Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. IV. The Nineteenth Century: Wordsworth to Rossetti

Charles Kingsley (1819–1875)

The Song of Madame Do-as-you-would-be-done-by

[From The Water-Babies]

I ONCE had a sweet little doll, dears,

The prettiest doll in the world;

Her cheeks were so red and so white, dears,

And her hair was so charmingly curled.

But I lost my poor little doll, dears,

As I played in the heath one day;

And I cried for her more than a week, dears,

But I never could find where she lay.

I found my poor little doll, dears,

As I played in the heath one day:

Folks say she is terribly changed, dears,

For her paint is all washed away,

And her arm trodden off by the cows, dears,

And her hair not the least bit curled:

Yet, for old sake’s sake, she is still, dears,

The prettiest doll in the world.