First she come to our house,
Tommy run and hid;
And Emily and Bob and me
We cried jus' like we did
When Mother died,--and we all said
'At we all wisht 'at we was dead!
And Nurse she couldn't stop us;
And Pa he tried and tried,--
We sobbed and shook and wouldn't look,
But only cried and cried;
And nen some one--we couldn't jus'
Tell who--was cryin' same as us!
Our Stepmother! Yes, it was her,
Her arms around us all--
'Cause Tom slid down the banister
And peeked in from the hall.--
And we all love her, too, because
She's purt' nigh good as Mother was!
{163}
[Illustration: When old Jack died--headpiece]