Poem by Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards

Some Families of My Acquaintance

The Rummy-jums, the Rummy-jums,
    Are very funny people;
(Very, very, very, very,
    Very funny people!)
They run as hard as they can go,
    And clamber up the steeple;
(Clamber-climber, climber-clamber,
    Clamber up the steeple!)
And when they get up to the top,
They say, "Good gracious, we must stop!"
And turn about with grief and pain,
And clamber-climber down again.
 
The Viddipocks, the Viddipocks,
    Have very pretty bonnets;
(Very, very, very, very,
    Very pretty bonnets!)
And when they wear them upside down
    They write most lovely sonnets;
(Lovely-dovely, dovely-lovely,
    Lovely-dovely sonnets!)
And sitting on the new-mown hay,
They wirble-warble all the day;
"For oh," they say, "at such a time,
Our very ribbons flow in rhyme!"
 
The Wiggle-wags, the Wiggle-wags,
    They never know their mind, sir;
(Never, never, never, never,
    Never know their mind, sir!)
Sometimes they hook their frocks before,
   (Hook them, crook them, crook them, hook them,
    Hook them up behind, sir!)
And first they turn them inside out,
Then outside-inside with a shout;
"For oh," they say, "there's no one knows
Which way the most our beauty shows!"

1. Prince Tatters
2. Jeremi' and Josephine
3. After a Visit to the Natural History Museum
4. Dog-Gerel
5. Bird Song

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