Aunt Nancy's Romance (Poem—1889)

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Aunt Nancy's Romance
By Hattie Whitney
Good Housekeeping, October 12, 1889. p. 275.

Go along, you silly creatures,
And don't you talk such stuff;
It's like to make your poor old aunt
Get cranky, sure enough;
Do you know I'm nearly forty--
Do you think I've lost my head?
And as for Deacon Tomlinson,
You know his hair is red.

You know he's got nine children,
As wild as they can be--
Good land! I tell you 'taint a bit
Of use to talk to me.
Besides, I'm nearly forty,
And I haven't lost my head,
And as for Deacon Tomlinson,
His hair is awful red.

You say he's coming over here
To tea to night? Oh my!
I'll have to fry some doughnuts
And bake a cherry pie;
And Dolly, honey, you must make
A loaf of Sally-Lunn,
With lots of eggs to make it light,
And bake it good and done.

What, something of importance
To tell me, did you say?
I wish you'd pleat my muslin ruff,
And do it right away;
I know I'm nearly forty,
And I haven't lost my head,
And as for Deacon Tomlinson,
His hair is kind of red.

But then, it's just as well to look
As decent as you can;
And the Deacon always was a most
Observing kind of man;
We knew each other long ago,
When we were young and green;
We had a falling out, and so
He married 'Tildy Bean.

It's only just about a year
Since 'Tildy quit this life--
He says he's lonesome, does he,
And he's bound to have a wife?
Dear me, I'm nearly forty,
But I b'lieve I've lost my head;
And as for Deacon Tomlinson,
His hair ain't very red.

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