Chapter I

Books Designed and Illustrated
By Robert Seaver

YE BUTCHER, YE BAKER, YE CANDLESTICK-MAKER. By Robert Seaver. With
wood-cut illustrations. 16mo, 50 cents, _net_. Postage 5 cents.

FAITHLESS NELLY GRAY. By Thomas Hood. Illustrated with old-fashioned
cuts. Square 18mo, 50 cents, _net_. Postage 5 cents.

THE DIVERTING HISTORY OF JOHN GILPIN. By William Cowper. With
wood-cut illustrations. Square 18mo, 50 cents, _net_. Postage 5
cents.

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
Boston and New York

Ye Butcher, Ye Baker,
Ye Candlestick-Maker

Ye Butcher, Ye Baker,
Ye Candlestick-Maker

Being Sundry Amusing and Instructive
VERSES for both Old and Young.
Adorned with Numerous Woodcuts

By ROBERT SEAVER

BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
The Riverside Press Cambridge
1908

COPYRIGHT 1908 BY ROBERT SEAVER

All Rights Reserved

TO
Roberta

Ye Contents

YE HOUSEWIFE 12

YE BAKER 14

YE DOCTOR 16

YE TOWN CRIER 18

YE TYTHINGMAN 20

YE PIRATE 22

YE PEDAGOGUE 24

YE CHEMIST 26

YE MERCHANT 28

YE PRINTER 30

YE BREWER 32

YE ROBBER 34

YE TAILOR 36

YE CHANDLER 38

YE STUDENT 40

YE HUSBANDMAN 42

YE JESTER 44

Ye Butcher, Ye Baker, Ye Candlestick-Maker

Ye Housewife

Ye Housewife in her kitchen white,
She scours ye pots and pans;
She kneads ye bread, and bakes it too,
With ever busy hands.
Ye children she sends off to school,
And then doth sew and darn,
And knits ye goodman mitts and hose
Of honest homespun yarn.
Yet though she toileth all ye day,
She hath no cause to fret:
Ye Adversary hath not made
Ye Modern Servant yet.

Ye Baker

Ye school-boy on his way to school
Ye bake-shop doth espy,
Where men of gingerbread in state
With eyes of currants lie.
Ye good-wife takes her Sunday roast
Where his great ovens yawn,
And fragrant odors fill ye air
At noon, and night, and morn.
All this was many years ago,
Before Ye Canner came,
With Fifty-nine Varieties
To advertise his name.

Ye Doctor

Ye Doctor, on his faithful nag,
Rides all ye country round,
And in his saddlebags great store
Of physic may be found.
He cups and bleeds with right good will,
With pill and drench doth ply,
Until his patient must get well,
Unless he first doth die.
Ye ancient steed is seen no more,
Ye doctor telephones
An absent treatment, or, perchance,
Manipulates ye bones.

Ye Town Crier

Ye Crier walks all over town
And loudly rings his bell,
And to ye gaping villagers
His messages doth tell.
Ye child that’s strayed, ye auction sale,
Ye good news and ye ill,
He cries it forth upon ye street,
And all may hear who will.
Ye Crier he hath gone his way,
And for him oft we grieve
When papers print so many things
Nobody can believe.

Ye Tythingman

Ye Tythingman, that watchful one,
He doth ye order keep,
In church he walketh up ye aisle
To see who goes to sleep.
And when he spyeth one who nods,
He riseth in his might,
And with his rod right lustily
Doth rap ye luckless wight.
But now ye tythingman hath found
His duties few and small,
For those who go keep wide awake,
Ye rest go not at all.

Ye Pirate

Ye Pirate sails ye briny deep:
Ye Jolly Roger flies
In search of some rich galleon
To make a goodly prize.
His motley crew of murderous mien
Are rovers bold and free,
And sailors tremble at his name
When they put forth to sea.
Ye pirate now stays safe ashore,
And authors rate him when
He robs ye good ship “Copyright”
Of thoughts of brighter men.

Ye Pedagogue

Ye Pedagogue, that learned man,
He rules ye district school,
And every day he doth instil
Ye youth with learning full.
Ye Rule of Three he doth explain
Unto his listening class,
And ye three R’s he doth expound
Unto each youth and lass.
Each day he doth discharge full well
Ye duties of his station,
And never has a Theory
On Higher Education.

Ye Chemist

Ye Chemist fills his little shop
With drugs of fearsome smell,
He weigheth out ye ipecac
And eke ye calomel.
Ye herbs he gathered in ye fall
Hang on his beams to dry,
And they are nauseous to ye taste
And dusty to ye eye.
Ye old-time druggist, musty soul,
Was honored in his age,
Man had not reached ye College Ice
And Picture Postal stage.

Ye Merchant

Ye Merchant in his counting-room
In broadcloth fine arrayed,
He sendeth his great ships away
All in ye China trade.
And while his warehouse fills with goods
Ye merchant laughs with glee,
For in ye town who can be found
One half so rich as he?
Ye merchant of ye olden days,
No wonder that he laughed,
He nothing knew of Railway Rates,
Or High Finance, or Graft.

Ye Printer

Ye Printer doth right merrily
His occupation ply;
Ye type he sets and proof he reads
With microscopic eye.
And when ye chap-book all is done
He sallies forth with speed
To cry his wares upon ye street
For all who care to read.
Ye Printer wrought with right good will,
Nor ever was afraid
Of ye Typographic Union
Or ye Printers’ Board of Trade.

Ye Brewer

Ye Brewer is a merry man,
Beloved by all ye town,
And he’s renowned both far and wide,
All for his ale so brown.
And all ye thirsty villagers
Do loudly praise his name,
An honored village father he,
Who well deserves his fame.
Ye brewer of ye modern day
Doth make great moan because
Of ye Pure Food Regulations
And ye Local Option Laws.

Ye Robber

Ye Robber of ye olden day,
A jovial blade was he;
A short life and a merry one,
And then ye gallows-tree.
On rich and poor alike he preyed,
Nor ever did endow
A Learned University
As Robber Chiefs do now.
Ye modern robber is not known
By such an ugly name:
He does it more politely.
But he does it, just ye same.

Ye Tailor

Ye Tailor on his lowly bench
He stitcheth all ye day.
From morn till night his needle plies
On clothes both grave and gay.
Ye greatcoat for ye village squire,
Ye judge’s smallclothes fine,
Ye trainband captain’s uniform
That doth with splendor shine.
Ye tailor works in great content,
He is a happy man,
No clothes are yet constructed
On ye Ready-fitted Plan.

Ye Chandler

Ye tallow chandler in his shop,
He makes ye tallow dip,
And cuts ye wicks and fills ye moulds,
Ye while he drinks his flip.
Full many a studious gentleman
Doth hie him forth to buy:
Ye lamp of knowledge at his shop,
Is here for all to try.
So works ye tallow chandler,
Nor wotteth that he must,
In modern days, give up his ways
To Midnight Oil, their Trust.

Ye Student

Ye Student burns ye midnight oil,
And ponderous tomes doth pore,
His mind he fills at Wisdom’s fount
With classic volumes’ lore.
His thesis is a wondrous thing,
Of solid breadth and weight.
Ye higher things of human life
His brow do corrugate.
Alas! for now it is not so,
For all ye Student’s dream
Is how to satisfy ye Coach,
And make ye Football Team.

Ye Husbandman

Anon ye jocund Husbandman,
He tills ye fertile mead;
He plows ye land and rakes it well,
And eke he sows ye seed.
From early morn till candle light
He toils with might and main,
Nor ever stops, but busy keeps
Through wind and snow and rain.
Yet though he toils full lustily,
He’s free from modern ills:
He has no Motor Car, and so
He pays no Chauffeur’s bills.

Ye Jester

Ye Jester, dressed in cap and bells,
With jokes adorned his chat,
And every joke was all his own,
And all his jokes were pat.
No jokes were old in days of yore,
No stories had been told,
And so ye wit had ample scope
His humor to unfold.
Ye modern wit’s in sorry plight,
Re-writing o’er and o’er
Ye jokes that ancient jesters told
Five hundred years before.

FAITHLESS
NELLY GRAY

_BY THOMAS HOOD_

With _seventeen humorous cuts drawn by_ ROBERT SEAVER and _appropriate
setting_. Square 18mo, 50 cents, _net_.

The classic and pathetic ballad of the fortunes of Ben Battle is
perhaps the most famous of Hood’s humorous poems. The seeming
crudity of the laughable pictures heightens the humor of Hood’s
punning verses, and the result is a holiday booklet which cannot
fail to amuse.

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
_BOSTON AND NEW YORK_

THE DIVERTING
HISTORY OF
John Gilpin

_BY WILLIAM COWPER_

Together with some _thirty-two original wood-cut engravings_ by
ROBERT SEAVER and a decorative binding in half calf, with paper
sides, square 18mo, 50 cents, _net_.

HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
4 Park Street, Boston
85 Fifth Ave., New York

The Riverside Press
CAMBRIDGE · MASSACHUSETTS
U · S · A

TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:

Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.

Archaic or variant spelling has been retained.