Homepage
Login
Profile
BookClubs
dmBox
Read Ebook: More Beasts (For Worse Children) by Belloc Hilaire B T B Basil Temple Blackwood Illustrator
Font size:
Background color:
Text color:
Add to tbrJar First Page Next Page
Ebook has 62 lines and 5801 words, and 2 pages
Illustrator: Lord Ian Basil Gawaine Temple, L Blackwood
MORE BEASTS FOR WORSE CHILDREN
MORE BEASTS
VERSES BY H.B.
PICTURES BY B.T.B.
LONDON: DUCKWORTH AND CO. 3 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN.
DEDICATION.
To Miss ALICE WOLCOTT BRINLEY, Of Philadelphia.
MORE BEASTS
FOR WORSE CHILDREN
INTRODUCTION
The parents of the learned child Were utterly aghast to note The facts he would at random quote On creatures curious, rare and wild; And wondering, asked each other:
"An idle little child like this, How is it that he knows What years of close analysis Are powerless to disclose?
Our brains are trained, our books are big, And yet we always fail To answer why the Guinea-pig Is born without a tail.
Perhaps he found a way to slip Unnoticed to the Zoo, And gave the Pachyderm a tip, Or pumped the Wanderoo.
Or even by an artful plan Deceived our watchful eyes, And interviewed the Pelican, Who is extremely wise."
"Oh! no," said he, in humble tone, With shy but conscious look, "Such facts I never could have known But for this little book."
The Python
A Python I should not advise,-- It needs a doctor for its eyes, And has the measles yearly.
However, if you feel inclined To get one , Allow no music near its cage; And when it flies into a rage Chastise it, most severely.
I had an aunt in Yucatan Who bought a Python from a man And kept it for a pet. She died, because she never knew These simple little rules and few;--
The Snake is living yet.
The Welsh Mutton
The Cambrian Welsh or Mountain Sheep Is of the Ovine race, His conversation is not deep, But then--observe his face!
The Porcupine
What! would you slap the Porcupine? Unhappy child--desist! Alas! that any friend of mine Should turn Tupto-philist.
To strike the meanest and the least Of creatures is a sin, How much more bad to beat a beast With prickles on its skin.
FOOTNOTES:
Sometimes called the "Lion-tailed or tufted Baboon of Ceylon."
The Scorpion
The Scorpion is as black as soot, He dearly loves to bite; He is a most unpleasant brute To find in bed, at night.
The Crocodile
Whatever our faults, we can always engage That no fancy or fable shall sully our page, So take note of what follows, I beg. This creature so grand and august in its age, In its youth is hatched out of an egg.
And oft in some far Coptic town The Missionary sits him down To breakfast by the Nile: The heart beneath his priestly gown Is innocent of guile;
When suddenly the rigid frown Of Panic is observed to drown His customary smile.
Why does he start and leap amain,
And scour the sandy Libyan plain
Like one that wants to catch a train,
Or wrestles with internal pain?
Because he finds his egg contain-- Green, hungry, horrible and plain-- An Infant Crocodile.
The Vulture
His eye is dull, his head is bald, His neck is growing thinner. Oh! what a lesson for us all To only eat at dinner!
The Bison
The Bison is vain, and The Door-mat you see on his head
Is not, as some learned professors maintain, The opulent growth of a genius' brain;
But is sewn on with needle and thread.
The Viper
Yet another great truth I record in my verse, That some Vipers are venomous, some the reverse; A fact you may prove if you try,
The Llama
The Llama is a woolly sort of fleecy hairy goat, With an indolent expression and an undulating throat Like an unsuccessful literary man.
And I know the place he lives in It is Ecuador, Brazil or Chili--possibly Peru; You must find it in the Atlas if you can.
Add to tbrJar First Page Next Page