Children of Our Town

Children of Our Town is a lively, illustrated collection of humorous verses that captures the daily pleasures, moods, and mischief of boys and girls in early twentieth-century New York. With affectionate wit, Carolyn Wells turns ordinary scenes into sharp little portraits of city childhood: flying kites, sailing boats in the park, skating, riding excursion boats, dancing to street music, and playing ball. The poems delight in children's quarrels, wistfulness, kindness to animals, and comic vanity, while gently satirizing adults who try to imitate their games or manners. As the collection unfolds, it broadens into holiday revels and social contrasts, from "little mothers" in poorer neighborhoods to their polished counterparts among the wealthy, and from noisy Fourth of July celebrations to Thanksgiving masquerades and the universal joy of ice-cream. Bright, teasing, and observant, the book offers a vivid snapshot of urban childhood—full of energy, rivalry, appetite, and delight. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.