Kids Poems » Lady Mary

Lady Mary was able
To keep a good table ;
And what was still better, none found her
Without a good heart
The good things to impart.
Which Providence showered around her.

She was prudent, 'tis true ;
But was generous, too,
When charity called for her money ;
And she ever kept by,
Her own board to supply,
Fresh biscuits, sweet butter and honey ;

And twenty things more
That we'll not number o'er,
But such as gave comfort to many
So old, lone and poor,
That at home she felt sure,
They had very little, if any.

Then, oft as there came
To her house some old dame,
So feeble she scarce could walk steady,
Lady Mary would say,
"Take your cloak off and stay,
And early my tea shall be ready."

So pleasant her smile
And her manners the while
So kind was the welcome she gave her,
Her modest old guest
Would be put quite at rest.
And stay as if granting a favor.

She'd laugh, then, and chat,
About this thing and that,
And seek to amuse her meek hearer,
As social and free,
"While she poured out the tea,
As if some great duchess were near her.

When the moment was come
For her guest to go home,
That she might neither want, beg, nor borrow,
She 'd press her to take
A nice tart and a cake,
Or something else, good for the morrow.

She sometimes would go
Soothing words to bestow,
With gifts and kind looks, where were lying
The sick, pale, and faint ;
And she 'd kneel, like a saint,
In prayer by the bed of the dying.

Her wish was, to see
All as happy as she :
And she knew her kind deeds so to vary,
That the sad, rich and poor,
Said, in heaven, they were sure,
Was a place for the good lady Mary.