Read "A Diverted Tragedy" by James Whitcomb Riley online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
Gracie wuz allus a _careless_ tot; / But Gracie dearly loved her doll, / An' played wiv it on the winder-sill / 'Way up-stairs, when she ought to _not_, / An' her muvver _telled_ her so an' all; / But she won't _mind_ what _she_ say -- till, / First thing she know, her dolly fall / Clean spang out o' the winder plumb / Into the street! An' here Grace come / Down-stairs, two at a time, ist wild / An' a-screamin', "Oh, my child! my child!"
Jule wuz a-bringin' their basket o' clo'es / Ist then into their hall down there, -- / An' she ist stop' when Gracie bawl, / An' Jule she say "She ist declare / She's ist in time! " An' what you s'pose?
She sets her basket down in the hall, / An' wite on top o' the snowy clo'es / Wuz Gracie's dolly a-layin' there / An' ist ain't bu'st ner hurt a-tall!
Nen Gracie smiled -- ist _sobbed_ an' smiled -- / An' cried, "My child! my precious child! "