Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SALTED DOWN, by WALT MASON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SALTED DOWN, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I saved five dollars every week, against the
Last Line: Some roubles down.
Subject(s): Fortune; Wealth; Riches; Fortunes


I SAVED five dollars every week, against the day that's wet and dank. Sometimes

it made my spirit shriek, to put that plunder in the bank. For there were sights

I longed to see, and junketings I wished to make; to save was such a strain on
me, I thought my old tin heart would break. But Susan Jane, my thrifty wife, was

always watching at my side; and she would say, "You bet your life, you do not
let the kopecks slide. Our strongbox must not spring a leak," my wife would say,

in solemn tones; "and at the end of every week, you'll pickle five gun-metal
bones." I used to wish that Susan Jane were more like other wives I know, that
she would think it safe and sane to let the coin for pleasure go. Then I lay
down with divers ills, and spent three weary months in bed, my stomach full of
drugs and pills, and poultices upon my head. We paid the druggist and the nurse,

the doc, who brought me back to health; and if I dodged the village hearse, it
was because I'd saved some wealth. To every man there comes a day when Fortune
wears a gloomy frown; and, while you're earning coin, I say, it's wise to salt
some roubles down.





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