Middletown transcript., 1883-03-16
THE KISS DEFERRED.

Two little cousins once there were,
/ Named Mary Ann and Jane,
! The first one lived in Boston town,
| The second down in Maine.
| And jane she wrote a little note,
! 3" Dear Cousin, p thus wrote she;
"Dear Cousin Ann, I've made plan
| That you should visit me.
| For You are one, the Ann unknown
| I've always longed to see.
| They say that you have eyes deep blue,
| And brow all lily fair,
| While round your face with many grace
Doth curl your golden hair.
Now l, they say, have eyes of gray,
And the puggest little nose.
A small round chin with a dimple in,
And cheeks as red as Il rose.
Let me tell You this, I'm saving kiss
And dear, good hugging, too,
For the cousin fair with the golden hair
And the eyes so brightly blue.
So pray, dear Ann. come if you can,
And bring your dolly dear,
My dollieS all, both great and small,
VIII make her welcome here"
Wrote Ann to Jane: "Td come to Maine
And play with you, I'm sure;
1t would be so good if only could,
But my papa is too poor.
When his ship gets home
He says / may come;
For that will surely bring
All it can hold of silver and gold,
And clothes and everything"
The years few on, young maidens grown
Were Mary Ann and Jane;
Still dwell the first in Boston town,
The second down in Maine.
And now Jane wrote perfumed note,
All in a perfumed cover,
And thus it ran: "Do come, dear Ann,
Do come and bring your lover.
I've Il lover, too, so tender and true,
A gallant youth is he;
On summer night when the moon shines
bright,
How charming it will be
10 pleasantly walk and pleasantly talk,
Way down by the sounding sea-"
Wrote Ann to Jane: THAT visit to Maine
Must longer yet delay,
My cousin dear, for soon draws near
My happy wedding day.
Time onward ran, now Jane and Ann
Were old and feeble grown
Lies rapid years. mid smiles and tears,
Had swiftly DER them flown.
Their locks Of gray were stroked away
From the worn and wfinkled brow.
Their forms were bent, their years were spent,
They were widowed women now.
Suddenly, one day, one winters day,
Aunt Ann said, II must go
And see Cousin Jane who lives i'll Maine,
In spite of wind and snow"
As Aunt Jane sits and quietly knits,
Thinking her childhood DER,
The latch is stirred, and next is heard
A tapping at the door.
"Come IN, she said, and raised her head
To see who might appear
An aged dame who walked quite lame,
Said, " Cousin, 1 am here,
I'm here, dear Jane, I've come to Maine
To take that kiss, you know,
The kiss, my dear kept for me here
Since that long, long ago."
In glad surprise, Aunt Jane replies,
"Why, cousin, can this be you?
But where, 0 where, is the golden hair
And the eyes so brightly blue?"
And where,' Ann said, g are your roses fed,
And your chubby cheeks, pray?
This, 1 suppose, was the little pug nose,
But the dimples, where are they?
And the lover, too, so tender and true,
Who walked by the light Of the moon,
And the little band that round did stand
Are they gone, all gone, so soOn?"
They turned their eyes to the darkening skies
And the desolate scene below,
As they spoke with tears of their childhood
years
And the hopes of long ago.
The smiles and tears of buried years
Were smiled and wept again.
Thus met at last, a lifetime past,
The cousins, Ann and Jane
One of whom lived in Boston town,
The other down in Maine.