Mary Had A Little Lamb.
(Nursery Rhyme for the Modern Child.)
Mythology has given us an interesting fable,
Which may even be related to the truth.
It propounds the moral lesson, as sincerely as it's able,
Of the follies and fatuities of youth.
It deals with the adventures of a maiden known as Mary,
Who had the imbecility to keep,
Not, as any normal person would, a parrot or canary,
But a perfectly revolting little sheep.
The animal displayed an epidermal coloration
As unblemished as the snows of yester year,
And wherever Mary ventured, with a studied concentration
To her side it would persistently adhere.
On a day when she departed to resume the prosecution
Of the studies she endeavoured to pursue,
She discovered when she reached the academic institution
That the quadruped had made the journey too.
The results are not surprising when you think of the imprudence
Of allowing such a beast to be at large.
The girl of course was ridiculed by all her fellow students
And admonished by the lecturer in charge.
So bear in mind the moral of these startling revelations,
O ye denizens of cradle and of pram,
You'll be landed in embarrassing and awkward situations
If you're indiscreet enough to keep a lamb.

—R.G.P.

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