Elsie lisps so, she can’t say

Her own name, ist any way

She says ‘Elthy’—like they wuz

Feathers on her words, an’ they

Ist stuck on her tongue like fuzz.

How charming!—it affects the sensibilities like the ripple of a rill of buttermilk falling into a pig-trough. “Ist,” by the way, means (to an idiot) “just”—it is not easy to say why. Here followeth the other inspiring passage:

One time

Elsie start to say the rhyme

“Thing a thong o’ thixpenth”—whee!

I ist yell; an’ ma say I’m