Classic Poem

I STUDIED my tables over and over, and backward and forward, too;
But I could n't remember six times nine, and I did n'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 't was 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 had n't when teacher said, " Now, Dorothy, tell if you can. "
For I thought of my doll and — sakes alive! — I answered, " Mary Ann! "