Gratefully And Affectionately Inscribed To Joel Chandler Harris

_You who to the rounded prime_ _Of a life of toil and stress_, _Still have kept the morning-time_ _Of glad youth in heart and spirit_, _So your laugh, as children hear it_, _Seems their own, no less_,-- _Take this book of childish rhyme_-- _The Book of Joyous Children_. _Their first happiness on earth_ _Here is echoed--their first glee_: _Rich, in sooth, the volume's worth_-- _Not in classic lore, but rich in_ _The child-sagas of the kitchen_;-- _Therefore, take from me_ _To your heart of childish mirth_ _The Book of Joyous Children_.