Mother Earth's Children

Perhaps it’s only tan, you know
I do run out bareheaded so!”

MR. Green Tea comes from Japan,
He’s such a wrinkled little man;
He says: “My tea is very nice,
Will you have sugar, milk or ice?”

BARLEY’S a bearded gentleman,
He wears a suit of golden tan;
Though he has homes both east and west
He loves the prairie lands the best.

“I DINNA care,” said bluff Scotch Oat,
“For dinner at a table d’hote;
A bowl of porridge and some tea,
At home, are good enough for me.”

“I’LL be grown up,” said Caraway,
“And out of school Thanksgiving Day;
That’s a good thing, too, ’cause you see,
They can’t make cookies without me.”

“OUR family’s not hard to suit,”
Said Mrs. Peach. “We’re simple fruit;
We like most any kind of weather
If the sun shines, and we’re together.”

HICKORY Nut looks rough and rude,
Although at heart he’s very good.
If once you get inside his shell
You’re sure to like him very well.

SAID Cactus: “On the desert wild
I used to be a naughty child,
But since I went to Burbank’s school,
I’m good, and live by Golden Rule.”

“THE boys all call me ‘Nigger Toe,’”
Brazil Nut said; “I think I’ll go
Back to Brazil; ’t would serve them right
And teach them to be more polite.”

COCOANUT has a funny face,
Eyes, nose and mouth all in one place;
He’s always busy selling milk,
While Mrs. Cocoanut makes silk.

SAID Mrs. Peanut, in a flutter,
“I quite forgot to salt the butter;”
The little Peanut children said:
“Why then, Mama, we’ll salt the bread.”

SAID Chestnut: “I work for my living
I stuff the turkey on Thanksgiving.
On winter days I work down town;
You’ll know me by my coat of brown.”

PERSIMMON said: “I’m up so high
I can reach out and touch the sky.”
Bre’r Possum said: “Don’t reach too far,
You might put out a shining star.”

SAID Mr. Gourd: “You’ll plainly see
We are a busy family;
We give you bottles, cups and things,
And curly vines for playtime rings.”

LITTLE, wise, home-loving Truffle
Never lets his temper ruffle;
His home is just beneath the ground,
And there he always may be found.

WILD Grape just loves to run away
And in the green woods climb and play;
You’ll know him when among the trees
His fragrant blossoms scent the breeze.

THOUGH Miss Grape Fruit is very young
Her praises are on every tongue;
And though she travels everywhere
She has a very modest air.

THE Lemons every summer go
In groups to see the Wild West Show;
Come rain or shine, they never stay
At home on any circus day.

MISS Cotton is a fairy queen
In her white dress all trimmed with green;
To other children everywhere
She sends such pretty clothes to wear.

MISS Orange said: “I’d like to know
Those pretty mountain girls called ‘Snow;’”
“Don’t,” said her Dad, “or we are lost;
They’re relatives of Sir Jack Frost.”

MISS Beechnut wears a pretty bonnet
With little fuzzy feathers on it.