Fate

Don’t believe in fate,

      Not a little bit;

Fate is awful stuff,

      Don’t want none of it.

Lost my pocketbook,

      Held my ev’ry red;

Told a lazy cop,

      “That is fate,” he said.

Called a man a liar,

      Nearly killed me dead;

Hospital six months

      “Fate” the doctor said.

Loved a girl intense,

      Courted summers eight;

Jilted me at last,

      Signed the message, “fate”.

Married just a year,

      Bonnie lassie Kate;

Triplets, nothing less,

      “Dear,” says she, “it’s fate.”

Now good lord of all,

      Powerful an’ great,

In the future please

      Shelter me from fate!

Aug. 16, 1900

            ‘red’ – a twenty dollar bill: