Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.
By Anna M.Pratt1202 A Mortifying Mistake
I
But I could n’t remember six times nine, and I did n’t know what to do,
Till sister told me to play with my doll, and not to bother my head.
“If you call her ‘Fifty-four’ for a while, you ’ll learn it by heart,” she said.
To give such a perfectly lovely child such a perfectly horrid name),
And I called her my dear little “Fifty-four” a hundred times, till I knew
The answer of six times nine as well as the answer of two times two.
Said, “Six times nine is fifty-two,” and I nearly laughed aloud!
But I wished I had n’t when teacher said, “Now, Dorothy, tell if you can.”
For I thought of my doll and—sakes alive!—I answered, “Mary Ann!”