“No Children Wanted Here”

Maree an’ I closed up the farm an’ tuk the keers fur town;

We lef’ the children, Dick an’ Nell ‘ith Gramp’ an’ Gramma Brown.

Got tired uv country life, we hed, Maree ez well ez me,

An’ we wuz goin’ ter live et las’ ware we could hear an’ see.

I hed a thousand in the bank, the ha’f uv which we drew,

An’ ez we spun erlong we talked what fust we’d better dew.

I thought we’d better hire a house Maree she thought the same;

Yeou see, we’d allus ‘greed like thet sence she hed shared my name.

So up an’ down the streets we tramped a-lookin’ sharp fer rents,

An’ foun’ at las’ a cosy one ithout tew much expense.

But when I spoke uv Dick an’ Nell, they looked a bit severe,

An’ said, “We’d like tew let yeou in, but warnt no children here.”

An’ arter we hed tramped eroun’ an’ heer’d the same reply

From more’n a dozen heartless souls, Maree got mad, an’ I,

Says I, “If this here city is tew good fer Nell an’ Dick,

Be hanged ef I will settle down in yer ol’ walls er brick!

Them children hain’t ter blame fer bein’ born I guess,

An’ they er jest ez good ez yeou er any uv yeour mess.

I see yeou’ve got ‘em here, yeourself? but thet is different;

Yeour cheldren’s better’n them uv mine? Wall, keep yeour tenement.”

An’ when the evenin’ shadders played acrost the fields an’ wood,

We walked ‘ith joy up tew the farm an’ settled there fer good.

April 26, ‘94

Pub. in B. Courier,

Sept. 29, 1895