“Mousie”

There’s a mousie in mama’s big pantry,

     Mischievous and cunning is he;

He nibbles and eats from pastry and sweets,

     And capers about in his glee.

He gets in the jam and the sugar,

     And oftimes a cookie does take;

He’s there every day, I mama’s away,

     But never a sound does he make.

But mousie doesn’t live in the pantry,

     He can open the door himself;

Can walk on two feet, and reach very neat,

     With a chair the uppermost shelf.

He lives with his papa and mama,

     His name you don’t want me to speak?

O’ then very well, his name I won’t tell,

     But – goodness, there’s jam on your cheek!

Feb. 1, 1900