A MORTIFYING MISTAKE by Anna M. Pratt

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 7, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 39.

A MORTIFYING MISTAKE.

By Anna M. Pratt

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 awhile, you'll learn it by heart," she said. So I took my favorite, Mary Ann (tho I thought 'twas a dreadful shame To give such 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 teacher said, "Now, Dorothy, tell, if you can." For I thought of my doll, and—sakes alive!—I answered—"Mary Ann!"

—Anna M. Pratt.