Nursery Rhyme Backstory: Old Mother Hubbard

The Hubbard household used to be
the pillars of community.
Their juveniles then left the land

to seek their fortunes elsewhere -- and,

once others -- elders -- too, had gone,

who left was there to carry on...?

     The matriarch, with her Jack Russell,

'round th'ancestral pile would bustle.

Income, though, did not "come in."

When food ran out, the pair wax'd thin.

In larder left...? Not even bones.

Both starved. (Attend ye: curs 'n' crones!)