If I had my druthers I would decorate my house in book illustrations. As it is I spend most of my extra cash on books. I spend my spare time reading but I do enjoy seeing ideas on blogs of how other people decorate their houses. I can store those ideas in my mind and use them if the opportunity ever arises. My main decorating theme is keep it sparse and use baskets. My husband’s main theme is lamps and light. That hardly has anything at all to do with today’s poem and illustrations but there you have it. The illustrations on this page are from 2 wonderful illustrators: Arthur Rackham and E H Shepard. The book they were illustrating is The Wind in the Willows.
Of course, you have already read it and it is one of your family favorites. But if you missed it you have a wonderful treat in store. The Wind in the Willows is on my top 10 book list for family reading aloud. It may be in the top 5 but I haven’t actually come up with a list yet. Mr Toad is the sort of Barney Fife of literature. Now where else could you go to get that sort of deep literary analysis?

This particular poem is great for recitation nights with the theme of humor.

Mr Toad

The world has held great Heroes,
As history-books have showed;
But never a name to go down to fame
Compared with that of Toad!

The clever men at Oxford
Know all that there is to be knowed.
But they none of them know one half as much
As intelligent Mr Toad!

The animals sat in the Ark and cried,
Their tears in torrents flowed.
Who was it said, “There’s land ahead”?
Encouraging Mr Toad!


The army all saluted
As they marched along the road.
Was it the King? Or Kitchener?
No. It was Mr Toad.

The Queen and her Ladies-in-waiting
Sat at the window and sewed.
She cried, “Look! Who’s that HANDSOME man?”
They answered, “Mr Toad.”

– Kenneth Grahame

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