IN the Fall Tired Father's fancy gravely turns to thoughts of coal, and he sheds nine kinds of briny as he sizes up his roll. He has thirty-seven dollars—two of them are plugged with zinc—and the outlook for the winter is extremely on the blink. And he hears the children clamor for a lot of winter duds, and his wife makes requisition for some bacon and some spuds; and his lovely grown-up daughter wants no poverty in hers—she must have a stylish bonnet and a costly set of furs, and the son will need some money as he studies for the bar; thirty-seven hard-earned dollars won't take Father very far. Father has so many problems that his hair has fallen out, yet it's safe to bet a kopeck on that patient, dauntless scout. Somehow he will buy the bacon, somehow he'll provide the spuds, Susan Jane will have her sables, and the kids will have their duds; there'll be coal to feed the furnace, there'll be comfort in the shack, while Tired Father fights his battle with eight stitches in his back. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BITTERNESS by VICTORIA MARY SACKVILLE-WEST MY FRIEND by JOHANNA AMBROSIUS LINES WRITTEN IN SWITZERLAND by THOMAS LOVELL BEDDOES PSALM 60 by OLD TESTAMENT BIBLE STOKLEWATH; OR, THE CUMBRIAN VILLAGE by SUSANNA BLAMIRE SONNET by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN THE SIGHING TIME by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN |