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Ann Taylor - Meddlesome Matty
Work rating: Low

One ugly trick has often spoil`d
  The sweetest and the best; 
Matilda, though a pleasant child, 
  One ugly trick possess`d, 
Which, like a cloud before the skies, 
Hid all her better qualities. 

Sometimes she`d lift the tea-pot lid, 
  To peep at what was in it, 
Or tilt the kettle, if you did 
  But turn your back a minute. 
In vain you told her not to touch,
Her trick of meddling grew so much. 

Her grandmamma went out one day,
  And by mistake she laid
Her spectacles and snuff-box gay
  Too near the little maid; 
"Ah! well," thought she, "I`ll try them on, 
As soon as grandmamma is gone. " 

Forthwith she placed upon her nose
  The glasses large and wide; 
And looking round, as I suppose, 
  The snuff-box too she spied: 
"Oh! what a pretty box is that; 
I`ll open it," said little Matt. 

"I know that grandmamma would say,
  `Don`t meddle with it, dear;`
But then, she`s far enough away, 
  And no one else is near: 
Besides, what can there be amiss
In opening such a box as this? " 

So thumb and finger went to work 
  To move the stubborn lid,
And presently a mighty jerk
  The mighty mischief did; 
For all at once, ah! woeful case, 
The snuff came puffing in her face. 

Poor eyes, and nose, and mouth, beside
  A dismal sight presented; 
In vain, as bitterly she cried, 
  Her folly she repented. 
In vain she ran about for ease; 
She could do nothing now but sneeze. 

She dash`d the spectacles away, 
  To wipe her tingling eyes, 
And as in twenty bits they lay, 
  Her grandmamma she spies. 
"Heyday! and what`s the matter now?"
Says grandmamma, with lifted brow. 

Matilda, smarting with the pain, 
  And tingling still, and sore,
Made many a promise to refrain
  From meddling evermore. 
And `tis a fact, as I have heard, 
She ever since has kept her word.
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