Chips, fragments and vestiges by Gail Hamilton collected and arranged by H. Augusta Dodge |
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TO LITTLE “c” |
 | Chips, fragments and vestiges by Gail Hamilton |  |
216
TO LITTLE “c”
Sweet and smiling as you may be,Pretty little Christmas baby,
Just so sunny be the weather
When you three strike out together,
All the mountains bow before you!
Seas cease storming to adore you,
From the Newbury meadow reaches
To the San Francisco beaches—
From her golden sunset highlands
To the gentle Christian islands!
But oh! I grudge your baby babble
To that Honolulu rabble;
And your grand-dad oft will grumble
That your little feet must stumble
First upon Hawaiian earth
And not the land that gave you birth.
But we promise, dainty maiden,
Not to be too sorrow-laden,
If as sweet you will come back as
When you sought the mild Kanakas.
And you smallest of small girls,
When you gather South Sea pearls,
Just fling over a few dozens
To your Barbadosian cousins.
217
From the warm Caribbean seas,
From the fragrant Western isles,
Scorning all the hindering miles,
Home to common household joys
Bring for good our girls and boys.
Heaven bless bye-baby bunting,—
More for rhymes I'll not go hunting,
When you long my muse to throttle—
But don't, my dears, forget the bottle!
| Chips, fragments and vestiges by Gail Hamilton | |