THE WATCHMAKER'S SHOP
1. A street in our town has a queer little shop,
With tumble-down walls and a thatch [1] on the top;
And all the wee windows with crookedy panes
Are shining and winking with watches and chains.
2. All sorts and all sizes in silver and gold,
And brass [2] ones and tin ones, and new ones and old;
And clocks for the kitchen, and clocks for the hall,
High ones and low ones, and wag-at-the-wall [3] .
3. The watchmaker sits on a long-legged seat,
And bids you the time of the day, when you meet;
And round and about him there's ticketting-tock,
From the tiniest watch to the grandfather's clock.
4. I wonder he doesn't get tired of the chime,
And all the clocks ticking and telling the time;
But there he goes winding lest any should stop,
This queer little man in the watchmaker's shop.
—ELIZABETH FLEMING
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[1] thatch: Roof made of straw or rushes.
[2] brass: A yellow metal.
[3] wag-at-the-wall: A clock fixed to the wall, with swinging pendulum; sometimes called a grandmother clock.