WHATEVER I do, and whatever I say, Aunt Tabitha tells me that isn't the way; When she was a girl (forty summers ago) Aunt Tabitha tells me they never did so. Dear aunt! If I only would take her advice! But I like my own way, and I find it so nice! And besides, I forget half the things I am told; But they all will come back to me -- when I am old. If a youth passes by, it may happen, no doubt, He may chance to look in as I chance to look out; She would never endure an impertinent stare, -- It is horrid, she says, and I mustn't sit there. A walk in the moonlight has pleasures, I own, But it isn't quite safe to be walking alone; So I take a lad's arm, -- just for safety, you know, -- But Aunt Tabitha tells me they didn't do so. How wicked we are, and how good they were then! They kept at arm's length those detestable men; What an era of virtue she lived in! -- But stay -- Were the men all such rogues in Aunt Tabitha's day? If the men were so wicked, I'll ask my papa How he dared to propose to my darling mamma; Was he like the rest of them? Goodness! Who knows? And what shall I say, if a wretch should propose? I am thinking if Aunt knew so little of sin, What a wonder Aunt Tabitha's aunt must have been! And her grand-aunt -- it scares me -- how shockingly sad That we girls of to-day are so frightfully bad! A martyr will save us, and nothing else can; Let me perish -- to rescue some wretched young man! Though when to the altar a victim I go, Aunt Tabitha'll tell me she never did so! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CASEY AT THE BAT (1) by ERNEST LAWRENCE THAYER I'M DYING, COMRADE by MARY H. C. BOOTH A FORGIVENESS by ROBERT BROWNING |