Like Mary Jane

When Mary Jane gets tuckered out an’ things is goin’ wrong

An’ sorrer seems to fill her heart, out-weighin’ all the song,

She doesn’t make no loud complaint, nor git upon her ear,

Nor slams the kitchen things around so ev’ryone kin hear;

No, sir, that ain’t like Mary Jane, she jes’ slides up tew me

An’ lays her head upon my breast an’ smiles quietly,

An’ says she’s sorry, an’ so an’ so, an’ I’d be happier fur,

Ef I hed chosen someone else, an’ never married her.

A moisture comes into my eyes, a lump within my throat,

An’ I jest stroke the shinin’ hair that’s tousled on my coat,

An’ tell her, as I’ve told afore, yes o’er an’ o’er again,

There’s no one in the world could suit me like my Mary Jane.

I tell her, on the other hand, that she’d much happier be

Ef she hed married some one else instid of one like me.

Then Mary Jane will raise her head an’ say, “no no, no no;

I’m happy now,” an’ then her eyes will gain their ol’ time glow,

An’ dashin’ back her tears she’ll go blithely to work again,

While I laugh to myself an’ say, “that’s just like Mary Jane”.

Sept. 23, 1907