Heinrich Hoffmann

Here is cruel Frederick, see! A horrid wicked boy was he; He caught the flies, poor little things,

Now Minnie was a pretty girl, Her hair so gracefully did curl; She had a slender figure, too,

When the children have been good, That is, be it understood, Good at meal-times, good at play,

This Phoebe Ann was a very proud girl, Her nose had always an upward curl. She thought herself better than all others beside,

Just look at him! there he stands, With his nasty hair and hands. See! his nails are never cut;

Betsy would never wash herself When from her bed she rose, But just as quickly as she could

I never saw a girl or boy So prone as Sophie to destroy Whate'er she laid her hands upon,

"Oh, why are you always so bitterly crying? You surely will make yourself blind. What reason on earth for such sobbing and sighing,

It almost makes me cry to tell What foolish Harriet befell. Mamma and Nurse went out one day

Mamma and Nurse went out one day, And left Pauline alone at play; Around the room she gayly sprang,

Oh! how this Mary loved to eat,-- It was her chief delight; She would have something, sour or sweet,

The little girls whom now you'll see Were sisters in one family; And both enjoyed an equal share

Augustus was a chubby lad; Fat ruddy cheeks Augustus had: And everybody saw with joy

"Let me see if Philip can Be a little gentleman; Let me see if he is able

When the rain comes tumbling down In the country or the town, All good little girls and boys

As he trudged along to school, It was always Johnny's rule To be looking at the sky

One day Mamma said "Conrad dear, I must go out and leave you here. But mind now, Conrad, what I say,

"I pray you now, my little child," Thus once a kind old lady Spoke to her niece in accents mild,

As he had often done before, The woolly-headed Black-a-moor One nice fine summer's day went out

This is the man that shoots the hares; This is the coat he always wears: With game-bag, powder-horn, and gun

"Here, Charlotte," said Mamma one day. "These stockings knit while I'm away, And should you fail, be sure you'll find