Two thieves went out to steal one day
Thinking that no one knew it:
Three little maids, I grieve to say,
Encouraged them to do it.
’Tis sad that little children should
Encourage men in stealing!
But these, I’ve always understood,
Have got no proper feeling.
An aged friend, who chanced to pass
Exactly at the minute,
Said “Children! Take this Looking-glass,
And see your badness in it.”
Jan. 11, 1872.