scale or thigh-bone.
THE GRACEFUL POLLY-WOGS
And he skates with a radiant smile on his face,
While his arm in the air
Has the curve, I declare,
Of some beautiful creature's of Thrace.
A SOUTH-SEA IDOL
And a wonderful god is he,
With a star on his brow, and a star on his breast,
While at left and at right,
In their armor drest,
A dragon and knight
On his shoulders rest,
And he dwells in the great South Sea.
PREPARING FOR WINTER
The fact that 't is late in the fall,
And time to lay nuts up for winter
If they would have any at all.
But, alas, the improvident gray,
He's only a pauper of winter
Who scampers the summer away.