GRANDMAMMA sits in her high-backed chair Knitting, as busy can be; Then the needles stop and she smoothes her hair And frowns as she speaks to me. I can't think what @3you@1 girls are coming to—no, With your skirts so high and your necks so low; You smoke and you flirt and you whiz and you whirl; We were much more proper when I was a girl. And hark ye, Miss Romp; on the Sabbath day To church we always went; Now its the river, or foolish play With sticks with the @3handles@1 bent; And the hussies encourage the men, they do, And make brazen eyes, what you call goo-goo; You needn't sit there with your fingers atwirl, We never behaved so when I was a girl. Then I kiss the old lady's frown away, Pick up her stitches, and then Ask @3her@1 how she came to be wed one day If she @3never@1 encouraged the men. But grandmamma's head is nodding slow And shaking each silver curl, As she walks in dreams thro' the long ago With her sweetheart, when she was a girl. |