Complete Works of L. Frank Baum, page 876
And oft his bill of fare.
L stands for the Lieutenant,
Each company has two.
The Captain orders them around,
And bullies them, tis true;
But they in turn, can nag the men,
And so of course they do.
M represents the Medal won
By heroes brave and true;
Tis pinned upon the soldier’s breast
For all the world to view.
A mark of manly courage,
But worn by very few.
N represents the Red Cross Nurse,
Her name all soldiers bless;
Mid shot and shell she bravely walks
With skill their wounds to dress.
Gentle alike to friend or foe,
All love and tenderness.
O represents the Orderly,
Who dashes to and fro
And swiftly carries the command
To charge upon the foe.
He’s quite a useful fellow, but
Is scolded if he’s slow.
P represents the Prisoner,
A luckless man is he;
For he is seized and marched away
Into captivity,
And cannot fight again until
His captor sets him free.
Q stands for the Quartermaster
Tis he who deals our food
And medicines and clothing
And many things as good.
He’s very kind to soldiers,
When he is in the mood.
R represents the Rifle grim
Which all the soldiers shoot.
When they are marching on parade
The rifles voice is mute.
When war is rife, the rifle’s strife
Will make the cowards scoot.
S represents the glist’ning Sword
That every Captain wears.
Tis in its sheath in times of peace
In war aloft he bears
The gleaming blade, and sore afraid
Is every foe he scares.
T represents the Tent so white
In which the soldier sleeps,
While just outside throughout the night,
A watch the sentry keeps,
To see no prowling enemy
Upon the sleeper creeps.
U represents the Uniform
So handsome and so gay,
That ev’ry dashing soldier wears
In his own jaunty way.
No wonder ev’ry maiden’s eyes
Upon the soldier stray.
V represents the Volunteer,
In front you’ll always find him,
Defending well his country’s cause,
For every day reminds him
Of mother, home and oftentimes,
“The girl he left behind him.”
W is the Wagon train
That carries the supplies
Of food and ammunition
To where the army lies.
Sometimes tis captured by the foe
When taken by surprise.
X represents the Xalatin,
A trumpeter is he;
He wakes the soldier in the morn
With tuneful reveille,
Or calls to arms,
Or sounds the charge,
Or toots the jubilee.
Y represents the Yankee-yell
That stands for victory.
On ev’ry foe it works a spell
Which causes him to flee
Before the might of those who dwell
In this land of the free.
Z represents the fierce Zouvave,
No power can him withstand.
The way he rushes on the foe
Is wonderful and grand;
And, ev’ry time he fights, his life
He carries in his hand.
And now we hope all boys and girls,
And men and women too,
Will look with love and reverence
Upon our boys in blue,
For nation never army had
Of men more brave or true.
THE NAVY ALPHABET
A companion to The Army Alphabet also published by George M. Hill in 1900, The Navy Alphabet combines full-color illustrations by Harry Kennedy, depicting Navy life aboard ship with L. Frank Baum’s patriotic rhymes.
A first edition copy of The Navy Alphabet
The original title page
The Navy Alphabet
A. Here is the ADMIRAL, gallant and true,
Lord of the Navy in peace or in war;
Warrior, sailor and diplomat, too;
Winning our battles in countries afar.
Grand is the Admiral, great is his fame.
Favors and riches are his to command.
Ev’ry American honors his name —
Victor at sea and a hero on land!
B. Here we see the BULWARKS stout
That fend the ship all round about
And shelter all within.
For when confronted by the foe
Our men can duck their heads below
The Bulwarks’ rim, and thus, you know.
More calmly wander to and fro
Amid the battle’s din.
C. This noble ship’s a CRUISER.
She’s armored for the fray;
The Admiral loves to use her
For missions far away,
To cruise in ev’ry foreign sea
Our commerce to protect,
And guard our Nations dignity
From any disrespect.
D. A View of the DECK this fine picture presents;
On shipboard a deck is of great consequence;
For each sailors standing throughout the whole fleet
Must surely depend on the deck ‘neath his feet.
It gives him a footing that nothing else can,
Supporting his claim as a seafaring man.
And, when it is needful our foemen to cheek,
American sailors are always on deck.
E. Now gaze on the ENSIGN so charming
Don’t notice his frown so alarming;
He’s really as mild as a well behaved child,
And none would be willingly harming.
His uniform gladdens his heart.
For he Knows it’s becoming and smart;
The ladies all pet him, and straightway forget him
As soon as he’s forced to depart.
F. This is the FOKESEL of the ship,
Wherein the sailors live
And pass the time with jest or quip
Or dreamy narrative.
The seamen swing their hammocks there
And slumber peacefully,
For sailors seldom have a care
While they are safe at sea.
G. Hurrah for the GUNNER! the Navy’s pride
Stalwart and faithful when wars betide.
Before his calm and deadly aim
Warships crumble or burst aflame
Or, foundering, soon find their graves
Beneath the cold, engulfing waves.
Trains he the cannon, which belch and thunder,
Filling our foemen with fear and wonder.
H. The HALYARDS of a warship raise
The signal — flags apeak,
For thus the Admiral displays
The words he cannot speak.
And every ship the message sees
And answers the command
By fluttering signals in the breeze
To show they understand.
I. The sturdy IRONCLAD has plates
Of tempered steel upon her side,
And, armored thus, the foe awaits
In conscious power and fearless pride.
Though shot and shell upon her rain
It quickly glances off again;
And nothing can her crew alarm,
Protected thus from every harm.
J. The JACKEY on a man-o-war
Can scarce be called a “jolly tar.”
When all the decks he has to scrub,
And all the metal trimmings rub,
And do the work about the ship
Without an error or a slip.
But when at last his task is done
The Jackey’s always full of fun.
K. Tis the pride of all our Navy
How the KEARSARGE fought, one day.
With the warship Alabama —
And was victor in the fray.
Many years she sailed thereafter,
Until wrecked by fate’s decree
Now she lies full fifty fathoms
‘Neath the Caribbean Sea.
L. The LIGHTHOUSE throws its piercing ray
Across the sea for miles away,
Warning all ships upon the deep
From treach’rous shoals and reefs to keep.
It guides them into harbor fair
By reason of its steady glare,
And so the Lighthouse proves a friend
Our ships and sailors to defend.
M. On deck the MARINE is most visually seen,
Patrolling his beat with a dignified mein.
His courage is vaulted
In song and in story,
He’s brave and undaunted
And hungers for glory.
And thus the Marine, ever watchful and keen,
Is a warrior-sailor both proud and serene.
N. The NAVAL CADET isn’t rated, as yet,
As sailor in more than an amateur way
But if he Keeps training, and knowledge keeps gaining
He’ll be in a way to surprise us someday.
If seamen are made--and they are, it is said,
For “born” ones must study to master the trade-
This young Cadet’s thriving will come with his striving,
He’ll fight for his epaulets, all undismayed.
O. Across the OCEAN vast and blue
Our warships plow the billows through
To guard our Colonies afar
And carry aid in time of war
They sail to fair Manila from
The sunny little Isle of Guam,
And then from Porto Rican blooms
To where Hawaii grandly looms.
P. The naughty PIRATE, fierce and bold.
Oft sailed the seas in times of old
To seize our ships, and climb aboard
With marlin-spike and Knife and sword.
And then he whacked, and cut and hacked
Until the helpless ship was sacked.
But now no Pirates over-run
Our seas, we’ve conquered everyone,
Q. The QUARTER-DECK is sacred to
The officers, but not the crew
And even’mid a fight or wreck
The captain walks the Quarter-deck
And yells his orders to the men,
Who cry “aye, aye, sir!” back again.
And so the place of dignity —
Is on the Quarter-deck, you see.
R. This is the RUDDER that steers the ship
And makes it go this way and that.
It guides the Keel with never a slip
And points out the course quick as scat.
Woe to the ship if the Rudder breaks!
The vessel is then “all at sea”,
Rolling and hitching, tossing and -pitching
In manner both awkward and free.
S. The STERN of the ship is the last thing that goes
Out of the harbor, as everyone knows.
‘Tis also the last thing to ever return
(A singular habit acquired by the Stern).
‘Tis a lovable thing, as all must agree,
The Rudder’s attached to it strongly, you see;
And the name of each ship, in letters quite bold,
Appears on the Stern for us to behold.
T. TORPEDOES arc missiles quite sure to affright
The stoutest of foes when they enter a fight.
They’re loaded with powder and fierce dynamite
And shaped like a tube-long and slim.
They’re fired from Torpedo-Boats full at the foe,
And when they explode carry havoc and woe
And send the ship, shattered and torn, down below,
Where only the fishes can swim.
U. The Navy’s flag is the UNION JACK,
It flies from the bow of the boat;
While high at the stern, and farther back,
Our Stars and Stripes must float
The Union Jack is of royal blue
With a star for ev’ry State,
And when these clustered stars we view
We Know why we are great.
V. Our Navy wins a VICTORY
Wherever it may fight.
No matter who our enemy,
Our cause is always right.
Unconquered ever on the sea
To us all lands defer.
And none would ever willingly
Our Nations ire bestir.
W. Did you ever see a sailor-man WIG-WAGGING?
You’d think that he some railway train was flagging;
For he waves a flag’ in air
And wig-wags it here and there.
Yet making ev’ry movement with the greatest care.
He’s waving secret signals to the ships near by,
And captains with their telescopes his signals spy;
For well they know what all the movements signify
X. The XEBEC is a clumsy boat,
Although, of course the thing can float.
Its sails are square, and many say
The Corsairs trimmed their boats that way
And carried men to slavery
In countries far across the sea.
We seldom see a Xebec now —
The slave-trade’s ended, anyhow.
Y. The YARD-ARMS were designed to hold
The sails on men-of-war of old,
When ships were “square-rigged fore and aft’’
As boys in our time rig a raft.
‘Tis said, and maybe it is true,
That pirates o’er the Yard-Arm threw
A rope, and hanged their victims there--
A crime that now they’d never dare.
Z. When ships sail in the Torrid ZONE
They often find themselves alone;
For ships are sailed most frequently
In pleasant Temperate Zones, you see.
The Frigid Zone of ships is bare.
Unless exploiters wander there;
And if they do they often stay
Because they cannot get away.
&. AND now although our book is nearly done,
And all the Verse and all the sober fun
Is written down for you to plainly read,
We hope this final sentiment you’ll heed;
Americans may feel a loyal pride
In Army, Statesmen, Trade, and much beside;
But when on high our Union jack’s unfurled
It marks the Finest Navy in the World!
FATHER GOOSE’S YEAR BOOK
Father Goose’s Year Book: Quaint Quacks and Feathered Shafts for Mature Children, published by Reilly & Britton in 1907, tried to capitalize on Baum’s success with his earlier collection, Father Goose: His Book. Although in a similar vein, Baum aimed these humorous nonsense poems at adult readers, not children. Walter J. Enright provided the illustrations. He was the husband of Maginel Wright Enright, who illustrated a few other works by Baum, and father of Elizabeth Enright, illustrator and popular children’s author.
A first edition copy of ‘Father Goose’s Year Book’
CONTENTS
JANUARY
FEBRUARY
MARCH
APRIL
MAY
A SPRING TRAGEDY
JUNE
A TERRIBLE TALE
JULY
THE OLD, OLD STORY
AUGUST
SONG OF A SAILOR
FARM HINTS
SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER
THINK IT OVER
OCT 31st
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER
HARD TO SUIT
RECKLESS NOAH
The original title page
PREFACE
The author disclaims any endeavor to be sensible — or even clever — in this book. You’ll understand why, when you read it. The cleverest people I know of are my readers, so I have only usurped about half of the book for my own cackle and left the other half blank, that the proud possessor of it may indite his or her own effusions on the nice clean paper and then discover how much better those paragraphs read than my own do. The contrast should make you very proud.
This is a Year Book. It is good for any year that happens. If you fill up the pages in your own way, the book will positively be all write. If you don’t, half of it will be all right, anyhow; but I won’t say which half it will be. Father Goose is supposed to be jolly and irresponsible. He insists on being happy himself and wants the world to be happy with him. If anything at all cynical has crept into these verses he declares that he is innocent of intentional pessimism.
Yours for fun,
L. F. B. Goose.
JANUARY
This is the month the skaters glide —
Yo, ho! they merrily go!
Over the glistening ice they slide
Skimming the ponds both far and wide
With shouts — yo, ho!
With cheeks aglow,
Heedless of wind, or storm or snow —
Yo, ho! they merrily go!
Tom, Tom, the piper’s son,
Stole a pig and away he run;
Which is proof enough, ‘tis true,
Tommy couldn’t be a Jew.
If a Coon, I’m sure that then
He’d have gone and stole a hen;
If in politics, you’d find
He’d have stole the people blind;
If a Parson, on my soul
I believe he’d wear the stole!
The man who does things by halves may
expect no quarter. There’s some cents
in this.
He:
“Mistress Mary, quite contrary,
What’ll your luncheon be?
Is it to beans
Thy fancy leans?”
She:
