In your cradle, little maiden,
Playing gayly with your toe,
What a sorry world you've strayed in,
What a lot you'll have to know!

History was spread out thinly
When to school your daddy went.
Textbooks stopped at Bill McKinley,
Roosevelt was President.

Now, poor kid, you'll have to study
All about the German War,
Names of towns and battles bloody,
French and Belgian, by the score.

Names like Loos and Mons and Nancy,
Neuve Chapelle and Belleau Wood,
Skagerack and Warsaw, fancy,
These will be your daily food.

Turkish names and Greek and Russian,
Both the Slavs — the Jugs and Czechs —
Cities Serbian and Prussian,
These your childhood days will vex.

You'll know all about the Kaiser
When your mind is fully shaped.
Than your daddy you'll be wiser —
But, golly, kid, what I escaped!