THE PIN "DEAR me! what signifies a pin, So onward tripped the little maid, Nor did she think (a careless chit) Next day a party was to ride, To see an air balloon; And all the company beside Were dressed and ready soon; In vain her eager eyes she brings, There was not one, and yet her things Were dropping off her back. She cut her pincushion in two, But no, not one had fallen through. At last, as hunting on the floor, Then rattled fast away; But poor Eliza was not in, For want of just a single pin! There's hardly anything so small, Jane and Eliza And wilful waste, depend upon't, Brings, almost always, woeful want! 103 Ann Taylor [1782-1866] JANE AND ELIZA THERE were two little girls, neither handsome nor plain, They were both of one height, as I've heard people say, 'Twas fancied by some, who but slightly had seen them, There was not a pin to be chosen between them; But no one for long in this notion persisted, So great a distinction there really existed. Eliza knew well that she could not be pleasing, Not to break her bad habits, but only to hide. So, when she was out, with much labor and pain, And in spite of her care it would sometimes befall And because it might chance that her share was the worst, But Jane, who had nothing she wanted to hide, But her face always showed what her bosom was feeling. At home or abroad there was peace in her smile, Ann Taylor [1782-1866] MEDDLESOME MATTY ONE ugly trick has often spoiled Which, like a cloud before the skies, Sometimes she'd lift the tea-pot lid, But turn your back a minute. Her grandmamma went out one day, Her spectacles and snuff-box gay Too near the little maid; "Ah! well," thought she, "I'll try them on, As soon as grandmamma is gone." Forthwith she placed upon her nose The glasses large and wide; "I know that grandmamma would say, So thumb and finger went to work Contented John For all at once, ah! woeful case, The snuff came puffing in her face. Poor eyes, and nose, and mouth, beside, In vain, as bitterly she cried, Her folly she repented. In vain she ran about for ease; She could do nothing now but sneeze. She dashed the spectacles away, Her grandmamma she spies. Matilda, smarting with the pain, 105 Ann Taylor [1782-1866] CONTENTED JOHN ONE honest John Tomkins, a hedger and ditcher, Though cold were the weather, or dear were the food, "For why should I grumble and murmur?" he said; If John was afflicted with sickness or pain, If any one wronged him or treated him ill, Would be making two rogues when there need be but one. And thus honest John, though his station was humble, THINK BEFORE YOU ACT ELIZABETH her frock has torn, And pricked her finger too; Because Elizabeth will touch Whate'er comes in her way; I've seen her suffer quite as much, Yet, though so oft she feels the pain, The habit is so strong, That all our caution is in vain, I should not wonder if, at last, |