I heard my mother, just to-day, asking dear old dad,

To buy her a nice chafing-dish and make her very glad;

Though he declared its cooking was a waste of alcohol,

Causing indigestion and perhaps a doctor's call.

I inner saw a chafing-dish and so I longed to know

How it looked and what 'twas for and so and so and so;

But mother would not answer and daddy went away,

So I sought the kitchen, where Bridget holds her sway,

And asked her if she ever saw, since she began to cook,

A chafing-dish on pantry shelf or pictured in a book?