Page:Field Poems of Childhood.djvu/223

 He listened so long and he listened so hard

That anon he grew ever so tender,

For it's everywhere known

That the feminine tone

Gets away with all masculine gender!

He up and he wooed her with soldierly zest,

But all she'd reply to the love he professed

Were these plaintive words (which perhaps you have guessed):

"Mamma! mamma!"

Her mother—a sweet little lady of five—

Vouchsafed her parental protection,

And although stockinet

Wasn't blue-blooded, yet

She really could make no objection!

So soldier and dolly were wedded one day,

And a moment ago, as I journeyed that way,

I'm sure that I heard a wee baby voice say:

"Mamma! mamma!"