What Came of It

There was a girl who sucked her thumb,
Who long continued deaf and dumb
To scoldings of her gentle ma,
And warning of her loving pa.
They tied a rag around her hand,
With many an earnest reprimand.;
They put it in a gunny sack,
And tied her hand behind her back,
And in their sorrow deep and ire,
They threatened her with whippings dire.
But all their efforts were in vain;
She sucked it still with might and main;
And finding they could never scare
Her into quitting, or ensnare,
They settled down in sheer despair.
And oh the troubles that did come
To all the inmates of that home !
The mother went off in a fit,
And has not yet come out of it.
One brother ran to Mexico;
The other joined a minstrel show;
The little sister cried and cried,
And slowly pined away and died;
The father took to drinking rum;
These dread disasters all did come,
Because this girl would suck her thumb.

^__J. M. Cavaness.