• Author: Unknown
• Editor: B-8266
• Newspaper: The Umpire volume V
• Page Number:
• Date: 9 4 1918
• Tags:
• poetry

TRY THIS

Whats the use of knockin’, boys? Why not try a boost? Be sure the chickens that you hatch, Will all come home to roost. You may have got a dozen months, Or ten or twenty years; But will it help to grouch around? Try smiles instead of tears. Say that you like the coffee, Just remark you’ve never known, Such taste, and such aroma, Since you last blew off the foam; That cream and sugar’d spoil it, And they’ll maybe send you home, Thinking that you like the Penitentiary,

And when the soup is ladled out, Don’t say that mother could, From just the same ingredients, Make something twice as good; But look upon it kindly, As the best that can be got, Remembering it’s mostly thick, And always piping hot; And take your largest spoon in hand, And quickly eat it up, And scrape the bottom of fhe pan, As tho ’twere claret cup, Then ask another helping, And they’ll send you home to sup, Thinking that you like the Penitentiary.

And there’s the Sunday pot-pie, Which is sure a tasty dish; And there’s the moving pictures, And there’s the Friday fish. And there’s the military, Who are not to proud to fight; And there’s coal in every corner, And there’s music day and night. There’s excuse for lookin’ cheerful, So why keep on lookin’ glum? Think about the years you’ve got in, Not about the years to come; And it‘s likely they’ll parole you, Long before your ‘‘bit’’ is done, Thinking that you like the Penitentiary.