From The Detroit Times, November 18, 1914. By Earl T. Henry.
My little girlie is six years old, with eyes of velvet brown,
And she thinks her daddy a wondrous man—a king without renown;
But her dad knows well his countless scars, and the sins his thoughts confine;
Oh, she makes a nervous man o’ me when her brown eyes seek mine.
The sweetheart fair, with sunny hair, dreams day-dreams full of joy;
God grant that she may never be a mere man’s golden toy!
For toys will break, and baby hearts are found in women fine;
Let no rude hand e’er tear that heart which sends such joy through mine.
If after years when she has grown to glorious womanhood,
And learned the many, many things that every woman should,
My baby fair with silken hair, will learn her daddy fine
Was but a man—how nervous I, when her soft eyes seek mine.
Methinks it is a plan divine to send such patterns rare;
Sweet children with their hearts of gold to occupy our care;
No man full blown from nature’s field could spur us on to shine
Like one pure look from little eyes that beam on yours and mine.
Let her find out, as soon she must, her daddy-king is clay—
Her little lessons must be learned, they hurt but for a day—
With all my sins and all my scars, I drink to “Baby Mine,”
For I’m a purer man, you see, when her brown eyes seek mine.