Quack! Said Jerusha

[cwh]

I am on a quest and hope maybe someone can help . . .

If anyone knows the words or can locate this children's poem for me I shall be eternally grateful!

It is called "Quack! Said Jerusha" written by Mildred Plew Merryman in the 1930's. Quite a lengthy poem about the charming experiences of a duckling upon breaking out of her shell. It was a favorite of mine as a little girl and I remember my Mother reading it to me many times over. I've had no luck finding anything on the internet. I have a feeling it was within a book of other nursery rhymes by various authors, which makes my search even more difficult . . .

It had such an impact that later in life when I had a pet duck (I hatched her myself in a little mail-away plastic incubator) I named her Jerusha. She imprinted on me as her mom and followed me everywhere. When she reached maturity I set her free to live on a farm with other duckies; last I heard she was happily sitting on a nest of eggs . . . this was many, many years ago.

Well, PetTalk people are the greatest, so I'm keeping my paws crossed that somebody will come through on this mission of mine . . . pretty please??

It was one of my favorites, too. My grandmother read it to us. Here it is:

"QUACK!" SAID JERUSHA


One morning when Jerusha woke,
She took her perky leg
And gave a sort of poky-poke
And pushed away her egg;

And as she stepped from out her shell
And looked around for luck:
"Quack!" said Jerusha
"I seem to be a duck!"

At once Jerusha went to get
A dainty bite to fill her,
When perched upon a plant she met
A portly caterpillar;

And thus as she divided him
And downed him with a scrunch:
"Quack!" said Jerusha
"Oh, feel my fuzzy lunch!"

Jerusha glided off the grass
To take a little wade;
She gazed into the looking-glass
The wavy water made;

And when she first beheld herself
Appearing through the blur:
"Quack!" said Jerusha
"Now, where have I seen her?"

Jerusha traveled to and fro
To hunt a little home;
She found an empty pumpkin, so
She bought it from a gnome.

And though at first it took her breath,
It seemed so tight a fit,
"Quack!" said Jerusha
"Perhaps 'twill grow a bit!"

Jerusha paused beside her sill
To pick some prety phlox;
When all at once beyond her bill
She spied a wily fox.

"Good morning, Madam," said the fox;
"I hope to call some night!"
"Quack!" said Jerusha
"Isn't he polite!"

Jerusha went a-marketing
To buy potatoes cheap;
She tripped upon her bonnet string
And tumbled in a heap.

Kerplunk! went all the vegetables
And down the basket crashed:
"Quack!" said Jerusha
"I like potatoes mashed!"

Jerusha, once, correctly shod,
Attired in bib and sack,
Went out to take a promenade
Upon the railroad track:

When like a flash an engine came
And dumped her in the dirt:
"Quack!" said Jerusha
"I hope the train's not hurt!"

Now, just beside Jerusha's hedge
There lay a ripply pond;
She set her feet upon the edge,
She waded out beyond:

She flipped her wing and felt herself
Go swimming pat as pat:
"Quack!" said Jerusha
"Now, where did I learn that!"

Jerusha found a walnut shell
A squirrel had left one day;
Beneath a breezy heather bell
She looked and there it lay.

And as Jerusha looked at it
And poked it with her shoe:
"Quack!" said Jerusha
"Whose little egg are you?"

One day Jerusha paused beside
A meadow full of mustard;
"Oh, what a pretty sight," she cried,
"It's just like yellow custard!"

When puff, puff, puff! a mustard whiff
Came blowing on the breezes:
"Quack!" said Jerusha
"Oh, hear my ducky sneezes!"

Jerusha took a crooked pin
And caught a frisky fish;
She fried him frizzy, tail and fin,
And went to get a dish;

When out he flapped and flipped away
As fast as he could run:
"Quack!" said Jerusha
"I thought that he was done!"

Jerusha used to like to sit
and hear her chimney poof;
She liked to have him growl a bit
and grumble on the roof;

And while she watched his smoke go up
In lazy little swirls:
"Quack!" said Jerusha
"Oh, see the chimney's curls!"

When winter came Jerusha went
To skate upon the ice;
Oh, merrily she bowed and bent
And found it very nice;

Till, all at once, she met a hole
And zipped around the rim:
"Quack!" said Jerusha
"This is where I swim!"

Jerusha cocked her eye one day
Upon a furry bunny;
"Ho!" she heard the fellow say,
"You feathered folk are funny;

"Just think, my dear, were you like me,
Then you could hop much higher."
"Quack!" said Jerusha
"I'd rather be a flier!"

Once when Jerusha slumbered sound
Beneath a weeping willow,
A farmer snipped her feathers round
To make his wife a pillow;

Then lo, at length Jerusha woke
and felt her heart go throb:
"Quack!" said Jerusha
"Oh, see my ducky bob!"

At last Jerusha quite grew up
And met a handsome Drake;
He took her swimming after sup
Along the lilied lake;

"Oh, wouldn't it be nice," said he,
"To always swim like this?"
"Quack!" said Jerusha
And blew a little kiss.

Then soon the quacking preacher came
And made them man and wife;
Jerusha took her husband's name
And settled down for life.

"A penny for your thoughts, my dear,"
Said Mrs. Hen with clucks:
"Quack!" said Jerusha
"Little baby ducks!"

And as Jerusha murmured that
She lifted up her legs,
and there beneath Jerusha sat
A lot of little eggs;

And when from each a yellow head
Began to bob and crook:
"Quack!" said Jerusha
"Oh, Papa, come and look!"

And so the little duckies,
Like other girls and boys,
Grew up and played around the house
With pink and purple toys.

"We'll play along till after nine,"
The jolly babies said.
"Quack!" said Jerusha
"It's time to go to bed."

By Mildred P. Merryman
in "Children's Stories" Selected by The Child Study Association
Illustrated by Theresa Kalab
Copyright, 1950 by Whitman Publishing Co., Racine, Wis.