"Grandpa Feeds Baby"

Grandpa holds the baby,
He's sitting on his knee
Eating mutton dumplings
With vinegar and tea.
Then grandpa says to baby,
"When you have had enough,
You'll be a saucy baby
And treat your grandpa rough."

"The Ungrateful Son"

The tail of one magpie's as long as another,
He married a wife and he gave up his mother,
When asked by his mother to buy her some cake,
He wanted to know how much money twould take;
When his wife wanted pears he saddled his beast,
And started to market to buy her a feast;
He took off the peeling with very great airs,
And asked her politely to have a few pears.

"The Mischievous Sister-in-Law"

Oh the pumpkin red, on the gourd decayed,
I am my father's mischievous maid;
I am my brother's dear little sister;
I am my sister-in-law's fly-blister.
Father, when I marry, what will you give?
A box and a ward-robe you shall receive.
Mother, when I marry, what will you bring?
A little work-basket full of everything.
Brother, when I marry, what will come from you?
A fancy cloth towel; think that will do?
My happiness, sister, you will not mar?
I'll give a broken bottle and a little smashed jar,
And send you, you nuisance, away very far.

No thorough study of Chinese child life can be made until the wall of Chinese exclusiveness is broken down and the homes of the East are thrown open to the people of the West. Glimpses of that life, however, are available, sufficient in number and character to give a fairly good idea of what it must be. The playground is by no means always hidden, lease of all when it is the street. The Chinese nurse brings her Chinese rhymes, stories, and games into the foreigner's home for the amusement of its little ones. Chinese kindergarten methods and appliances have no superior in their ingenuity and their ability to interest, as well as to instruct. In the matter of traveling shows and jugglers also, no country is better supplied, and these are chiefly for the entertainment of the little ones.

To the careful observer of these different phases it becomes apparent that the Chinese child is well supplied with methods of exercise and amusement, also that he has much in common with the children of other lands. A large collection of toys shows many duplicates of those common in the West, and from the nursery rhymes of at least two out of the eighteen provinces it appears that the Chinese nursery is rich in Mother Goose. As a companion to the "Chinese Mother Goose," this book seeks to show that the same sunlight fills the homes of both East and West. If it also leads their far-away mates to look upon the Chinese Boy and Girl as real little folk, human like themselves, and thus think more kindly of them, its mission will have been accomplished.