Читать книгу Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless Homes - Graham Harry - Страница 2

WITH guilty, conscience-stricken tears

I offer up these rhymes of mine

To children of maturer years

(From Seventeen to Ninety-nine).

A special solace may they be

In days of second infancy.

The frenzied mother who observes

This volume in her offspring's hand,

And trembles for the darling's nerves,

Must please to clearly understand,

If baby suffers by-and-bye

The Artist is to blame, not I!

But should the little brat survive,

And fatten on the Ruthless Rhyme,

To raise a Heartless Home and thrive

Through a successful life of crime,

The Artist hopes that you will see

That I am to be thanked, not he!

Fond parent, you whose children are

Of tender age (from two to eight),

Pray keep this little volume far

From reach of such, and relegate

My verses to an upper shelf, —

Where you may study them yourself.