Golden Curls and a Heart of Gold

I met one day not long ago
A dear little maid whose name you know,
She'd a ruby mouth, two sapphire eyes,
A nice enough nose for a girl of her size;
   But oh! her curls!
   That sweetest of girls
Had a head of adorable golden curls!
   Red gold curls,
   The cunningest quirls--
I fell in love with those golden curls!
But I afterwards found, to my glad surprise,
That neither those curls, nor the nose, nor the eyes,
Were of this little maiden the very best part,
For she had what was better--a golden heart!
   Heart of gold--
   For young and old--
Golden curls and a golden heart!

             Thomas W. Handford, ed. Belford's Annual. 1888-9,
               (Chicago: Belford Clarke & Co., 1888), p. 189.