LIFE AS MAMA KNEW IT(页 1) - 阅读提高 - 英语听力论坛 -英语听力,英语学习

蓝蓝发表于 2007-9-21 18:51

LIFE AS MAMA KNEW IT

My children often asked me 

If I saw Abe Lincoln shot. 

If I rode in horse and buggy, 

And I'd say "that old I'm not!" 

So I took them to the places 

Where I used to run and play, 

And I told them many stories 

Of how things were in my day. 

The many homes we lived in 

With the outhouse right behind. 

Sleeping three in one full bed 

For our winters were unkind. 

The old pot bellied stove 

Where ten children gathered close, 

To warm their little bodies 

Before dressing in their clothes. 

Most all clothes were from relief 

Or hand me downs from others. 

Our shoes were lined with cardboard, 

As were our dad's and mother's. 

No butter on the toast we had... 

Lard, with sugar on the top. 

Canmilk coffee was for breakfast. 

Always two to one full cup. 

Hauling wood in winter snow 

With a wheelbarrow twice our size. 

Getting chased by neighbors horses 

Trudging homeward with our prize. 

There was a truck eleven 

And another seventeen. 

We grouped them both together 

And called them leventeen. 

When we'd hear that number called 

We'd know that we'd been found, 

Taking wood from off the pile 

Instead of off the ground. 

Old Joe's pigs would free themselves. 

They were big and fast and mean. 

Thank heaven we were faster 

And the pigs a bit more lean. 

No screens upon the windows. 

No garbage pick up then, and 

The flies outdid the locusts 

In the plague sent down from heaven. 

Before we had our mealtime 

We were all called from play. 

To swing our towels above our heads 

And chase those flies away. 

Then we'd all sit down to supper 

To a platter piled up high 

With sliced fried green tomatoes, 

Which we'd eat until we'd sigh. 

Dangerous fun we all would have 

Taking jumps on cardboard sleds. 

Made for some skinned up faces 

When we jumped into our beds. 

Curling up into a tire, 

Rolling down a great steep hill. 

Jumping railings with a five foot drop, 

Made our mom and dad feel ill. 

On Saturday our mom would tie 

A diaper on her head. 

Then fire up the old wood range 

To bake our daily bread. 

With the kitchen warm and cozy 

She would fill the old wash tub, 

Then the youngest to the oldest 

Would get there weekly scrub. 

Picking beans from Barne's garden 

Just a penny for a pound, 

Caused aching backs and dirty knees 

From kneeling on the ground. 

Picking berries in the summer 

Was another job of ours, 

We'd set out in the morning 

And pick for many hours. 

We'd stop at noon to eat 

Wherever there was shade... 

A peanut butter sandwich and 

Warm iced tea mom made. 

We would stomp cans in the center 

To wear upon our feet, 

To go clanking down the sidewalk 

Or any pavement street. 

Third powder was our swimming hole 

With a mine shaft in the middle. 

A dangerous place to swim, 

Especially when your little. 

We'd save paper, iron and rags 

To help out during the war. 

Victory gardens were aplenty 

To help out even more. 

The paper, iron and rags were 

Put upon the scale to weigh. 

So many pounds of each 

Would let us see a matinee. 

We'd laugh when mom was asked 

If she had rags to spare? 

She'd answer, if I give you mine 

I won't have clothes to wear. 

I remember one fine day 

When we all went to the fair.. 

They stopped to get some ice cream, 

And they found I wasn't there. 

They found me sitting on a bench 

I was very little then. 

I said, "I knew you'd come and get me," 

But in my heart I didn't know when. 

Another time they moved 

While I was staying somewhere. 

Was I surprised when I got home, 

And found they were not there. 

We used to laugh and say, 

"They would count as we came in, 

Seven, eight, nine and ten. 

They all made it home again." 

Those were the good old days, 

As I look back now with pride. 

They made us strong and hardy, 

But it's a wonder we survived!

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LIFE AS MAMA KNEW IT