"The children went chestnutting once,
Out in the woods to stay all day,
There's Maude and Sue and James and Kate,
All there, for there's no school to-day."
Polly stopped to catch breath.
"Where'd you get your names?" inquired Molly critically.
Polly looked up with a startled air.
"Why, out of my head, of course."
"Oh, did you?" Molly's tone was not reassuring. "Go on," she added.
"Maybe you'll like the next verse better," faltered Polly.
"The good, kind mothers pack the lunch
Of bread and butter, meat and cake,
So off they start at ten o'clock,
For it is hot when it is late."
This time, Polly found her friend looking at her, with a scornful curl to her lips.
"I thought you said it was a poem," she said, with cutting emphasis; "but it sounds just exactly like a bill of fare."