“Did e’er you see a flow’r like that,
So exquisitely pretty?”
Said Mabel to her Kitty-cat;
But not a word said Kitty.
Perhaps it was in her delight
Mabel contrived to squeeze her,
For though Kit stared with all her might,
The sunflow’r did not please her.
“Well, well, why don’t you answer me?
Why don’t you say it’s pretty?”
But still she could or would not see,—
She was perverse, was Kitty.
“Sweet mistress, pray restrain your ire,”
Said Kit in trepidation;
“Why must I say that I admire,
When I’ve no admiration?”
“Don’t ask me that, you stupid cat,”
Said Mabel in a passion;
“You must, you shall admire,—because,
Because it is the fashion!”