BE CHARITABLE by St. Nicholas

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 23, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 37.

BE CHARITABLE.

By St. Nicholas

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 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.

So I took my favorite, Mary Ann (though I thought 'twas a dreadful shame To give such a perfectly lovely child such a perfectly horrid name), And I called my dear little "Fifty-four" a hundred times, till I knew The answer to six times nine as well as the answer to 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"!

—St. Nicholas.