The following is the second of poems I found in newspaper clippings found in my great grandparents’ Bible:
When Mama was a Little Girl – by James Buckham
When mama was a little girl,
The children were so good – dear me!
They always did what they were told,
And kept as clean as clean could be.
You never saw them running off
Where they were ordered not to play,
Nor heard them use a naughty word,
As we bad children do to-day.
They went to church and Sunday-school
With willing feet and faces bright,
And helped their parents, oh! so much,
And dropped to sleep like birds at night.
They never quarreled over toys,
Nor scratched, nor pushed, my mama says,
Nor twisted pussy’s squirming tail,
Nor had such fretful, teasing ways.
Oh, dear! I sit and wonder why
Those gone-by children did no wrong.
How human nature must have changed
In not so very, very long!
I really wonder if mama
Remembers all she used to do
When she was young? – for grandmama
Seems just as used to spanking too!
David Lee 