Main Contents & Search
Jewett's Poems
THE BABY-HOUSE FAMINE.
Sarah Orne Jewett At the baby-house door sits my sweet little Kitty,
In her apron lies Kitty, her namesake, asleep;
The dollies look out of the baby-house parlors,
And the baby-clothes lie on the floor in a heap.Are the cares of your housekeeping quite overwhelming?
Are the children unruly, and servants a bore?
But they sit dressed for callers; and down in the kitchen
Sits placid old Dinah with eyes on the floor.If you're tired of playing, run out to the garden;
There's green grass to play on, the sunshine is bright;
Or Aunty will read you a nice little story, --
Take her lap for your bed, dear, and play it is night.Then the dear little face grew exceedingly solemn,
And in the brown eyes were two wee little tears;
The dollies -- believe me -- looked anxious and troubled;
Miss Kitten gaped sadly; O. what were your fears?Dear Aunty, my children are dying of hunger;
Just look at Miss Anna! she's grown very thin;
I've not had a party for such a forever, --
And to see them all starving! It's really a sin.Well, the last that I saw of the dolls in affliction,
They sat round their table, mamma at the head;
She seemed very hungry, but they sat there smiling,
And when Kitty finished they all went to bed.
Note"The Baby-House Famine" was published under the pseudonym of Alice Eliot in Our Young Folks (4:568) in September 1868. This is the first Jewett poem listed by Weber and Weber in A Bibliography of the Published Writings of Sarah Orne Jewett, and so is her first poem known to have appeared in a major magazine. This text is available courtesy of the Newberry Library.
Edited by Terry Heller, Coe College.
Main Contents & Search
Jewett's Poems