There were two little girls who had
A fond devoted Mammy,
But spent their warm affections on
A most ungrateful lamb-y,
For spite of all the care of Ruth,
And all the love of Mary,
This lamb was a misguided youth,
Most crooked and contràry.
On Sunday, when they went to church,
And wished to be without him,
He used to wander up the aisle,
And stop and stare about him.
And when the parson and the clerk
Looked stern at Ruth and Mary,
They wished they did not own a lamb
So crooked and contràry.
He used to bleat most piteously
When they came up the mountain,
As if to say “I am so dry,
I’d like to drink the fountain!”
But when they drew a pail for him,
(You really scarce might think it,)
He wagged his tail and winked his eye,
And simply wouldn’t drink it.
It chanced one day they went to pay
Their morning salutation,
But though they called, he never came,
Much to their consternation.
They sought him high, they sought him low,
But no! they could not find him,
They said “He will, he must come back,
And bring his tail behind him.”
They sought him up the windy cliff,
And down the ferny hollow,
And still they said “He can’t be lost!”
And still their feet did follow.
Alas! they found him dead at last—
Alas! for Ruth and Mary:
But then, you see, he always was
So crooked and contràry.