I woke to feel a fuzzy nose pressed tight against

my own;

Just roused enough for the request in a thin little

tone,

Preferred by just the littlest sweet babe with yellow

hair

And sleepy eyes: "Wake up now, dad, and kiss my

Teddy bear;

Wake up now, dad, and kiss my bear so him tan

doe to freep;

Him kied to have you kiss him, dad; him loves

you dess a heap;

Prease kiss my Teddy bear now, dad; now, daddy,

wake and do;

Prease wake an' kiss my Teddy bear, an' kiss your

baby, too."

And so I kissed the T'eddy bear, between a sigh and

snore,

And groped and found my watch, and found that it

was only four!

And then I kissed the baby, too, and told her:

"Holy smoke!

What made you come and wake me up? Do you

think it's a joke!

How dared you do It? Don't you think I want to

sleep at all?"

At that her under lip poked out and tears prepared

to fall;

But, as she always does before she puckers up and

cries,

Through the rainstorm about to break she looked

into my eyes.

She looked into my eyes and blinked, and blinked

and blinked and blinked;

And gradually as she winked, and winked and

winked and winked,

The tears went back, and as they went a dimple bit

her cheek,

A smile came blossoming across her lips, and she

cried: "Peek!

Yours baby saw you laughin', dad!" Then disap-

peared the squall,

"Yours baby saw you laughin', dad, an' you ain't

mad at all!

I'm frinks you ought to wake up, dad, as waky as

can be;

For sister-girl's afreep an' no one's up to play with

me."

And I thought-but You need not know what I

thought, need not care-

'Twas such a peevish thought and had a "darn" in it

somewhere,

And I'm ashamed of It. To think that I should dare

to care

Because I'm roused at tour a. ill. to kiss a Teddy bear,

And kiss a tousled pate and be coaxed to come out

and play;

I laughed into her eyes until I laughed the tears

away!

I've sat up nights when she was sick, she nearly

went away-

Why, bless her heart! What's four o'clock, when

baby wants to play?

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