Who, for instance, will admit
that he does not like the story of _Wynken, Blynken, and Nod_?
"Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night
Sailed off in a wooden shoe--
Sailed on a river of crystal light,
Into a sea of dew.
'Where are you going, and what do you wish?'
The old moon asked the three.
'We have come to fish for the herring fish
That live in this beautiful sea;
Nets of silver and gold have we!'
Said Wynken,
Blynken,
And Nod.
"The old moon laughed and sang a song,
As they rocked in the wooden shoe,
And the wind that sped them all night long
Ruffled the waves of dew."
Who does not wish to complete this story to find out what became of the
children? Who does not like Krinken?
"Krinken was a little child,--
It was summer when he smiled."
Field could write exquisitely beautiful verse. His tender heart had felt
the pathos of life, and he knew how to set this pathos to music. He was
naturally a humorist, and his humor often caused him to take a right angle
turn in the midst of serious thoughts. Parents have for nearly a quarter of
a century used the combination of humor and pathos in his poem, The _Little
Peach_, to keep their children from eating green fruit:--
"A little peach in the orchard grew,--
A little peach of emerald hue;
Warmed by the sun and wet by the dew,
It grew.
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