Over dewy hill and leaMerrilyRushed a mad-cap breeze at play,And the daisies, like the brightStars at night,Danced and twinkled in its way. Now, a tree called to the breeze,“Little breeze,Will you come and have a play?”And the wind upon its wayStopped to play.Then the leaves, with sudden shiver,Sudden quiver,Met the lightMad-cap breezeWith delight. Presently the […]

Saint Nicholas used to send, so I am told,All new-born babes by storks, in days of old. 1King Friedrich Max of Stultzenmannenkim,For many years unto the Saint did pray,That he would send unto his Queen and him,A baby boy, to be the King some day.At last the Saint the King’s petition heard,And called to him […]

Three little men went ajogging along–Along in the sunshiny weather.And they laughed and they sang an occasional songWhich they all of them caroled together.And the great white clouds floated over the skyAnd the day it was warm and the sun it was high. As three jolly tailor men all were theyAs you’d find in a […]

I’ll tell of a certain old dame;The sameHad a beautiful piggy, whose nameWas James;and whose beauty and worth,From the day of his birth,Were matters of popular fame,And his claimTo gentility no one could blame. So, seeing his promise, she thoughtShe oughtTo have him sufficiently taughtThe artOf deportment, to goInto company; soA master of dancing she […]

A tailor came a-walking by,The fire of courage in his eye.“Where are you going Sir?” Said I. “I slew a mouseIn our houseWhere other tailors live,” said he,“And not a JackAmong the packWould dare to do the like; pardie!Therefore, I’m going out to tryIf there be greater men that I;Or in the landAs bold a […]

If one could always hold one’s tongue as to what one sees, one would be the better for it. They are the wise people of this world who keep silence as to what they see; many such there are who behold things such as neither you nor I may ever hope to look upon, and […]

Th’re were two wise physicians once, of glory and renown,Who went to take a little walk nigh famous Concord town.Oh! very, very great and wise and learned men were they,And wise and learned was th’r talk, as they walked on th’r way.And as they walked and talked and talked, they came to wh’re they foundA […]

1 One old maid,And another old maid,And another old maid–that’s three–And they were agossiping, I am afraid,As they sat sipping their tea. 2 They talked of this,And they talked of that,In the usual gossiping wayUntil everybody was black as your hat,And the only ones white were they. 3 One old maid,And another old maid,–For the […]

(Ye first opinion) A noisy chattering Magpie onceA talking gabbling hairbrained dunceCame by where a sign-post stood.He nodded his head with a modish airAnd said “good day” for he wasn’t awareThat the sign-post pointing its finger thereWas only a block of wood. Quoth he, “An exceedingly sultry day.T’is more like June than the first of […]

I saw an old woman go up a steep hill,And she chuckled and laughed, as she went, with a will.And yet, as she went,Her body was bent,With a load as heavy as sins in Lent. “Oh! why do you chuckle, old woman;” says I,“As you climb up the hill-side so steep and so high?”“Because, don’t […]

A merry young shoemaker,And a tailor, and a baker,Went to seek their fortunes, for they had been told,Where a rainbow touched the ground,(If it only could be found,)Was a purse that should be always full of gold. So they traveled day by day,In a jolly, jocund wayTill the shoemaker a pretty lass espied;When quoth he, […]

Twelve geeseIn a row(So theseAlways go).Down-hillThey meander,Tail to bill;First the gander.So they stalked,Bold as brassAs they walkedTo the grass. SuddenlyStopped the throng;Plain to seeSomething’s wrongYes; there isSomething white!No quiz;Clear to sight.(‘Twill amuseWhen you’re told‘Twas a news-Paper old.) Gander spoke.Braver birdNever brokeEgg, I’ve heard:“Stand hereSteadily,Never fear,Wait for me.” Forth he went,Cautious, slow,Body bent,Head low.All the restStood […]

Once upon a time there was a lad named Jacob Boehm, who was a practical huntsman. One day Jacob said to his mother, “Mother, I would like to marry Gretchen–the nice, pretty little daughter of the Herr Mayor.” Jacob’s mother thought that he was crazy. “Marry the daughter of the Herr Mayor, indeed! You want […]

Just above the northwestern shore of the old island of Hispaniola–the Santo Domingo of our day–and separated from it only by a narrow channel of some five or six miles in width, lies a queer little hunch of an island, known, because of a distant resemblance to that animal, as the Tortuga de Mar, or […]

It is not so easy to tell why discredit should be cast upon a man because of something that his grandfather may have done amiss, but the world, which is never overnice in its discrimination as to where to lay the blame, is often pleased to make the innocent suffer in the place of the […]

Being an Account of Certain Adventures that Befell Henry Mostyn Under Capt. H. Morgan in the Year 1665-66 I Although this narration has more particularly to do with the taking of the Spanish vice admiral in the harbor of Porto Bello, and of the rescue therefrom of Le Sieur Simon, his wife and daughter (the […]

An Old-time Story of the Days of Captain Kidd I To tell about Tom Chist, and how he got his name, and how he came to be living at the little settlement of Henlopen, just inside the mouth of the Delaware Bay, the story must begin as far back as 1686, when a great storm […]

I We, of these times, protected as we are by the laws and by the number of people about us, can hardly comprehend such a life as that of the American colonies in the early part of the eighteenth century, when it was possible for a pirate like Capt. Teach, known as Blackbeard, to exist, […]

I Cape May and Cape Henlopen form, as it were, the upper and lower jaws of a gigantic mouth, which disgorges from its monstrous gullet the cloudy waters of the Delaware Bay into the heaving, sparkling blue-green of the Atlantic Ocean. From Cape Henlopen as the lower jaw there juts out a long, curving fang […]

PREFACE The author of this narrative cannot recall that, in any history of the famous pirates, he has ever read a detailed and sufficient account of the life and death of Capt. John Scarfield. Doubtless some data concerning his death and the destruction of his schooner might be gathered from the report of Lieutenant Mainwaring, […]