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HOUSECLEANING DAY IN VERMONT, by DANIEL LEAVENS CADY Poet's Biography First Line: To clean a house is still some job Last Line: The day we cleaned the house. Subject(s): Cleanliness; Household Employees; Vermont; Servants; Domestics; Maids | ||||||||
TO clean a house is still some job, As any eye can see, And yet it ain't a hackumstance To what it used to be When ma pinned up her gingham dress, And pa took off his blouse, And everybody pitched right in And went to cleaning house. The dishes, pictures, beds and chairs Soon found themselves outdoors; Our yard was jest as full of things As two compartment stores; You'd s'pose we fitted pedlars out, The same as Broadway Rouss That's how our dooryard used to look The day we cleaned the house. The mantel clock, it ticked away Beneath the Harvey tree; The victuals safe was next the road And bread and cheese was free; The hitching post held up my brace Of dust-conserving grouse, And Henry Clay stood on his head The day we cleaned the house. We cracked the fambly looking glass A little more each year, But didn't throw it down the bank, For things them days was dear; We glued the whatnot shelves back in, We "finished up" the souse, And burnt a bunch of wax-works flowers Each time we cleaned the house. The clothsline reeked with quilts and mats, And 'long the portico, Stood all the winder sash there was Upstairs and down below; And every winder that was washed I had to go and douse With water that I pumped myself, The day we cleaned the house. We scrubbed the chairs and blacked the stove And took the heater off, And scoured the ikon grandpa Tripp Brought back from Peterhof; We each could see the others work, There wan't no chance to chouse, And sometimes two was mad at once The day we cleaned the house. The Sunday school collection box, And paregoric shelf, Was things that ma attended to Entirely by herself; And once she said, or nearly said, "Jim Tripp, put on your blouse And go away and doctor sheep, While I refresh this house." The time our goods was back inside 'Twas ten o'clock, about; We couldn't bedcord all the beds And so I went without; 'Twas fun to lay there on the floor As quiet as a mouse I never had no other fun The day we cleaned the house. | Other Poems of Interest...BRONZEVILLE WOMAN IN A RED HAT by GWENDOLYN BROOKS IBIS; FOR LORI GOLDENSOHN by NORMAN DUBIE PLAINT OF THE POET IN AN IGNORANT AGE by CAROLYN KIZER LEDA'S HANDMAIDEN by ELEANOR WILNER THE HOUSEKEEPER by ROBERT FROST |
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