My grandpa is the finest
Excep' my pa.
My grandpa
Make kites an' carts an' lots of
You pull along the ground with strings,
And he knows all the names of birds,
And how they call 'thout using words,
And where they live and what they eat,
And how they build their nests so neat.
He's lots of fun!
Sometimes all
He comes to visit me and play.
You see he's getting old, and
To work he doesn't have to go,
And when it isn't raining,
Drops in to have some fun with me.
He takes my hand and we go
And everything we talk about.
He tells me how God makes the trees,
And why it hurts to pick up bees.
Sometimes he stops and shows to
The place where fairies used to be;
And then he tells me stories, too,
And I am sorry when he's through.
When I am asking him for
He says: "Why there's a candy store!
Let's us go there and see if
Have got the kind we like to-day."Then when we get back home my
Says: "You are spoiling Buddy,
Pa."My grandpa is my mother's pa,
I guess that's what all grandpas are.
And sometimes ma, all smiles, will say:"You didn't always act that way.
When I was little, then you
That children should be sent to
And not allowed to rule the
And lead old folks a merry chase."And grandpa laughs and says: "That's true,
That's what I used to say to you.
It is a father's place to
The young the way that they should go,
But grandpas have a different task,
Which is to get them all they ask."When I get big and old and grayI'm going to spend my time in play;
I'm going to be a grandpa, too,
And do as all the grandpas do.
I'll buy my daughter's children
Like horns and drums and tops with strings,
And tell them all about the
And frogs and fish and birds and
And fairies in the shady
And tales of giants, too, and
They beg of me for just one more,
I'll take them to the candy store;
I'll buy them everything they
The way my grandpa does for me.
This version taken from Just Folks by Edgar A
Published by The Reilly & Lee Co.,
Chicago,
Pages 72-74
