Do let me see those lines which
excite such sad emotions.
--Will you read them very good-naturedly? If you will, I will get the
paper that has "Aunt Tabitha." That is the one the fault-finder said
produced such deep depression of feeling. It was written for the "Comic
Department." Perhaps it will make you cry, but it was n't meant to.
--I will finish my report this time with our Scheherezade's poem, hoping
that--any critic who deals with it will treat it with the courtesy due to
all a young lady's literary efforts.
AUNT TABITHA.
Whatever I do, and whatever I say,
Aunt Tabitha tells me that isn't the way;
When she was a girl (forty summers ago)
Aunt Tabitha tells me they never did so.
Dear aunt! If I only would take her advice!
But I like my own way, and I find it so nice!
And besides, I forget half the things I am told;
But they all will come back to me--when I am old.
If a youth passes by, it may happen, no doubt,
He may chance to look in as I chance to look out;
She would never endure an impertinent stare,
It is horrid, she says, and I mustn't sit there.
A walk in the moonlight has pleasures, I own,
But it is n't quite safe to be walking alone;
So I take a lad's arm,--just for safety, you know,
But Aunt Tabitha tells me they didn't do so.
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