No Baby in the House

No Baby in the House

Original Text

No Baby in the House, and Other Stories, for Children(New York: A. Roman, 1868): 7-8. www.unz.org/Pub/BurtchaellClara-1868
Reprinted in A Collection of Verse by California Poets from 1849 to 1915, comp. Augustin S. Macdonald (San Francisco: A. M. Robertson, 1914): 11. New York Public Library

1No baby in the house, I know, --
2    'Tis far too nice and clean;
3No toys by careless fingers strewn,
4    Upon the floors are seen.
5No finger-marks are on the panes,
6    No scratches on the chairs,
7No wooden men set up in rows,
8    Or marshaled off in pairs;
9No little stockings to be darned,
10    All ragged at the toes,
11No pile of mending to be done,
12    Made up of baby-clothes;
13No little troubles to be soothed,
14    No little hands to fold,
15No grimy fingers to be washed,
16    No stories to be told;
17No tender kisses to be given,
18    No nicknames, "Dove" and "Mouse";
19No merry frolic after tea, --
20    No baby in the house.
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2004
Rhyme