Mistress Mary has slipped away from the paperers, carpenters, and gardeners in her new old house and gone up to the garret. There, hidden under the eaves, she finds an old trunk. Inside is a round box holding a child’s worn-out boots and socks, crude drawings of flowers and fruits, a toy whip, a ship, and a ball. The questioner notices her eyes are wet and round, and Mary’s answer is quiet and wistful: these things are “just like a little lost boy.” The poem creates a hushed, slightly haunting mood. The objects are ordinary, but together they suggest a whole vanished childhood—perhaps a son who died or a boy who grew up and left. Mary seems moved by the tenderness and sadness of finding someone else’s small, forgotten life tucked away. The new house suddenly feels full of someone absent.
Mistress Mary — Summary
“O Mistress Mary--Mistress Mary-- What have you found in your new old house? Paperers are waiting you, and carpenters, and gardeners-- And you are up garret, just as still as a mouse! What makes your eyes so wet and so round? Mary--Mary! What have you found?”
“Where the sour old wind grieves under the eaves There’s an old trunk hid--Oh the dust on the lid! I pulled out from it a gay round box, And in it were worn-out boots and socks-- Little, soft socks and little, stout boots-- And a child’s crude drawings of flowers and fruits, And a tiny toy whip, and a ship and a ball-- Oh--they’re just like a little lost boy! That’s all!”