Victorian Women Writers Project

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To Henry, Colin and Anne

Children who have read and cared for Little Wanderlin, Heroes of Asgard, and The Magic Valley, will, I hope, kindly welcome those verses of my great‐aunts Annie and Eliza Keary, which form a part of this volume. As they were not sufficient for publication alone, they have lain aside for two generations: now I venture to offer some of my own with them, confident that in such company mine too will be the kindlier received. Those verses which are not mine are initialled.

Thanks are due to the editors of St. Nicholas Magazine, Chatterbox, The Prize, and Sunday (published by Messrs. Wells page: viii Gardner, Darton & Co.); also to Mr. Holbrook Jackson, the compiler of Everychild, for leave to reprint such verses as have already appeared in their pages.

Maud Keary.

Contents

• The Alphabet 1
• The Oak 2
• Wild Flowers 3
• Clouds 5
• Beneath the Sea 6
• King Fashion 7
• River, River 9
• A House of Sweets 10
• At Night 12
• The Raindrops 13
• Autumn Leaves 14
• The Story of Hyacinth and Apollo 15
• In the Field 19
• The Arm‐Chair 20
• Who is that Singing? 22
• The Sailor 23
• Ole Luk‐Oie 24
• page: x
• My Father is Extremely Tall 25
• Pretty Mouse 26
• My Fingers 28
• A Dream 29
• Resolutions 30
• A Penny and a Purse 31
• I’d Be an Outlaw 33
• Some Other Child 34
• The Traveller 35
• Responsibility 39
• The Rainbow 40
• Blackberries 41
• Wishes 42
• The Moon 43
• The Shepherd Boy 45
• The Wind 46
• The Windmill 48
• To the Cat at Grandmama’s 49
• To Emily at Her Own Home, From the Cat 52
• In the Wood 56
• The Steam‐Engine 57
• The Train 58
• The Ticket Collector 59
• Cuckoo‐Flowers and Daisies 60
• page: xi
• A Retrospect 61
• To Fortitude 62
• Count Otto of Hempenfeldt 63
• Before the Fire 66
• The Singing Children 67
• Stand Still and Watch 68
• Birthdays 69
• Winter 70
• A Snail 73
• Sethon 74
• Father 77
• Fairyland 78
• Night 79
• A Beetle Tale 80
• The Waiter 82
• A Likeness 83
• The Snow Queen 84
• Twilight 85
• The Little Brown Dwarf 86
• Swinging 89
• Left Alone 90
• A Fly 92
• The Postman 93
• Threading a Needle 94
• page: xii
• To a Bee 95
• Who Blows You Out? 96
• Enchanted Tulips 97
• The Hall Porter 98
• The Illness 99
• Rhys at the Fairy Dance 100
• The Primrose 103
• A Cake 104
• Jack Frost 105
• The Happy Ending 109
• To Father Christmas 110
• When the Great Wind 111
• Good‐Bye 112