But Science has suddenly opened my eyes;
So now I say to my startled heart
That ’twere better the chair and I should part.
Would you know my reason?—a mother sat there,
And became the prey of that old arm-chair.
In childhood’s hour I lingered near
That treacherous seat without a fear,
And mother, poor soul, no tremour knew
As she worked at her knitting the morning through,
For German savants had yet to produce