Washin

I wouldn’t mind ma washin’ uv

     My hands an’ face each day

If she would on’y do it in

     A gentler sort uv way.

I wouldn’t mind the cloth at all,

     I guess it weighs a pound

Or mebbie two, ef twuzn’t fur

     The cold ends flappin’ round.

I wouldn’t mind the scrubbin’, too,

     Although I’m awful thin,

If ma would jest be satisfied

     To not remove the skin.

An’ then the water, deary me!

     She gets a peck, I bet;

But still I wouldn’t kick at that

     Ef ‘twarn’t so awful wet.

But worst uv all is ev’ry day!

      Three times a day, or more;

No wonder I’m behind at school,

     An’ always thin an’ sore.

The way ma washes, I should think,

     An’ I had orter know,

Had orter last a boy like me

     About a week or so.

March 19, 1912