A Favorite Fairy Poem

The Second Hand Shop

Down in the grasses

Where the grasshoppers hop

And the katydids quarrel

And the flutter-moths flop --

Down in the grasses

Where the beetle goes "plop"

An old withered fairy

Keeps a second-hand shop.

She sells lost thimbles

For Fairy milk pails

And burnt-out matches

For fence posts and rails.

She sells stray marbles

To bowl on the green,

And bright scattered beads

For the crown of the queen.

Oh, Don't feel badly

Over things that you lose

Like spin tops or whistles

Or dolls buckled shoes;

They may be things that

Fairy folk can use:

For down in the grasses

Where the grasshoppers hop

A withered old fairy

Keeps a second-hand shop.

This poem titled Treat Shop, was written by Rowena Bennett and printed in a 1954 childrens reader. The publisher was Charles Merrill books. Inside the cover is a sticker (placed by the school I assume) that says "Please wash your hands before you read me and keep me clean".