Illustrator of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Father Goose: His Book, Dot and Tot of Merryland, etc.
Originally published November 17, 1901.
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Originally published in the Philadelphia Public Ledger, June 2, 1918
Children's Day in Supposyville
Among the other charming days,
Delightful and delectable,
To find a Children’s Day is quite
Supposish and expectable.
And things are just reversed, my dears,
And parents take the places
Of little boys and girls and have
To wash their hands and faces.
And in Supposyville that day
No one says “No” or “Sha’n’t”
To any little boy or girl;
Nor “Stop!” nor “don’t!” nor “Can’t!”
The grown folks run the errands and
The grown folks do the chores,
And fetch the cows and make the bows
And answer bells and doors.
The children start the day by lying
Late in bed, and then,
Without a thought of soap or water,
Dress at nine or ten.
And minus shoes and stockings hie
Them forth to hill and wood,
With no one to correct them, nor
To tell them to be good.
Perhaps this wouldn’t be quite safe
In any place but this,
But in Supposyville things never,
Never go amiss!
And so on Children’s Day the boys
And girls roam up and down—
Even the good King abdicates
And lets them have his crown
And sit upon his big, high throne;
And in the castle court
Are swings and rings and other things
Of fascinating sort.
Merry-go-rounds and ponies
To be ridden, and toy boats
That can be guided with long poles
Around the castle moats.
The children eat just any time
And stay up late as ten,
Or half-past, or eleven, and
No one says bed; so then
They fall asleep where’er they be,
And then the grown-ups come
And gather in the weary crop
Of little chicks. Ho—hum!
And though they won’t admit it, and
It may seem strange to you,
They think they’re going to like this day
Much better than they do!
Copyright © 2023 Eric Shanower and David Maxine. All rights reserved.
