WHERE'S THE BABY? by Alice Williams Brotherton

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 17, 1896

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 22, No. 50.

WHERE'S THE BABY?

By Alice Williams Brotherton

O DEAR, where is the baby gone? I can't tell where I missed him; Why only last night in his crib I tucked him safe and kissed him! This boy, with marbles, top and ball, In knickerbockers dressed, This can not be the baby small I cradled on my breast.

I want the weenty teenty thing In dresses soft and white, That I could cuddle, kiss, and sing Soft by-lows to at night. But stay—here are the self-same eyes, His very dimpled chin, These are his rosy, pouting lips, With milk-white teeth within.

This is my baby. But how changed! I hear his merry shout As he goes sliding down the stair, And dancing in and out; Splashing and dashing through the brook, With brow and cheek of tan. Heigho: My baby's gone; in-tead I see—a little man.

Ah, well, when evening comes again, With sleep and story-time, A little white-gowned form will come Into my lap to climb; His wee head cradled on my heart Will still this yearning pain. O then I'll know that I have found My baby boy again! —Alice Williams Brotherton.