The Dolls

“WHENEVER you dress me dolls, mammy, Why do you dress them so, And make them gallant soldiers, When never a one I know; And not as gentle ladies With frills and frocks and curls, As people dress the dollies Of other little girls?” Ah—why did she not answer:— “Because your mammy’s heed Is always gallant soldiers, As well may be, indeed. One of them was your daddy, His name I must not tell; He’s not the dad who lives here, But one I love too well.”