Poetic Tides Through Time

A Mortifying Mistake

I studied my tables over and over, and backward and
         forward too;
But I couldn't remember six times nine and I didn't know
         what to do,
Till sister told me not to plat 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.

So I took my favorite, Mary Ann (though I though 'twas
         a dreadful shame
To give 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.

Next day Elizabeth Wigglesworth, who always acts so
         proud,
Said "Six times nine is fifty-two" and I nearly laughed
         aloud!
But I wished I hadn't when the teacher said, "Now, Dorothy,
         tell if you can."
For I thought of my doll and - sakes alive!- I answered,
         "Mary Ann!"

                             Anna Marie Pratt [18-?]

From: The Home Book of Verse by Burton Egbert Stevenson, 1917, pg. 166

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Day 8 - "A Mortifying Mistake"  reminds me of both my brother and I trying to learn our multiplication tables, reciting them over and over. I love the approach from the child's perspective by the poetess and especially like the unexpected twist at the end. I think this is such a fun and creative poem! I could not find much about the author but this site suggests she was a teacher: http://www.lehigh.edu/~dek7/SSAWW/writ19CenPrat.htm.