I heard a poem the other day recited to a group of two to five year olds and have no idea of the name of it but also only remember this about it....

It was about a little boy who looked after his mother and wouldn't let her go to the edge of town. His first name was James and it was quite a lengthy name.

Was so cute (but I obviously didn't listen too well) and I'd like to see it properly.

Disobedience by A A Milne
James James
Morrison Morrison
Weatherby George Dupree
Took great
Care of his Mother,
Though he was only three.
James James Said to his Mother,
"Mother," he said, said he;
"You must never go down
to the end of the town,
if you don't go down with me."

James James
Morrison's Mother
Put on a golden gown.
James James Morrison's Mother
Drove to the end of the town.
James James Morrison's Mother
Said to herself, said she:
"I can get right down
to the end of the town
and be back in time for tea."

King John
Put up a notice,
"LOST or STOLEN or STRAYED!
JAMES JAMES MORRISON'S MOTHER
SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN MISLAID.
LAST SEEN
WANDERING VAGUELY:
QUITE OF HER OWN ACCORD,
SHE TRIED TO GET DOWN
TO THE END OF THE TOWN -
FORTY SHILLINGS REWARD!"
James James
Morrison Morrison
(Commonly known as Jim)
Told his
Other relations
Not to go blaming him.
James James
Said to his Mother,
"Mother," he said, said he:
"You must never go down to the end of the town
without consulting me."

James James
Morrison's mother
Hasn't been heard of since.
King John said he was sorry,
So did the Queen and Prince.
King John
(Somebody told me)
Said to a man he knew:
If people go down to the end of the town, well,
what can anyone do?"

(Now then, very softly)
J.J.
M.M.
W.G.Du P.
Took great
C/0 his M*****
Though he was only 3.
J.J. said to his M*****
"M*****," he said, said he:
"You-must-never-go-down-to-the-end-of-the-town-
if-you-don't-go-down-with-ME!"

I forgot to say, this is from a book of poems by A A Milne called " When We Were Very Young" . You will find that most Brits of about my age know most of the book by heart.I can do the rest of the book for a fee...

It was one of my favourite poems when I was a child, along with 'Sneezles' and 'Waiting at the Window' (where raindrops called John and James race down the window) from Now We Are Six.

Oh yes, and what about "Emmeline, slipped between, the two tall trees at the end of the green.
We all ran after her... "Emmeline, we didn't mean.. we only said your hands weren't clean..."

That brings back memories, and I am nowhere NEAR as old as you!

My copy of 'When We Were Very Young', dated August of 1950, contains a preface (of sorts) which I always have liked. Titled, 'Just Before We Begin', it's priceless in its pertinence to Milne's frame of mind and his genius at communicating with children. In it he takes a jab at William Wordsworth and then proceeds to express his complete absorption with his son's--and really, children's-- thinking. And it's hilarious.

Quote:

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Just Before We Begin

At one time (but I have changed my mind now) I thought I was going to write a little Note at the tip of each of these poems, in the manner of Mr. William Wordsworth, who liked to tell his readers where he was staying, and which of his friends he was walking with, and what he was thinking about, when the idea of writing his poem came to him. You will find some lines about a swan here, if you get as far as that, and I should have explained to you in the Note that Christipher Robin, who feeds this swan in the mornings, has given him the name of "Pooh." This is a very fine name for a swan, because, if you call him and he doesn't come (which is a thing swans are good at), then you can pretend that you were just saying "Pooh!" to show how little you wanted him. Well, I should have told you that there are six cows who come down to Pooh's lake every afternoon to drink, and of course they say "Moo" as they come. So I thought to myself one fine day, walking with my friend Christipher Robin, "Moo rhymes with Pooh! Surely there is a bit of poetry to be got out of that?" Well, then, I began to think about the swan on his lake; and at first thought how lucky it was that his name was Pooh; and then I didn't think about that any more...and the poem came quite differently from what I intended...and all I can say for it now is that, if it hadn't been for Christopher Robin, I shouldn't have written it; which, indeed, is all I can say for any of the others. So this is why these verses go about together, because they are all friends of Christopher Robin; and if I left out one because it was not quite like the one before, then I should have to leave out the one before because it was not quite like the next, which would be disappointing for them.
The there is another thing. You may wonder sometimes who is supposed to be saying the verses. Is it the Author, that strange but uninteresting person, or is it Christopher Robin, or some other boy or girl, or Nurse, or Hoo? If I had followed Mr. Wordsworth's plan I could have explained this each time; but, as it is, you will have to decide for yourselves. If you are not quite sure, then it is probably Hoo. I don't know if you have ever met Hoo, but he is one of those curious children who look four on Monday, and eight on Tuesday, and are really twenty-eight on Saturday, and you never know whether it is the day when he can pronounce his "r's." He had a great deal to do with these verses. In fact, you might almost say that this book is entirely the unaided work of Christopher Robin, Hoo, and Mr. Shepard, who drew the pictures. They have said "Thank you" politely to each other several times, and now they say it to you for taking them into your house. "Thank you so much for asking us. We've come." A.A.M.

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Oh END of town, no wonder google wouldn't help me Do you know Ren, when I first wrote the post I thought, I bet Ren knows it - I should just email her lol. Thanks for that

"waiting at the window", sounds cute Wajo, I'll track that one down too. Am going to get a little collection of poems for kids together for my little bloke, they seem to hold his attention

Reading that poem one must wonder if the poor woman had early Alzheimers!

The one that I remember, both from my own childhood, and that of my kids, was RL Stevenson's "The Swing". I used to say it to them while I pushed them on the swing, they both still know all the words.

How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh I do think it's the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do

Up in the air and over the wall
Til I can see so wide
Rivers and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside

Then I look down on the garden green
Down on the roof so brown
Up in the air I go flying again
Up in the air and down

I always liked Stevenson better than Milne, for kids' poems, myself.

Quote:

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Reading that poem one must wonder if the poor woman had early Alzheimers!

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I actually had a vague notion that she was up to no good... secretively going off to the end of town in her golden gown and neglecting her child like that.

You're right, Agony. RLS is hard to beat. When I was about four I was run over by a tractor, ending up in the hospital for a long while. One of the many new books I received [which sustained my frightened little girl self] was 1929 boxed edition of A Child's Garden of Verses. I almost wore it out over the two weeks I was away from home. I still have it, and can remember so much of it by heart. It still means 'comfort' after all these years!

I had that book when I was young(er), too, and knew aall the words to James James Morrison Morrison, too, but another favourite was 'The King's Breakfast'- what a lot of fuss over a bit of butter..

The King asked
The Queen, and
The Queen asked
The Dairymaid:
"Could we have some butter for
The Royal slice of bread?"
The Queen asked the Dairymaid,
The Dairymaid
Said, "Certainly,
I'll go and tell the cow
Now
Before she goes to bed."

The Dairymaid
She curtsied,
And went and told the Alderney:
"Don't forget the butter for
The Royal slice of bread."

The Alderney said sleepily:
"You'd better tell
His Majesty
That many people nowadays
Like marmalade
Instead."

The Dairymaid
Said "Fancy!"
And went to
Her Majesty.
She curtsied to the Queen, and
She turned a little red:
"Excuse me,
Your Majesty,
For taking of
The liberty,
But marmalade is tasty, if
It's very
Thickly
Spread."

The Queen said
"Oh!"
And went to his Majesty:
"Talking of the butter for
The royal slice of bread,
Many people
Think that
Marmalade
Is nicer.
Would you like to try a little
Marmalade
Instead?"

The King said,
"Bother!"
And then he said,
"Oh, deary me!"
The King sobbed, "Oh, deary me!"
And went back to bed.
"Nobody,"
He whimpered,
"Could call me
A fussy man;
I only want
A little bit
Of butter for
My bread!"

The Queen said,
"There, there!"
And went to
The Dairymaid.
The Dairymaid
Said, "There, there!"
And went to the shed.
The cow said,
"There, there!
I didn't really
Mean it;
Here's milk for his porringer
And butter for his bread."

The queen took the butter
And brought it to
His Majesty.
The King said
"Butter, eh?"
And bounced out of bed.
"Nobody," he said,
As he kissed her
Tenderly,
"Nobody," he said,
As he slid down
The banisters,
"Nobody,
My darling,
Could call me
A fussy man -
BUT
I do like a little bit of butter to my bread!"

Quote:

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It still means 'comfort' after all these years!

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It does to me too Kstew! I was bedridden with what they thought was osteomyelitis. I read it and read it," Bed in Summer" , and what's the one about the toy soldiers on the counterpane? Lovely stuff, all of it.
Incidentally, I completely forgot to ask... have you seen " Now we are Sixty" It is a very clever parody.

I think it's called In the Land Of Counterpane, Ren. [without actually going to look it up. Couldn't find that book if my life depended on it right now. The shelves are empty and everything is covered in sheetrock dust ] One of my favorites, too.

"the world is so full of a number of things
I'm sure we should all be happy as kings!"

another RLS childhood favorite.

hi all
in my youth i had a very long and varied series of illnesses (rheumatic fever, undulant fever, spinal fusion, along with other and sundry) and was a time for READING! and more reading, and listening to the local classical music station (and in between illnesses ushered with my dad at operas--had seen over 35 different operas by the time i was 14 or 15). my point here is that all those months in bed was lovely times for reading, for thinking about stuff, for listening and i truly believe that if you have experienced something like that it could have enriched your life tremendously because it gave one the time needed for a real enjoyment and exploration.
and in spite of leaky heart valves (that have since cleared up), spinal fusions and all that i was still accepted into the navy for which at this point in my life i am MOST grateful because the va takes care of my meds and that background will enable me to return to retsil, wa (washington state veterans home)for any level of care i need now and in the future.
but back to first point that my illnesses were blessings in disguise studying things i wanted to study, being in top 10% of hs class in spite of hardly ever being there, all that lovely reading and listening.
goodhealthpeacelovejoy
drbob

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have you seen " Now we are Sixty" It is a very clever parody

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I meant the new book which is a parody of the old one and some really funny poems like:'
"Mother" (after Disobedience )
Tom,Clare, Crispin and Clementine,
Oliver,Jane and Me,
Gave much thought to old Mother
When she was ninety three,
Tom, Clare,Crispin and Clementine
Oliver,Jane and their three
Did plenty of talking and fussing and squawking, but left all the doing to me...
and...
Yakkity (after Hoppity)
Anthea musk-rat goes
Yakkity,yakkity,
Yakkity, yakkity yak.
I casually mention
I've got hypertension-
I might as well talk to a sack...

I used to like poems when I was young - particularly "From a railway carraige" by R.L.S. and "A boy named Jim" who was eaten by a lion. But I have mentioned the Ladybird rhyming books so many times here. I can't leave out my particular favourite - "The Runaway" all about a rabbit

"Michael who had noticed nothing,
Meant to put the bowl inside,
Opened up the hutch then Sandy
Darted out: then Michael cried,
Sandy! Sandy! Naughty Sandy
Now you've spilt your lovely tea!
Come back here, at once! This minute"
Sandy Didn't wait to see

Does anyone know this poem? We had to memorise it for school, but that was an awful long time ago and the only bits i can remember are -

"We scan the skies for crows, those ravenous foes,
of my strange master man"

I think it was called the Scarecrow

Jill

THE SCARECROW
Walter De La Mare

All winter through I bow my head
Beneath the driving rain;
The North Wind powders me with snow
And blows me back again;
At midnight 'neath a maze of stars
I flame with glittering rime,
And stand, above the stubble, stiff
As mail at morning-prime.
But when that child, called Spring, and all
His host of children, come,
Scattering their buds and dew upon
These acres of my home,
Some rapture in my rags awakes;
I lift void eyes and scan
The skies for crows, those ravening foes,
Of my strange master, Man.
I watch him striding lank behind
His clashing team, and know
Soon will the wheat swish body high
Where once lay sterile snow;
Soon shall I gaze across a sea
Of sun-begotten grain,
Which my unflinching watch hath sealed
For harvest once again.

Thanks for that wdwfla - blimey that was in primary school i had to learn that, im not surprised i couldnt remember it now - it probably gave me nightmares at the tender age of ten. I only remembered the title as i was typing it out but now I remember Walter De La Mare aswell. Cheers Jill

Yes and I am sure you had to learn "The Listeners" too:
Is there anybody there? Said the Traveller,
Knocking on the moonlit door...
Another one I can say all through by heart.

No dont think i know that one Ren - i only seem to remember that odd line of 'scarecrow' and i dont recall any from High School either, strange although i suppose there will be the odd one that when i see it, it will jog my poor lonely brain cell into action. ive enjoyed reading some of these in the posts.

Here you are

Thanks for that Ren, no i dont know that one either.