Poems (Merrill)/Time Brings Changes

by Clara A. Merrill

TIME BRINGS CHANGES

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She sat down by the kitchen fire,
While munching bread and cheese;
With now and then a pancake hot,
Her hunger to appease.

"Ah me! how good this is," she sighed
As a cookie she stowed away;
I would that I a lunch could have
Like this one every day!"—

Next day her beau on her did call
To take her for a ride;
'Twas getting late—'twas nearly noon
When the mother her espied.

And, anxious as all mammas are,
As to how her daughter fared;
Cried, "Just you wait a moment dear—
I've dinner all prepared.'

"Oh! mercy! no,"—it was no use.
She could not eat a mite
She hardly ever cared for much—
She had no appetite!—

Strange, wasn't it? that one day she
Could eat a slice of steak,
Potatoes, and a ham sandwich,
With coffee, pie and cake,—

Yet the next day, when her beau was nigh
What changes it did bring!
She was so dainty and so frail
She could not eat a thing!