Baby's Got a Tooth

The telephone rang in my office to-day,

as it often has tinkled before.

I turned in my chair in a half-grouchy way,

for a telephone call is a bore;

And I thought, “It is somebody wanting to know

the distance from here to Pekin.”

In a tone that was gruff I shouted “Hello,”

a sign for the talk to begin.

“What is it?” I asked in a terrible way.

I was huffy, to tell you the truth,

Then over the wire I heard my wife say:

“The baby, my dear, has a tooth!”

I have answered the telephone thousands of times

for messages both good and bad;

I've received the reports of most horrible crimes,

and news that was cheerful or sad;

I've been telephoned this and been telephoned

that, a joke, or an errand to run;

I've been called to the phone for the idlest of chat,

when there was much work to be done;

But never before have I realized quite the thrill

of a message, forsooth,

Till over the wire came these words that I write,

“The baby, my dear, has a tooth.”