Grandma's Hygiene

Grandma's Hygiene

My Mamma says that little girls
Should eat what makes them strong;
That when I eat what injures me,
I'm doing very wrong.

She says that pies and cakes and such,
Are far too rich for me,
And if I hope to sturdy grow,
I'll have to let them he.

But Grandma says to Mamma, "Fie!
Let her eat what she craves;
These squeamish notions going 'round
Are making people slaves."

Don't think about yourself at all,
If you would healthy be.
I always eat just what I want
And nothing e'er ails me."

I don't know which of them is right.
But this I truly know;
When Grandma writes, "Come spend a week,"
I'm always glad to go.

Grandma's Young Days

Grandma's Young Days

Once Grandma was a young lady, she says.
It's hard to believe, but it's true.
She showed me a gown she used to wear then,
All soft, and all lace-y and blue.

She showed me the fan she carried, which she
Coquettishly swung to and fro.
I'd like to have seen her smiles and her frowns
At Grandpa, who then was her beau.

She showed me her slippers, spangly and white.
(So tiny and cute were her feet.)
I'd like to have seen her glide through a dance.
Her steps so precise and so neat.

She showed me the ring Grandpa gave to her
One evening of love and of bliss.
I'd like to have seen her young lover plant
On her brow his chaste, proper kiss.

She showed me the locket which she used to wear.
His picture and hers, both inside.
Were taken, she says, upon the glad day
She became my Grandpa's young bride.

Oh, Grandma! you then were so sweet and so fair
Of lip, and of cheek and of brow.
I'd like to have seen you, far different then,
But not a bit sweeter than now!

Counting the Baby's Toes

Counting the Baby's Toes

"Inkum, blinkum, winkum, niddle and nod,
Every one sweet as a rose."
Dear Grandmother croons this sleepy-time song,
Counting the little toes.

"Lively, frolic, kick-y, upum and go,
How much fun no-body knows!"
Dear Grandmother chants this waking-up lay,
Counting the little toes.

When Grandma Was a Little Girl

When Grandma Was a Little Girl 

When Grandma was a little girl
Her dresses came 'most to the floor
And over them she used to wear
A pretty ruffled pinafore.
Her bonnets, though, were very plain.
She carried a small reticule
And wore a little shoulder cape
Of mornings, when she went to school.

My Grandma always was most neat,
Obedient, and good, and true;
It was a pleasure, so she says,
To do as she was told to do.
And when she sewed she always set
Her stitches firm and neat and fine;
That sampler on the parlor wall
She worked: "Cordelia, aged nine."

She pieced a quilt 'fore she was eight,
'Twas made of white and gay maroon.
She'd sit most patiently each day
And stitch the whole long afternoon.
Her stockings, too, she always knit.
And turned with skill the heel and toe.
She darned and patched - such useful things
She says, each young girl ought to know. 

When Grandma was a little girl
She was, I think, so very dear.
Such eyes! Such smiles! Such lovely hair
This is her picture hanging here.
I'd like to look as she did then,
(Such praise, I know, her beauty got)
But as for doing as she did,
I really think I'd rather not!

The Old and the New

The Old and the New

My sister had her picture taken
To-day. It's cute as cute can be.
Her hair is bobbed, her dress correct.
It's not in inch below her knee.

She slipped the picture in the album.
It happened then that right beside.
There was a photo of our Grandma.
Taken the day she was a bride.

And Grandma's dress was in the fashion:
That is, 'twas stylish for her day.
Though, could she step now in our ball-room,
Sue says, she'd be thought "quite passe."

Her waist was small; she wore a bustle;
A tiny little fan she bore;
Her dress was widened out by hoop-skirts.
And barely it escaped the floor.

A cute and dainty little ringlet
So jauntily hung o'er her ear.
She looked so odd, and quaint and funny.
But 'spite of that so very dear.

They say that girls to-day are silly;
The way they dress is most unwise.
Sue's picture looks as well; is Grandma's:
At least it seems to in my eyes.

Sue says she feels so free, unhampered,

And has no bother with her clothes.
How in the world dear Grandma managed.
Why surely only goodness knows!

The Way Out

The Way Out

At home my Mamma says: "Oh, shame!
You are by far too big
To gobble: 'sides you'll get too fat.
Now, don't eat like a pig."

At Grandma's, Grandma always says;
"You are so small, I know
You'd ought to try out eating more,
I'd like to see you grow."

Now maybe both are half way wrong.
To Grandma I'll indite
A note: "Please keep me half the time,'
Then I will grow just right!

A Pertinent Question

A Pertinent Question

When I contradict my mamma,
She always says just so:
"I'm older far than yon, my dear,
Don't yon think I'd ought to know?"

But whenever mamma spanks me,
My Grandma shakes her head,
And says, "No, no, a gentler way;
Just you love her hard instead."

And mamma always says to that:
"Indeed! you'd spoil her, though."
Now Grandma's very, very old,
Don't you think she'd ought to know