A Child's Primer Of Natural History   By: Oliver Herford (1863-1935)

By Oliver Herford with Pictures by the Author

Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1899

Copyright 1899, by Oliver Herford

CONTENTS

A Seal The Giraffe The Yak A Whale The Leopard The Sloth The Elephant The Pig Pen Some Geese The Ant An Arctic Hare The Wolf An Ostrich The Hippopotamus The Fly The Mongoos The Platypus The Chimpanzee A Mole The Rhinoceros A Penguin The Cat The Dog A Chameleon

A Seal.

SEE, chil dren, the Fur bear ing Seal; Ob serve his mis di rect ed zeal: He dines with most ab ste mi ous care On Fish, Ice Water and Fresh Air A void ing cond i ments or spice, For fear his fur should not be nice And fine and smooth and soft and meet For Broad way or for Re gent Street And yet some how I of ten feel (Though for the kind Fur bear ing Seal I har bor a Re spect Pro found)

The Giraffe.

SEE the Gi raffe; he is so tall There is not room to get him all U pon the page. His head is high er The pic ture proves it than the Spire. That's why the na tives, when they race To catch him, call it stee ple chase. His chief de light it is to set A good example: shine or wet He rises ere the break of day, And starts his break fast right away. His food has such a way to go, His throat's so very long, and so An early break fast he must munch To get it down ere time for lunch.

The Yak.

THIS is the Yak, so neg li gée: His coif fure's like a stack of hay; He lives so far from Any where, I fear the Yak neg lects his hair, And thinks, since there is none to see, What mat ter how un kempt he be. How would he feel if he but knew That in this Pic ture book I drew His Phys i og no my un shorn, For chil dren to de ride and scorn?

A Whale.

THE con sci en tious art ist tries On ly to draw what meets his eyes. This is the Whale; he seems to be A spout of wa ter in the sea. Now, Hux ley from one bone could make An un known beast; so if I take This spout of wa ter, and from thence Con struct a Whale by in fer ence, A Whale, I ven ture to as sert, Must be an an i mat ed squirt! Thus, chil dren, we the truth may sift By use of Log ic's Price less Gift.

The Leopard.

THIS is the Le o pard, my child; His tem per's any thing but mild. The Le o pard can't change his spots, And that so say the Hot ten tots Is why he is so wild. Year in, year out, he may not change, No mat ter how the wea ther range, From cold to hot. No won der, child, We hear the Le o pard is wild.

The Sloth.

THE Sloth en joys a life of Ease; He hangs in vert ed from the trees, And views life up side down. If you, my child, are noth ing loath To live in In dol ence and Sloth, Un heed ing the World's frown, You, too, un vexed by Toil and Strife, May take a hu mor ous view of life.

The Elephant.

THIS is the El e phant, who lives With but one aim to please. His i vo ry tusk he free ly gives To make pi a no keys. One grief he has how e'er he tries, He nev er can for get That one of his e nor mous size Can't be a house hold pet. Then does he to his grief give way, Or sink 'neath sor row's ban? Oh, no; in stead he spends each day Con tri ving some un sel fish way To be of use to Man.

The Pig Pen.

OH, turn not from the hum ble Pig, My child, or think him in fra dig. We oft hear lit er a ry men Boast of the in flu ence of the Pen; Yet when we read in His to ry's Page Of Hu man Pigs in ev er y age, From Cr[oe] sus to the pres ent day, Is it, my child, so hard to say (De spite the Scribes' vain glo ri ous boast) What Pen has in flu enced Man the most?