So strong are you, my baby?
I see that very plain;
For you can hold above your head
Papa’s big, heavy cane.
Why, soon you can be lifting,
For your mamma, the chairs;
Or bringing heavy books to her,
Or helping her up-stairs.
Then you can mail her letters,
And run her errands, too;
There is no end of all the things
My baby soon will do.
You soon will be quite manly,
Too soon, mamma thinks, dear;
For she’d like to keep her baby
Many, many a year.