Daffy-Down-Dilly_ (page 47). In England one of the earliest and most
common of spring flowers is the daffodil, a bright yellow, lily-like
blossom, with long, narrow green leaves all growing from the bulb. The
American child may know them as the big double monstrosities the florist
sells in the spring, or he may have some single and prettier ones
growing in his garden. The jonquil and the various kinds of narcissus
are nearly related white or white and pink flowers. This picture on page
47 of _Journeys Through Bookland_ shows a few daffodils growing. Miss
Daffy-Down-Dilly, then, in her yellow petticoat and her green gown, is
the pretty flower; and the rhyme so understood brings a breath of spring
with it.

_b. Humpty Dumpty_ (page 55). This is really a riddle of the
old-fashioned kind. There are many of them in English folk lore. Usually
a verse was repeated and then a question asked; as, "Who was Humpty
Dumpty?" The artist has answered the question for us in the picture.
Possibly many people who learned the rhyme in childhood never thought of
Humpty as an egg.

What answer would you give to the question, Who was Taffy (page 54)? For
similar riddles, see _Nancy Netticoat_ (Vol. I, p. 72), _The Andiron_
(page 245) and _St. Ives_ (page 202).

II. Some were intended to teach certain facts. For instance:

_a._ When children were taught the alphabet as the first step to
reading, _The Apple Pie_ (page 43) gave the letters in their order,
including the obsolete "_Ampersand_."

_b._ As children grew a little older and could begin to read what they
already knew, things in which the same words were many times repeated
were helpful. Two examples are _The House that Jack Built_ (page 56)
and _There Is the Key of the Kingdom_ (page 45).

_c._ The numbers from one to twenty were taught by _One, Two_ (page 41).

_d._ The days of the week were taught by _Solomon Grundy_ (page 42),
which with its amusing provision for repetition is sure to catch the
fancy of a child and keep his thoughts on the words.

III. Some of them teach kindness to animals:

_a. Dapple Gray_ (page 22).

_b. Ladybird_ (page 12). This is sometimes known as ladybug, and the
_bug_ is the little, round, reddish beetle whose wings are black dotted.
It is a pretty, harmless beetle that gardeners like to see around their
plants. Children repeat the rhyme when they find the beetle in the house
and always release it to "fly away and save its children."

_c. Poo