BREAD AND BUTTER
I come in hungry from my play,
And ask for things to eat;
And think of all the cake we’ve got,
So plummy and so sweet;
But very gently, mother says,
“There’s butter, and there’s bread;”
And smiles at me; my hunger leaves,
I sigh, and shake my head;
For I had only wished for cake,
So plummy, and so sweet;
And I go back to play again
Without a thing to eat.
THE COMPANY MAN
Sometimes the company man is wide,
And sometimes he’s high and thin,
But always he smiles, in the parlor there,
When brother and I come in;
He looks down at us in a grown-up way,
With—“How are you children, my dears, today?”
Then out to the table we go like a march,
With mother-our-dear in the lead;
And the company man sits down with smiles
And eats very much indeed;
We try to be quiet, as good as we can,
And we stare all the time at the company man.