A Good Play

Robert Louis Stevenson · 1885

Catalog grade guidance: K–5 — Short children’s lyric; good for early memorization and reading aloud.

16 content lines · 103 words · Est. recitation about 1 min 1 sec (approx.)

Public-domain text for reading and recitation practice. Source: Project Gutenberg #136.Estimated time uses ~120 words/minute plus short pauses—not a contest rule.

A Good Play

  We built a ship upon the stairs
  All made of the back-bedroom chairs,
  And filled it full of sofa pillows
  To go a-sailing on the billows.

  We took a saw and several nails,
  And water in the nursery pails;
  And Tom said, "Let us also take
  An apple and a slice of cake;"--
  Which was enough for Tom and me
  To go a-sailing on, till tea.

  We sailed along for days and days,
  And had the very best of plays;
  But Tom fell out and hurt his knee,
  So there was no one left but me.

                                            XIV