And laughing and talking,
They saw some boys at play.

"Let me go; let me run;
Let me see all the fun!"
Said little James then to his mother;
"Hear them laugh, hear them shout,
See them tumbling about,
And jumping one over the other."

"Pray let me go too,
O dear mother, do!"
And Jemmie ran off to the boys;
He kicked, and he thumped,
He laughed and he jumped,
He shouted and made a great noise.

But James was so small
That he soon got a fall,
And tumbled down into a hole;
He was not much hurt,
But covered with dirt--
There Jemmie lay rubbing his poll.

His mother soon ran
To her dear little man,
Holding out to him both of her hands;
And now on the ground,
All safe and all sound,
By the side of his mother he stands.