PREFACE

There are probably more nursery rhymes in China than can be found in England and America. We have in our possession more than six hundred, collected, for the most part, in two out of the eighteen provinces, and we have no reason to believe that we have succeeded in getting any large proportion of what those two provinces contain.

In most of the rhymes there are features common to those of our own "Mother Goose," among which are those referring (1) to insects, (2) animals, (3) birds, (4) persons, (5) children, (6) food, (7) parts of the body, (8) actions, such as patting, grabbing, tickling, etc., (9) professions, trades and business.

We have tried to reproduce the meaning of the original as nearly as possible; this has not always been an easy task. Let it be understood that these rhymes make no pretentions to literary merit, nor has the translator made any attempt at regularity in the meter, because neither the original nor our own "Mother Goose" is regular. Our desire has been to make a translation which is fairly true to the original, and which will please English-speaking children. The child, not the critic, has always been kept in view.

Attention is called to the affection manifested in such rhymes as "Sweeter than Sugar," "Sweet Pill," "Little Fat Boy," and "Baby is Sleeping." There is no language in the world, we venture to believe, which contains children's songs expressive of more keen and tender affection than those we have mentioned. This fact, more than any other, has stimulated us in the preparation of these rhymes. They have been prepared with the hope that they will present a new phase of Chinese home life, and lead the children of the West to have some measure of sympathy and affection for the children of the East.

The compilation was much facilitated by the work done by Baron Vitali, of the Italian Legation in Peking; Rev. Arthur H. Smith, author of "Chinese Characteristics;" Miss Mabel Whiting, of Peking; Miss Mitchell, of Chinkiang; Mrs. McClure, of Honan; Miss Chalfant, of Shantung; Mr. Chao Tsz-chi, Chinese Consul at New York; Mr. Yamamoto, of Peking, and Rev. Chauncy Goodrich, of T'ung Chou, while the entire wor is due to the fact that our attention was called by Mrs. C. H. Fenn, of Peking, to her old nurse repeating these rhymes to her little boy.

The illustrations have all been prepared by the translator specially for this work.

I. T. H.

October, 1900