"Matilda Jane, you never look
At any toy or picture-book:
I show you pretty things in vain—
You must be blind, Matilda Jane!
"I ask you riddles, tell you tales,
But all our conversation fails:
You never answer me again—
I fear you're dumb, Matilda Jane!
"Matilda, darling, when I call,
You never seem to hear at all:
I shout with all my might and main—
But you're so deaf, Matilda Jane!
"Matilda Jane, you needn't mind:
For, though you're deaf, and dumb, and blind,
There's some one loves you, it is plain—
And that is me, Matilda Jane!"
She sang three of the verses In a rather perfunctory style, but the last stanza evidently excited the little maiden. Her voice rose, ever clearer and louder: she had a rapt look on her face, as if suddenly inspired, and, as she sang the last few words, she clasped to her heart the Inattentive Matilda Jane.
