many others, though having a written form, are, like our
own slang expressions, not found in the dictionary.

Now let us turn to a more pleasant feature of this unwritten
nursery literature. The language is full of good rhymes,
and all objectionable features can be cut out without injury
to the rhyme, as it was not a part of the original, but added
by some more unscrupulous hand.

Among the nursery rhymes of all countries many refer to
insects, birds, animals, persons, actions, trades, food or
children. In Chinese rhymes we have the cricket, cicada,
spider, snail, firefly, ladybug and butterfly and others.
Among fowls we have the bat, crow, magpie, cock, hen,
duck and goose. Of animals, the dog, cow, horse, mule,
donkey, camel, and mouse, are the favorites. There are
also rhymes on the snake and frog, and others without
number on places, things and persons,--men, women and
children.

Those who hold that the Chinese do not love their
children have never consulted their nursery lore. There is
no language in the world, I venture to believe, which
contains children's songs expressive of more keen and tender
affection than some of those sung to children in China.

When we hear a parent say that his child

"Is as sweet as sugar and cinnamon too,"