The Difference (Three Old Ladies). Rhymes and Jingles by Mary Mapes Dodge for children
There was an old lady all dressed in silk,
Who lived upon lemons and buttermilk;
And, thinking this world was a sour old place,
She carried its acid all over her face;
Another old lady, all dressed in patches,
Lived upon nothing but Lucifer matches;
So the world, it made her strangle and cough,
And sure as you rubbed her you set her off.
Another old lady, all sunny and neat,
Who lived upon sugar, and every thing sweet;
Declared, when she heard of their troubles, she "never!"
For the world was so nice she could live on forever.
The Moral
Now, children take your choice
Of the food your hearts shall eat;
There are sourish thoughts, and brimstone thoughts,
And thoughts all good and sweet;
And whatever the heart feeds on,
Dear children, trust to me,
Is precisely what this queer old world
Will seem to you to be.