THE SHUT-EYE TRAIN

Come, my little one, with me!
There are wondrous sights to see
As the evening shadows fall;
In your pretty cap and gown,
Don’t detain
The Shut-Eye train--
“Ting-a-ling!” the bell it goeth,
“Toot-toot!” the whistle bloweth,
And we hear the warning call:
“_All aboard for Shut-Eye Town!_”

Over hill and over plain
Soon will speed the Shut-Eye train!
Through the blue where bloom the stars
And the Mother Moon looks down
We’ll away
To land of Fay--
Oh, the sights that we shall see there!
Come, my little one, with me there--
’Tis a goodly train of cars--
_All aboard for Shut-Eye Town!_

Swifter than a wild bird’s flight,
Through the realms of fleecy light
We shall speed and speed away!
Let the Night in envy frown--
What care we
How wroth she be!
To the Balow-land above us,
To the Balow-folk who love us,
Let us hasten while we may--
_All aboard for Shut-Eye Town!_

Shut-Eye Town is passing fair--
Golden dreams await us there;
We shall dream those dreams, my dear,
Till the Mother Moon goes down--
See unfold
Delights untold!
And in those mysterious places
We shall see beloved faces
And beloved voices hear
_In the grace of Shut-Eye Town_.

Heavy are your eyes, my sweet,
Weary are your little feet--
Nestle closer up to me
In your pretty cap and gown;
Don’t detain
The Shut-Eye train!
“Ting-a-ling!” the bell it goeth,
“Toot-toot!” the whistle bloweth,
Oh, the sights that we shall see!
_All aboard for Shut-Eye Town!_

LITTLE-OH-DEAR

See, what a wonderful garden is here,
Planted and trimmed for my Little-Oh-Dear!
Posies so gaudy and grass of such brown--
Search ye the country and hunt ye the town
And never ye’ll meet with a garden so queer
As this one I’ve made for my Little-Oh-Dear!

Marigolds white and buttercups blue,
Lilies all dabbled with honey and dew,
The cactus that trails over trellis and wall,
Roses and pansies and violets--all
Make proper obeisance and reverent cheer
When into her garden steps Little-Oh-Dear.

And up at the top of that lavender-tree
A silver-bird singeth as only can she;
For, ever and only, she singeth the song
“I love you--I love you!” the happy day long;--
Then the echo--the echo that smiteth me here!
“I love you, I love you,” my Little-Oh-Dear!

The garden may wither, the silver-bird fly--
But what careth my little precious, or I?
From her pathway of flowers that in springtime upstart
She walketh the tenderer way in my heart
And, oh, it is always the summer-time _here_
With that song of “I love you,” my Little-Oh-Dear!

SWING HIGH AND SWING LOW

Swing high and swing low
While the breezes they blow--
It’s off for a sailor thy father would go;
And it’s here in the harbor, in sight of the sea,
He hath left his wee babe with my song and with me
_“Swing high and swing low_
_While the breezes they blow!”_

Swing high and swing low
While the breezes they blow--
It’s oh for the waiting as weary days go!
And it’s oh for the heartache that smiteth me when
I sing my song over and over again:
_“Swing high and swing low_
_While the breezes they blow!”_

“Swing high and swing low”--
The sea singeth so,
And it waileth anon in its ebb and its flow;
And a sleeper sleeps on to that song of the sea
Nor recketh he ever of mine or of me!
_“Swing high and swing low_
_While the breezes they blow--_
_’Twas off for a sailor thy father would go!”_