With time our notions allus change, An' years make old idees seem strange -- Take Mary there -- time was when she Thought one child made a family, An' when our eldest, Jim, was born She used to say, both night an' morn': "One little one to love an' keep, To guard awake, an' watch asleep; To bring up right an' lead him through Life's path is all we ought to do." Two years from then our Jennie came, But Mary didn't talk the same; "Now that's just right," she said to me, "We've got the proper family -- A boy an' girl, God sure is good; It seems as though He understood That I've been hopin' every way To have a little girl some day; Sometimes I've prayed the whole night through -- One ain't enough; we needed two." Then as the months went rollin on, One day the stork brought little John, An' Mary smiled an' said to me; "The proper family is three; Two boys, a girl to romp an' play -- Jus' work enough to fill the day. I never had enough to do, The months that we had only two; Three's jus' right, pa, we don't want more." Still time went on an' we had four. An' that was years ago, I vow, An' we have six fine children now; An' Mary's plumb forgot the day She used to sit an' sweetly say That one child was enough for her To love an' give the proper care; One, two or three or four or five -- Why, goodness gracious, sakes alive, If God should send her ten to-night, She'd vow her fam'ly was jus' right! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: COLUMBUS CHENEY by EDGAR LEE MASTERS SUNDAY NIGHT by LOUIS UNTERMEYER ALAS! by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS THE FOUNTAIN by MUHAMMAD AL-MU'TAMID II HAWTHORNE by AMOS BRONSON ALCOTT RETURN by KENNETH SLADE ALLING |