TAKING my walk the other day,

I saw a little girl at play,

So pretty, ’twould not be amiss,

Thought I, to venture on a kiss.

Fiercely the little girl began—

“I wonder at you, nasty man!”

And all four fingers were applied,

And crimson pinafore beside,

To wipe what venom might remain,—

“Do if you dare the like again;

I have a mind to teach you better,”

And I too had a mind to let her.