James Whitcomb Riley

"Awf'lest boy in this-here town      Er anywheres is Elmer Brown!      He'll mock you - yes, an' strangers, too,      An' make a face an' yell"

"O here's a little rhyme for the Spring- or Summer-time -         An a-ho-winky-tooden-an-a-ho! -      Just a little bit o' tune you can twitt"

"Hereafter!    O we need not waste             Our smiles or tears, whatever befall:         No happiness but holds a taste             Of s"

"As I sat smoking, alone, yesterday,      And lazily leaning back in my chair,     Enjoying myself in a general way -     Allowing my thoughts a"

"Written In Madison Caweln's "Lyrics and Idyls."         Herein are blown from out the South         Songs blithe as those of Pan's pursed m"

""Where shall we land you, sweet?" - Swinburne.     All listlessly we float     Out seaward in the boat             That beareth Love.     Our sa"

"Settin' round the stove, last night,     Down at Wess's store, was me     And Mart Strimples, Tunk, and White,     And Doc Bills, and two er th"

"Old Indiany, 'course we know      Is first, and best, and most, also,      Of all the States' whole forty-four: -      She's first in ever'thi"

"Last Thanksgivin'-dinner we      Et at Granny's house, an' she      Had - ist like she alluz does -      Most an' best pies ever wuz."

"Say farewell, and let me go;      Shatter every vow!     All the future can bestow      Will be welcome now!         And if this fair hand I t"

"Old Bob White's a funny bird! -      Funniest you ever heard! -         Hear him whistle, - "Old - Bob - White!"      You can hear him, clea"

"A was an elegant Ape      Who tied up his ears with red tape,         And wore a long veil         Half revealing his tail      Which was tri"

"I     When my dreams come true - when my dreams come true -     Shall I lean from out my casement, in the starlight and the dew,     To listen"

"Wilful we are in our infirmity     Of childish questioning and discontent.     Whate'er befalls us is divinely meant -     Thou Truth the clear"

"In fancy, always, at thy desk, thrown wide,         Thy most betreasured books ranged neighborly -         The rarest rhymes of every land and"

"Oh, the Circus-Day parade! How the bugles played and played!     And how the glossy horses tossed their flossy manes, and neighed,     As the ra"

"Just as of old!    The world rolls on and on;     The day dies into night - night into dawn -     Dawn into dusk - through centuries untold. -"

"There is ever a song somewhere, my dear;     There is ever a something sings alway:     There's the song of the lark when the skies are clear,"

"Bad Boy's Version.         Tell you a story - an' it's a fac': -         Wunst wuz a little boy, name wuz Jack,         An' he had sword"

"Old man never had much to say -         'Ceptin' to Jim, -      And Jim was the wildest boy he had -         And the old man jes' wrapped up i"

"'Twas a Funny Little Fellow      Of the very purest type,     For he had a heart as mellow      As an apple over-ripe;     And the brightest l"

"On old Brandywine - about     Where White's Lots is now laid out,     And the old crick narries down     To the ditch that splits the town,"

"We are not always glad when we smile:         Though we wear a fair face and are gay,             And the world we deceive             May not"

"I can't extend to every friend         In need a helping hand -      No matter though I wish it so,         'Tis not as Fortune planned;"

"She will not smile;         She will not stir;      I marvel while         I look on her.          The lips are chilly             And will"

""How did you rest, last night?" -      I've heard my gran'pap say     Them words a thousand times - that's right -      Jes them words thataway"

"Pap's got his patent-right, and rich is all creation;     But where's the peace and comfort that we all had before?     Le's go a-visitin' back"

"A corpulent man is my bachelor chum,         With a neck apoplectic and thick -      An abdomen on him as big as a drum,         And a fist bi"

"Had a hare-lip - Joney had:     Spiled his looks, and Joney knowed it:     Fellers tried to bore him, bad -     But ef ever he got mad,     He"

"'Twas the height of the fete when we quitted the riot,         And quietly stole to the terrace alone,      Where, pale as the lovers that ev"

"Our three cats is Maltese cats,         An' they's two that's white, -      An' bofe of 'em's deef - an' that's         'Cause their eyes ain"

"John B. McKinney, Attorney and Counselor at Law, as his sign read, was, for many reasons, a fortunate man. For many other reasons he was not. He w"

"I     He called her in from me and shut the door.     And she so loved the sunshine and the sky! -     She loved them even better yet than I"

""Wasn't it a funny dream! - perfectly bewild'rin'! -         Last night, and night before, and night before that,      Seemed like I saw the m"

"The Hoosier Folk-Child - all unsung -         Unlettered all of mind and tongue;         Unmastered, unmolested - made         Most wholly"

"It tossed its head at the wooing breeze;             And the sun, like a bashful swain,         Beamed on it through the waving frees"

"A goddess, with a siren's grace, -     A sun-haired girl on a craggy place     Above a bay where fish-boats lay     Drifting about like birds o"

"A thing 'at's 'bout as tryin' as a healthy man kin meet     Is some poor feller's funeral a-joggin' 'long the street:     The slow hearse and th"

"I had fed the fire and stirred it, till the sparkles in delight     Snapped their saucy little fingers at the chill December night;     And in d"

"Abe Martin! - dad-burn his old picture!      P'tends he's a Brown County fixture -      A kind of a comical mixture         Of hoss-sense and"

"Alone they walked - their fingers knit together,      And swaying listlessly as might a swing     Wherein Dan Cupid dangled in the weather"

"And there, in that ripe Summer-night, once more     A wintry coolness through the open door     And window seemed to touch each glowing face"

"[R.B.]      Whilst little Paul, convalescing, was staying      Close indoors, and his boisterous classmates paying         Him visits, with"

"Sweet Singer that I loe the maist     O' ony, sin' wi' eager haste     I smacket bairn-lips ower the taste     O' hinnied sang,     I hail the"

""That little dog 'ud scratch at that door     And go on a-whinin' two hours before     He'd ever let up! There! - Jane: Let him in. -     (Hah"

"Our dog Fred      Et the bread.           Our dog Dash      Et the hash.           Our dog Pete      Et the meat.           Our do"

"The old sea captain has sailed the seas             So long, that the waves at mirth,         Or the waves gone wild, and the crests of thes"

"With Hale Affection And Abiding Faith These Rhymes And Pictures Are Inscribed To The Children Everywhere     He owns the bird-songs of the hi"

"Wunst I sassed my Pa, an' he     Won't stand that, an' punished me, -     Nen when he was gone that day,     I slipped out an' runned away."

"The deadnin' and the thicket's jes' a b'ilin' full o' June,     From the rattle o' the cricket, to the yaller-hammer's tune;     And the catbird"

"He seemed so strange to me, every way -             In manner, and form, and size,         From the boy I knew but yesterday, -"

"When Little Claude was naughty wunst      At dinner-time, an' said     He won't say "Thank you" to his Ma,      She maked him go to bed     An"

"The frightened herds of clouds across the sky     Trample the sunshine down, and chase the day     Into the dusky forest-lands of gray     And"

"Ah, friend of mine, how goes it         Since you've taken you a mate? -      Your smile, though, plainly shows it         Is a very happy sta"

"We must get home - for we have been away         So long it seems forever and a day!         And O so very homesick we have grown,"

"I      A little boy once played so loud      That the Thunder, up in a thunder-cloud,      Said, "Since I can't be heard, why, then      I'll"

"Wunst, 'way West in Illinoise,      Wuz two Bears an' their two boys:      An' the two boys' names, you know,      Wuz - like ours is, - Jim a"

"Be our fortunes as they may,         Touched with loss or sorrow,      Saddest eyes that weep to-day         May be glad to-morrow.      Yes"

"They rode right out of the morning sun -     A glimmering, glittering cavalcade     Of knights and ladies and every one     In princely sheen a"

"Because her eyes were far too deep     And holy for a laugh to leap     Across the brink where sorrow tried     To drown within the amber tide;"