The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1917-09-20
A "Mother Goose" Incident, Having
to do With 'The Moffet Mystery
By DOLLY DALRYMrLE

q LII ages have their own problems;
IN we spend our years wondering
e ~ about things concerning which
even the new Standard Dictionary or
the Encyclopedia Britannica offers no
enlightenment.
Children have their unsolved problems
as well as ''grown-ups''; for instance
there is that mysterious word "tuffet,
which blasted our infant years; before
we were instructed on the educational
intricacies Of the alphabet we were made
acquainted with a certain sensitive, yet
pampered person of our own years, OF
whom we were told:
Little Miss Moffet
Sat on a tuffet
Eating some curds and whey.
There came up a spider
That sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Moffet away.
1t is all such a simple and very clear
narrative, except that one mysterious
word ''tuffet."
That the heroine of the incident was
well and gently born is indicated by
the way she is spoken of, Little Miss
Moffet," the adjective indicating her
tender years. and the Miss her exalted
position. II she had been otherwise,
they'd have spoken of her as just plain
Maggie Muffet,' or that troublesome
girl" or even as mothers angel che
e-i-l-d," but Miss Moffet" hints of So
cial quality of Respondent nursery, of
head nurse and nursery maid in attend
ance. 1t is very evident that Miss Moi
fet' came from good people and that
there was some class" to her and what
she was used to.
Ordinary children eat mush and milk
porridge, but here we have another evil
dence Of Miss Moffet's'' distinction
when the poet relates that she was "eat-
ing some curds and whey, and perched
up on "tuffet' where no doubt her re-
past was served in courses" with servi-
cite spread over her immaculate little
frock
Also the high estate of Miss Moffet"
was again indicated by her extreme SEN
sibility; she was like the princess whose
slumber was disturbed by pea placed
beneath 10 feather mattresses, which she
mistook for cannon ball; or the queen
who could not sleep because a crumpled
roseleaf lay upon her down pillow.
Children in general have an antipathy
for spiders and things spiders are not
pretty creatures like the butterfly, good
Lady Bug" or the gauzy-winged moth;
they are said to bite with venom ano
have an unsavory reputation for guile
in Turing innocent flies into death-traI
webs, but the stout-hearted child gives
small heed to spiders other than to ex-
terminate them, whereas the intrusion OF
this unbidden insect guest to the feas
of "curds and whey" seems to have
| so affected Little Miss Moffet's" nerv-
Gus sensibilities that she fled at his un-
welcome presence
| 1t is all very interesting. not to say
dramatic, this spider "Banquo' at thu
| feast-a tragedy in fashionable nursery
| life, but at least it can be understood
while the identity of the 'tuffet"-can
not III
| What was the mysterious thing upor
which this innocent. if pampered, darling
| Of the nursery sat?
For generations Mother Goose ha!
| been the unrivalled classic of nursery
literature, but what child now livins
| ever sat upon a '.tuffet?''
! Alas and alack, the world is full o
| inexplicable things-the universe envel