Two Faces

By Louisa Lula Greene Richards

“You can’t have your dinner, Benny,
Till you go and wash your face;
It’s all daubed with cake and candy,”
Softly whispered cousin Grace.

“Some un’ else has got the basin,”
Ben said, turning up his plate.
“And I am so awful hungry,
I don’t feel ‘s if I cou’d wait.”

“Well, you must wait,” answered Gracie,
“Go and wash you, nice and quick;
For to eat with face so dirty
Would make anybody sick.”

“You look in the glass,” said Benny,
“See your awful daubs of paint;
Must have made you sick already,
You look ‘s if you’re goin’ to faint.

“If you should lick your lips, you’d poison.
Cake and candy’s nice and sweet.
Gracie! ‘fore you go to wash ye,
Please to give me some’un t’ eat!”

Moral

Consult your mirror, e’er you lightly trace
What looks like dirt upon another’s face.

(1891)