Entered accorning to Act of Congress, in the year 1833, by MUNROE & FRANCIS, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts.

BOSTON:

J. S. LOCKE & COMPANY,

187-2

Jur 1870.

HEAR WHAT MA'AM GOOSE SAYS!

My dear little Blossoms, there are now in this world, and always
will be, a great many grannies besides myself, both in petticoats and
pantaloons, soine a deal younger to be sure; but all monstrous wise,
and of my own family name. These old women, who never had
chick nor child of their own, but who always know how to bring up
other people's children, will tell you with very long faces, that my
enchanting, quieting, soothing volume, my all-sufficient anodyne for
cross, peevish, won't-be-comforted little bairns, ought to be laid aside
for more learned books, such as they could select and publish.
Fudge! I tell you that all their batterings can't deface my beauties,
nor their wis e pratings equal my wiser prattlings; and all imitators
of my refreshing songs might as well write a new Billy Shakespeare
as another Mother Goose: we two great poets were born together,
and we shall go out of the world together

No, no, my Melodies will never die,
While nurses sing. or babies cry.

HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY

FROM THE FAMILY OF

GHARLES CLIOT NORTON

NOVEMBER 16, 1927

[Copyright secured.]

HISTORY OF THE GOOSE FAMILY.

[From the Boston Transcript.]

COTTON MATHER AND MOTHER GOOSE.

Mr. Editor:-Your correspondent, N. B. S., has so decisively given a quietus to the question as to the birth place of Cotton Mather, that there is no danger of its ever being revived again. But there is another question of equal importance to many, to the literary world in particular, which should in like manner be put to rest. Who was Mother Goose? and when were her melodies first given to the world? These are questions which have been often asked, but have never been satisfactorily answered. The recent publication of a book called "Mother Goose for Old Folks" has again