A Boy's Mother

: RHYMES CONCERNING "MOTHER"
: Boys And Girls Bookshelf

BY JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY



My mother she's so good to me,

Ef I was good as I could be,

I couldn't be as good--no, sir!--

Can't any boy be good as her.



She loves me when I'm glad er sad;

She loves me when I'm good er bad;

An', what's a funniest thing, she says

She loves me when she punishes.



I don't like her to punish me--

That don't hurt--but it hurts to see

Her cryin'.--Nen I cry; an' nen

We both cry an' be good again.



She loves me when she cuts an' sews

My little cloak an' Sund'y clothes;

An' when my Pa comes home to tea,

She loves him 'most as much as me.



She laughs an' tells him all I said,

An' grabs me up an' pats my head;

An' I hug her, an' hug my Pa,

An' love him purt' nigh much as Ma.



[O] From "Rhymes of Childhood," by James Whitcomb Riley. Used by special

permission of the publishers. The Bobbs-Merrill Company.



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