On the car this mornin' I heard a woman talkin' -- She was on her way to make a speech On Sir Walter Scott to a woman's club; She made her livin' givin' talks on authors! Such clean work! How I wished I'd got some education So's I could make a livin' that way 'stead of Scrubbin' other folks' bathrooms, Cleanin' after other folks' parties, Washin' after other folks' children -- But all the education in my family went to Julia, My eldest sister. She was the smartest, an' my father said He'd educate her and she could educate the rest of us. We sold off one of the four cows, The speckled heifer, To pay her tuition in Miss Willard's seminary. Once I walked five white miles in a stingin' blizzard To borrow a dollar to send her When her groceries give out. We picked berries all summer an' sold 'em To lay up her graduatin' money. Well, she graduated, But she never taught me anything. She jes' set around home an' grieved. The boys she would have wouldn't have her. An' them that would have her she wouldn't have Finally, she died, an old maid -- An' I never did git no education! Jes' think of it -- Makin' a livin' givin' talks on authors, Such nice, refined work, Such clean work! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...I'VE NEVER SEEN SUCH A REAL HARD TIME BEFORE' by HAYDEN CARRUTH A COUNTRY BURIAL by EMILY DICKINSON TO SIR HENRY WOTTON (1) by JOHN DONNE TO A BLOCKHEAD by ALEXANDER POPE PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 44. ALLAH-AL-RAKIB by EDWIN ARNOLD |