The Rainbow and the Rose
E. Nesbit
eBook
(, May 24, 2016)
*This Book is annotated (it contains a detailed biography of the author). *An active Table of Contents has been added by the publisher for a better customer experience. *This book has been checked and corrected for spelling errors.NOW that I've nearly done my days, And grown too stiff to sweep or sew, I sit and think, till I'm amaze, About what lots of things I know: Things as I've found out one by one-- And when I'm fast down in the clay, My knowing things and how they're done Will all be lost and thrown away. There's things, I know, as won't be lost, Things as folks write and talk about: The way to keep your roots from frost, And how to get your ink spots out. What medicine's good for sores and sprains, What way to salt your butter down, What charms will cure your different pains, And what will bright your faded gown. But more important things than these, They can't be written in a book: How fast to boil your greens and peas, And how good bacon ought to look; The feel of real good wearing stuff, The kind of apple as will keep, The look of bread that's rose enough, And how to get a child asleep. Whether the jam is fit to pot, Whether the milk is going to turn, Whether a hen will lay or not, Is things as some folks never learn. I know the weather by the sky, I know what herbs grow in what lane; And if sick men are going to die, Or if they'll get about again. Young wives come in, a-smiling, grave, With secrets that they itch to tell: I know what sort of times they'll have, And if they'll have a boy or gell. And if a lad is ill to bind, Or some young maid is hard to lead, I know when you should speak 'em kind,And when it's scolding as they need.