WeRead Powered by ReaderPub
The Daisy, or, Cautionary Stories in Verse. / Adapted to the Ideas of Children from Four to Eight Years Old. cover

The Daisy, or, Cautionary Stories in Verse. / Adapted to the Ideas of Children from Four to Eight Years Old.

Chapter 5: TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:
By Mrs. Turner
Open in WeRead

Explore more books like this:

Poetry

About This Book

A series of short didactic poems presents simple moral lessons for very young readers through brief verse vignettes. Each poem sketches a small incident—children learning obedience, honesty, politeness, care with possessions, and kindness to animals or the aged—and ends with a clear corrective or example to emulate. The language is plain and rhythmic, aimed at early childhood comprehension, and the collection organizes many discrete cautionary tales into accessible, gently instructive rhymes illustrated for young audiences.

XXVIII.

The Rose.

"Dear Mother," said a little boy,
"This rose is sweet and red;
Then tell me, pray, the reason why
 I heard you call it dead?

"I did not think it was alive,
 I never heard it talk,
 Nor did I ever see it strive,
 To run about or walk!"
"My dearest boy," the mother said,
 "This rose grew on a tree:
 But now its leaves begin to fade,
 And all fall off, you see.
"Before, when growing on the bough,
 So beautiful and red,
 We say it liv'd; but, with'ring now,
 We say the rose is dead."

XXIX.

Poisonous Fruit.

As Tommy and his sister Jane
 Were walking down a shady lane,
 They saw some berries, bright and red,
 That hung around and over head;

And soon the bough they bended down,
 To make the scarlet fruit their own;
 And part they ate, and part, in play,
 They threw about, and flung away.
But long they had not been at home
 Before poor Jane and little Tom
 Were taken, sick and ill, to bed,
 And since, I've heard, they both are dead.
Alas! had Tommy understood
 That fruit in lanes is seldom good,
 He might have walk'd with little Jane
 Again along the shady lane.

XXX.

Dangerous Sport.

Poor Peter was burnt by the poker one day,
 When he made it look pretty and red!
 For the beautiful sparks made him think it fine play,
 To lift it as high as his head.

But, somehow it happen'd, his finger and thumb
 Were terribly scorch'd by the heat;
 And he scream'd out aloud for his mother to come,
 And stamp'd on the floor with his feet!
Now if Peter had minded his mother's command,
 His fingers would not have been sore;
 And he promis'd again, as she bound up his hand,
 To play with hot pokers no more.

XXXI.

The Stranger.

Who knocks so loudly at the gate?
 The night is dark, the hour is late,
 And rain comes pelting down!
 O, 'tis a stranger gone astray!
 That calls to ask the nearest way
 To yonder little town.
Why, tis a long and dreary mile
 For one o'ercome with cold and toil;
 Go to him, Charles, and say,
 "Good stranger! here repose to-night,
 And with the morning's earliest light,
 We'll guide you on your way."

XXXII.

HYMN.

O Lord! my infant voice I raise,
 Thy holy name to bless!
 In daily songs of thanks and praise,
 For mercies numberless.

For parents, who have taught me right,
 That thou art good and true;
 And though unseen by my weak sight,
 Thou seest all I do.
Let all my thoughts and actions rise
 From innocence and truth;
 And thou, O Lord! wilt not despise
 The prayer of early youth.
As through thy power I live and move,
 And say, "Thy will be done;"
 O keep, in mercy and in love,
 The work thou hast begun.

ILLUSTRATED SHILLING SERIES

OF

FORGOTTEN CHILDREN'S BOOKS.

PUBLISHERS' NOTE.

The little books printed about a hundred years ago "for the amusement of little masters and misses" must now be looked for in the cabinets of the curious. The type is quaint, the illustrations quainter and the grayish tinted paper abounds in obtrusive specks of embedded dirt. For the covers, gaudy Dutch gilt paper was used, or paper with patchy blobs of startlingly contrasted colours laid on with a brush by young people. The text, always amusing, is of course redolent of earlier days.

1899-1900.

LONDON: PUBLISHED BY
The Leadenhall Prefs, Ltd: 50, Leadenhall Street, E.C.
Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., Ltd:

New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 153-157 Fifth Avenue.

1. THE DAISY; or, Cautionary Stories in Verse, adapted to Ideas of Children from Four to Eight Years Old. 1807.

Re-prints of this laughter-laden little book, written by Mrs. Elizabeth Turner, followed each other right up to about 1850: in the illustrated edition before the reader, nothing is omitted and nothing is added.

With a view to greater profit, the publisher discarded the pretty copperplates which adorned the first edition (now a thing of price) substituting roughly cut wooden blocks.

2. THE COWSLIP; or, More Cautionary Stories in Verse. By the author of that much-admired little work, entitled The Daisy. 1811.

Under this title in 1811 Mrs. Turner wrote some more Cautionary Stories which became almost as popular as The Daisy. She also wrote other books of poetry for children, including The Crocus, The Pink, and Short Poems; but none had the charm or vogue of The Daisy and The Cowslip.

3. NEW RIDDLE-BOOK. By John-the-Giant-Killer, Esquire. 1778.

This covetable little book, published by F(rancis) Newbery, Jun. and T(homas) Carnan, the son and stepson of John Newbery, had been issued by their father at least twenty years earlier than the date on the title-page. The opening note concerning Francis, the nephew of John Newbery, relates to family differences which need not here be referred to. There would seem to be no copyright in riddles, at any rate one finds the same hoary-heads in other collections.

The destructive fingers of little riddle-readers have been the means of causing thousands of copies of this amusing book to disappear, and to obtain an original copy is now almost impossible. The quaintness of the wood-cut pictorial answers should appeal to the modern reader.

It is intended to continue this Illustrated Shilling Series of
Forgotten Children's Books.

OTHER VOLUMES ARE IN PREPARATION.

SMILES AND LAUGHTER IN EVERY PAGE.

PAGES AND PICTURES FROM FORGOTTEN CHILDREN'S BOOKS. Brought together and introduced to the Reader by Andrew W. Tuer, F.S.A. Four hundred illustrations; five hundred pages, handsomely bound, top edge gilt, silk book-marker. LONDON: The Leadenhall Press, Ltd: 50, Leadenhall-street, E.C.[Six Shillings.

One hundred large paper copies at a Guinea, net.

SMILES AND LAUGHTER IN EVERY PAGE.

STORIES FROM OLD-FASHIONED CHILDREN'S BOOKS brought together and introduced to the Reader by Andrew W. Tuer, F.S.A. Adorned with 250 amusing cuts. Nearly 500 pages: handsomely and attractively bound. LONDON: The Leadenhall Press, Ltd: 50, Leadenhall-street, E.C.[Six Shillings.

THESE ARE QUITE INDEPENDENT VOLUMES.

The back cover image was repaired by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:

Obvious printer errors have been corrected. Otherwise, the author's original spelling, punctuation and hyphenation have been left intact.