Author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The Secret of the Lost Fortune, The Visitors from Oz, etc.
Originally published in Father Goose's Year Book, 1907.
February
This is the month the bashful youth
Invests in valentines, forsooth -
All decked with cupids, hearts and lyres -
To send the girl he most admires.
She gives the precious things a glance
Of scorn - perhaps of arrogance -
And hands them to her little brother
To send some school-girl friend or other.
The valentine does double duty -
Or triple, if it is a beauty;
So lovers, heed this wise advice:
Don't buy the things at any price.
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The Father of his Country
This very month, they say,
Was born, by some rare streak of luck,
On Washington's birthday.
Abe Lincoln, too, that famous man,
(It's quite extraordinary!)
Decided to be also born
The month of February!
So, children, don't forget the dates -
This is the way they're reckoned:
The fourteenth day for Abraham,
For George the twenty-second.
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A dear Christian lady
Played bridge for a prize;
The way she reneged
Would cause you surprise.
When asked if she didn't
Think "bridge" was a sin
She answered: "Oh, no;
For I prayed I would win!"
THE FORGETFUL POET
By Ruth Plumly Thompson
Originally published in the Philadelphia Public Ledger, November 24, 1918.
A Few Riddles to Crack With the Thanksgiving Nuts
I'm sure the Forgetful Poet must have sat up till almost 10 o'clock thinking of these riddles, and I confess that some of them I cannot guess. See what you can do with them:
Why is a shoe like you? Why is a tree like me?
To what piece of furniture is a potato related?
He says the next are words abbreviated. And I should say they were:
C 1492, D O, O P S, 4 A, 2 L, N 10 T.
Last week's answers: A street is like a crab because it has a sidewalk, and you keep the butter in the barn when it's a goat.
[Answers next time.]
Copyright © 2009 Eric Shanower and David Maxine. All rights reserved.
