A Child's Primer Of Natural History

Herford Oliver

A Child's Primer Of Natural History

A Seal

SEE, chil-dren, the Fur-bear-ing Seal;Ob-serve his mis-di-rect-ed zeal:He dines with most ab-ste-mi-ous careOn Fish, Ice Water and Fresh AirA-void-ing cond-i-ments or spice,For fear his fur should not be niceAnd fine and smooth and soft and meetFor Broad-way or for Re-gent StreetAnd yet some-how I of-ten feel(Though for the kind Fur-bear-ing SealI har-bor a Re-spect Pro-found)

The Giraffe

SEE the Gi-raffe; he is so tallThere is not room to get him allU-pon the page. His head is high-er —The pic-ture proves it – than the Spire.That's why the na-tives, when they raceTo catch him, call it stee-ple-chase.His chief de-light it is to setA good example: shine or wetHe rises ere the break of day,And starts his break-fast right away.His food has such a way to go, —His throat's so very long, – and soAn early break-fast he must munchTo get it down ere time for lunch.

The Yak

THIS is the Yak, so neg-li-gée:His coif-fure's like a stack of hay;He lives so far from Any-where,I fear the Yak neg-lects his hair,And thinks, since there is none to see,What mat-ter how un-kempt he be.How would he feel if he but knewThat in this Pic-ture-book I drewHis Phys-i-og-no-my un-shorn,For chil-dren to de-ride and scorn?

A Whale

THE con-sci-en-tious art-ist triesOn-ly to draw what meets his eyes.This is the Whale; he seems to beA spout of wa-ter in the sea.Now, Hux-ley from one bone could makeAn un-known beast; so if I takeThis spout of wa-ter, and from thenceCon-struct a Whale by in-fer-ence,A Whale, I ven-ture to as-sert,Must be an an-i-mat-ed squirt!Thus, chil-dren, we the truth may siftBy use of Log-ic's Price-less Gift.

The Leopard

THIS is the Le-o-pard, my child;His tem-per's any-thing but mild.The Le-o-pard can't change his spots,And that – so say the Hot-ten-tots —Is why he is so wild.Year in, year out, he may not change,No mat-ter how the wea-ther range,From cold to hot. No won-der, child,We hear the Le-o-pard is wild.

The Sloth

THE Sloth en-joys a life of Ease;He hangs in-vert-ed from the trees,And views life up-side down.If you, my child, are noth-ing loathTo live in In-dol-ence and Sloth,Un-heed-ing the World's frown,You, too, un-vexed by Toil and Strife,May take a hu-mor-ous view of life.

The Elephant

THIS is the El-e-phant, who livesWith but one aim – to please.His i-vo-ry tusk he free-ly givesTo make pi-a-no keys.One grief he has – how-e'er he tries,He nev-er can for-getThat one of his e-nor-mous sizeCan't be a house-hold pet.Then does he to his grief give way,Or sink 'neath sor-row's ban?Oh, no; in-stead he spends each dayCon-tri-ving some un-sel-fish wayTo be of use to Man.

The Pig-Pen

OH, turn not from the hum-ble Pig,My child, or think him in-fra dig.We oft hear lit-er-a-ry menBoast of the in-flu-ence of the Pen;Yet when we read in His-to-ry's PageOf Hu-man Pigs in ev-er-y age,From Cr[oe]sus to the pres-ent day,Is it, my child, so hard to say(De-spite the Scribes' vain-glo-ri-ous boast)What Pen has in-flu-enced Man the most?

Some Geese

EV-ER-Y child who has the useOf his sen-ses knows a goose.See them un-der-neath the treeGath-er round the goose-girl's knee,While she reads them by the hourFrom the works of Scho-pen-hau-er.How pa-tient-ly the geese at-tend!But do they re-al-ly com-pre-hendWhat Scho-pen-hau-er's driv-ing at?Oh, not at all; but what of that?Nei-ther do I; nei-ther does she;And, for that mat-ter, nor does he.

The Ant

MY child, ob-serve the use-ful Ant,How hard she works each day.She works as hard as ad-a-mant(That's very hard, they say).She has no time to gal-li-vant;She has no time to play.Let Fido chase his tail all day;Let Kitty play at tag:She has no time to throw a-way,She has no tail to wag.She scurries round from morn till night;She ne-ver, ne-ver sleeps;She seiz-es ev-ery-thing in sight,And drags it home with all her might,And all she takes she keeps.

An Arctic Hare

AN Arc-tic Hare we now be-hold.The hair, you will ob-serve, is white;But if you think the Hare is old,You will be ver-y far from right.The Hare is young, and yet the hairGrew white in but a sin-gle night.Why, then it must have been a scareThat turned this Hare. No; 't was not fright(Al-though such cases are well known);I fear that once a-gain you're wrong.Know then, that in the Arc-tic ZoneA sin-gle night is six months long.

The Wolf

OH, yes, the Wolf is bad, it's true;But how with-out him could we do?If there were not a wolf, what goodWould be the tale of RID-ING-HOOD?The Lit-tle Child from sin will flyWhen told the wick-ed Wolf is nigh;And when, ar-rived at Man's es-tate,He hears the Wolf out-side his gate,He knows it's time to put a-wayI-dle fri-vol-i-ty and play.That's how (but do not men-tion it)This prim-er hap-pened to be writ.

An Ostrich

THIS is an Os-trich. See him stand:His head is bur-ied in the sand.It is not that he seeks for food,Nor is he shy, nor is he rude;But he is sen-si-tive, and shrinksAnd hides his head when-e'er he thinksHow, on the Gains-bor-ough hat some dayOf some fine la-dy at the play,His fea-thers may ob-struct the viewOf all the stage from me or you.

The Hippopotamus

"OH, say, what is this fearful, wildIn-cor-ri-gible cuss?""This _crea-ture_ (don't say 'cuss,' my child;'T is slang) – this crea-ture fierce is styled The Hip-po-pot-am-us.His curious name de-rives its sourceFrom two Greek words: _hippos_ – a horse,_Potamos_ – river. See?The river's plain e-nough, of course;But why they called that thing a horse,That's what is Greek to me."

The Fly

OB-SERVE, my child, the House-hold Fly,With his ex-traor-di-na-ry eye:What-ev-er thing he may be-holdIs mul-ti-plied a thou-sand-fold._We_ do not need a com-plex eyeWhen we ob-serve the Household Fly:He is so vol-a-tile that heIn _ev-ery_ place at once can be;He is the buzz-ing in-car-na-tionOf an-i-mate mul-ti-pli-ca-tion.Ah! chil-dren, who can tell the WhyAnd Where-fore of the House-hold Fly?

The Mongoos

THIS, Chil-dren, is the famed Mon-goos.He has an ap-pe-tite ab-struse;Strange to re-late, this crea-ture takesA cu-ri-ous joy in eat-ing snakes —All kinds, though, it must be con-fessed,He likes the poi-son-ous ones the best.From him we learn how ve-ry smallA thing can bring a-bout a Fall.Oh, Mon-goos, where were you that dayWhen Mis-tress Eve was led a-stray?If you'd but seen the ser-pent first,Our Parents would not have been cursed,And so there would be no ex-cuseFor MIL-TON, but for you – Mon-goos!

The Platypus

MY child, the Duck-billed Plat-y-pusA sad ex-am-ple sets for us:From him we learn how In-de-ci-sionOf char-ac-ter pro-vokes De-ri-sion.This vac-il-lat-ing Thing, you see,Could not de-cide which he would be,Fish, Flesh, or Fowl, and chose all three.The sci-en-tists were sore-ly vexedTo clas-si-fy him; so per-plexedTheir brains that they, with Rage at bay,Called him a hor-rid name one day, —A name that baf-fles, frights, and shocks us, —Or-ni-tho-rhyn-chus Par-a-dox-us.

The Chimpanzee

CHIL-DREN, be-hold the Chim-pan-zee:He sits on the an-ces-tral treeFrom which we sprang in ag-es gone.I'm glad we sprang: had we held on,We might, for aught that I can say,Be hor-rid Chim-pan-zees to-day.

A Mole

SEE, chil-dren, the mis-guid-ed Mole.He lives down in a deep, dark hole;Sweet-ness, and Light, and good Fresh AirAre things for which he does not care.He has not e-ven that make-shiftOf fee-ble minds – the _so-cial gift_.But say not that he has no soul,Lest hap-ly we misjudge the Mole;Nay, if we mea-sure him by Men,No doubt he sits in his dark denIn-struct-ing oth-ers blind as heEx-act-ly how the world _should_ be.

The Rhinoceros

SO this is the Rhi-no-ce-ros!I won-der why he looks so cross.Per-haps he is an-noyed a bitBe-cause his cloth-ing does not fit.(They say he got it read-y made!)It is not that, I am a-fraid.He looks so cross be-cause I drewHim with one horn in-stead of two.Well, since he cares so much for style,Let's give him two and see him smile.

A Penguin

THE Pen-guin sits up-on the shoreAnd loves the lit-tle fish to bore;He has one en-er-vat-ing jokeThat would a very Saint pro-voke:"The Pen-guin's might-i-er than the Sword-fish";He tells this dai-ly to the bored fish,Un-til they are so weak, they floatWith-out re-sis-tance down his throat.

The Cat

OB-SERVE the Cat up-on this page.Phil-os-o-phers in ev-er-y age,The ver-y _wis-est_ of the wise,Have tried her mind to an-a-lyzeIn vain, for noth-ing can they learn.She baf-fles them at ev-er-y turnLike Mis-ter Ham-let in the play.She leads their rea-son-ing a-stray;She feigns an in-ter-est in stringOr yarn or any roll-ing thing.Un-like the Dog, she does not careWith com-mon Man her thoughts to share.She teach-es us that in life's walk'T is bet-ter to let oth-ers talk,And lis-ten while _they_ say in-steadThe fool-ish things we might have said.

The Dog

HERE is the Dog. Since time be-gan,The Dog has been the friend of MAN,The Dog loves MAN be-cause he shearsHis coat and clips his tail and ears.MAN loves the Dog be-cause he'll stayAnd lis-ten to his talk all day,And wag his tail and show de-lightAt all his jokes, how-ev-er trite.His bark is far worse than his bite,So peo-ple say. They may be right;Yet if to make a choice I had,I'd choose his bark, how-ev-er bad.

A Chameleon

A USE-FUL les-son you may con,My Child, from the Cha-me-le-on:He has the gift, ex-treme-ly rareIn an-i-mals, of sav-oir-faire.And if the se-cret you would guessOf the Cha-me-le-on's suc-cess,

[Transcriber's Note: In this file, the ligatured oe character is represented by "[oe]".]