<h2><SPAN name="page20"></SPAN><span class="pagenum"></span>THE ISLAND OF ENDLESS PLAY</h2>
<p class="poetry"><span class="smcap">Said</span> Willie to Tom,
‘Let us hie away<br/>
To the wonderful Island of Endless Play.</p>
<p class="poetry">It lies off the border of “No School
Land,”<br/>
And abounds with pleasure, I understand.</p>
<p class="poetry">There boys go swimming whenever they please<br/>
In a lovely river right under the trees.</p>
<p class="poetry">And marbles are free, so you need not buy;<br/>
And kites of all sizes are ready to fly.</p>
<p class="poetry">We sail down the Isthmus of Idle
Delight—<br/>
We sail and we sail for a day and a night.</p>
<p class="poetry">And then, if favoured by billows and breeze,<br/>
We land in the Harbour of Do-as-You-Please.</p>
<p class="poetry"><SPAN name="page21"></SPAN><span class="pagenum">p.
21</span>And there lies the Island of Endless Play,<br/>
With no one to say to us, Must, or Nay.</p>
<p class="poetry">Books are not known in that land so fair,<br/>
Teachers are stoned if they set foot there.</p>
<p class="poetry">Hurrah for the Island, so glad and free,<br/>
That is the country for you and me.’</p>
<p class="poetry">So away went Willie and Tom together<br/>
On a pleasure boat, in the lazy weather,<br/>
And they sailed in the teeth of a friendly breeze<br/>
Right into the harbour of ‘Do-as-You-Please.’<br/>
Where boats and tackle and marbles and kites<br/>
Were waiting them there in this Land of Delights.<br/>
They dwelt on the Island of Endless Play<br/>
For five long years; then one sad day<br/>
A strange, dark ship sailed up to the strand,<br/>
And ‘Ho! for the voyage to Stupid Land,’<br/>
The captain cried, with a terrible noise,<br/>
As he seized the frightened and struggling boys<br/>
And threw them into the dark ship’s hold;<br/>
And off and away sailed the captain bold.<br/>
They vainly begged him to let them out,<br/>
He answered only with scoff and shout.<br/>
<SPAN name="page22"></SPAN><span class="pagenum">p.
22</span>‘Boys that don’t study or work,’ said
he,<br/>
‘Must sail one day down the Ignorant Sea<br/>
To Stupid Land by the No-Book Strait,<br/>
With Captain Time on the Pitiless Fate.’</p>
<p class="poetry">He let out the sails and away went the three<br/>
Over the waters of Ignorant Sea,<br/>
Out and away to Stupid Land;<br/>
And they live there yet, I understand.<br/>
And there’s where every one goes, they say,<br/>
Who seeks the Island of Endless Play.</p>
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