Thursday, May 10, 2007

The Old-Time Family

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By Edgar Guest


It makes me smile to hear ‘em tell each other nowadays
The burdens they are bearing, with a child or two to raise.
Of course the cost of living has gone soaring to the sky
And our kids are wearing garments that my parents couldn’t buy.
Now my father wasn’t wealthy, but I never heard him squeal
Because eight of us were sitting at the table every meal.


People fancy they are martyrs if their children number three,
And four or five they reckon makes a large-sized family.
A dozen hungry youngsters at a table I have seen
And their daddy didn’t grumble when they licked the platter clean.
Oh, I wonder how these mothers and these fathers up-to-date
Would like the job of buying little shoes for seven or eight.


We were eight around the table in those happy days back then,
Eight that cleaned our plates of pot-pie and then passed them up again;
Eight that needed shoes and stockings, eight to wash and put to bed,
And with mighty little money in the purse, as I have said,
But with all the care we brought them, and through all the days of stress,
I never heard my father or my mother wish for less.



When I saw this at Amy's Humble Musings, I remembered how I enjoy the poetry of Edgar Guest. If you enjoyed this one, click here to see some of his other work.

4 comments:

Linz said...

That's a great poem! :) Thanks for the quick note in the book. It was thoughtful. :) I'll try to start reading it tonight or tomorrow night.

Anonymous said...

congrats on having another baby! yay! I love the frames you used for your kids; I am going to get one and start using them for all my kids! (i just have one so far)
Thanks!
Michelle
www.thezerens.blogspot.com

Nikki said...

I've never heard of him before. This is a wonderful poem. I think I may print it out and frame it.

Anonymous said...

I actually have a book with a collection of his poetry that was my grandmother's when she was in high school. It is one of my most prized possessions. Thanks so much for sharing him with everyone.

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