Babies don't keep

Found this article about a poem I have quoted for years and so decided to save it here. I made one of these kits back when Tara was 10 months old. A few years ago, I gave it to Tara with the hopes that she will hang it when she had her first child. I am going to try to get a pic to go with this post.


These days- it is known as a Baby Shower poem. Some women embroidery it on blankets or pillow cases or put their embroidery pieces into plaques as gifts for new mothers.

What I found interesting was since no one seemed to know the author, they had wrote several verses in poems and added this either in the middle or at the end and claim it as theirs!

Now after further interesting research and the clue is all in that fact it was always embroidered into material...

I have come to the conclusion that it is for sure a verse that stands on its own in embroidery circle. ( as it is below). It was found in an unopened vintage cotton fabric embroidery kit with : Design by Lynn Davis. The kit shows a shows a lady in the rocking chair wearing a long dress rocking her baby to sleep. It is a collectible item and one very much sought after by many who collect such items.

Cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow...
For babies grow up,
we've learned to
our sorrow...
So quiet down cobwebs...
dust go to sleep...
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep!!


In this poem and as the above person stated the author is known to be: Ruth Hulbert Hamilton.

Babies Don’t Keep
By Ruth Hulbert Hamilton

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I’ve grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due,
Lullabye, rockaby, lullabye loo.
The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo,
But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo,
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs;
Dust go to sleep!
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

With all this in mind however, It all depends on the dates, the only nearest physical evidence to prove the time period would be that it was embroidered at the time women were in long dresses and that the poem came from buried treasured books. Ruth pulished other poems such as ' Dust in Nursery' which was published in 1958