Farewell To The Market

'Susannah and Mary-Jane'

TWO little Darlings alone,
Clinging hand in hand;
Two little Girls come out
To see the wonderful land!
Here round the flaring stalls
They stand wide-eyed in the throng,
While the great, the eloquent Huckster
Perorates loud and long.
They watch those thrice-blessed mortals,
The dirty guzzling Boys,
Who partake of dates, periwinkles,
Ices and other joys.
And their little mouths go wide open
At some of the brilliant sights
That little Darlings may see in the road
Of Edgware on Saturday nights.
The eldest's name is Susannah;
She was four years old last May.
And Mary-Jane, the youngest,
Is just three years old to-day.
And I know all about their cat, and
Their father and mother too,
And 'Pigshead,' their only brother,
Who got his head jammed in the flue.
And they know several particulars
Of a similar sort of me,
For we went up and down together
For over an hour, we three.
And Susannah walked beside me,
As became the wiser and older,
Fast to one finger, but Mary-Jane
Sat solemnly up on my shoulder.
And we bought some sweets, and a monkey
That climbed up a stick 'quite nice.'
And then last we adjourned for refreshments,
And the ladies had each an ice.
And Susannah's ice was a pink one,
And she sucked it up so quick,
But Mary-Jane silently proffered
Her ice to me for a lick.
And then we went home to Mother,
And we found her upon the floor,
And Father was trying to balance
His shoulders against the door.
And Susannah said 'O' and 'Please, sir,
We'll go in ourselves, sir!' And
We kissed one another and parted,
And they stole in hand in hand.
And its O for my two little Darlings
I never shall see again,
Though I stand for the whole night watching
And crying here in the rain!