Giant and the star : little annals in rhyme / by Madison Cawein [electronic text]
About this Item
Title
Giant and the star : little annals in rhyme / by Madison Cawein [electronic text]
Author
Cawein, Madison Julius, 1865-1914
Publication
Boston: Small, Maynard & Company
1909
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"Giant and the star : little annals in rhyme / by Madison Cawein [electronic text]." In the digital collection American Verse Project. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/BAH7915.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 7, 2024.
Pages
descriptionPage 70
RAGAMUFFIN
I
THERE's a boy that you must know,Always ragged, dirty too;Just a wretched sight and show —Worst boy that I ever knew;Always hitting other boysSmaller than himself. AnnoysPeople, too, by throwing stones.Breaks more windows! that's his game. —Some one ought to break his bones.— Ragamuffin is his name.
Ragamuffin, Ragamuffin!Some day some one 'll knock the stuffin'Out of you and then, perhaps,You won't bully little chaps.
II
Never goes to school, but playsHookey all the time. — His hatSlouched like some old drunken batReeling through the evening haze,
descriptionPage 71
Here he loafs and tries to scareLittle girls; yes, pulls their hair,While he mouths at them and jeers:Chews tobacco, too, the same As these ragged grasshoppers. —Ragamuffin is his name.
Ragamuffin, Ragamuffin!Some day you'll go home a-snuffin':Some big brother's going to fixYou for all your loafer tricks.
III
And at night he comes around,Prying in the windows whenChildren are alone: and thenKnocks and makes a dreadful sound,Like a robber getting in;Scares them till it is a sin,Looking fierce as robbers do,Cursing till it is a shame:It would even frighten you. —Ragamuffin is his name.
Ragamuffin, Ragamuffin!You had better quit your bluffin';Watchman sure will cross your trail,Catch and lock you up in jail.
descriptionPage 72
IV
But the worst thing that he does,So I think, is poking fun At poor beggars; never a oneBeggarly or villanousAs himself is. And he laughs,Fit to kill, and apes and chaffsEvery cripple: lies in waitJust to mock: pretends he's lame:Jeers then, "Say! why ain't you straight?"—Ragamuffin is his name.
Ragamuffin, Ragamuffin!Some day you will get a cuffin';Man will kill you with a crutch—Hey! we would n't miss you much.
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