Natural History
May 25, 2011 • Feeling My Age • Comments
From an inherited family book of nursery rhymes…
“What Are Little Girls Made Of ?” The answer always pleased Child K as a pre-school tot back in the day when we used to sing our way through the books together: “Sugar and Spice and all that’s nice – and that are little girls are made of…”
We found my dad’s lovingly restored copy of The Baby’s Opera again the other day and went through it together for old time’s sake. Inevitably, the songs had greater sentimental value for me than they do for her now she’s 13 and too grown up for all that. Perhaps she’ll appreciate them again when she’s older…
Postscript: since writing this have found both of Walter Crane’s beautifully illustrated volumes of nursery rhymes are free online – thanks to Project Gutenberg – with lovely scans of the original pages: The Baby’s Bouquet and The Baby’s Opera
