<h2><SPAN name="page35"></SPAN><span class="pagenum"></span>THE YELLOW-COVERED ALMANAC</h2>
<p class="poetry">I left the farm when mother died and changed my
place of dwelling<br/>
To daughter Susie’s stylish house right on the
city street:<br/>
And there was them before I came that sort of scared me,
telling<br/>
How I would find the town folks’ ways so
difficult to meet;<br/>
They said I’d have no comfort in the rustling, fixed-up
throng,<br/>
And I’d have to wear stiff collars every
week-day, right along.</p>
<p class="poetry">I find I take to city ways just like a duck to
water;<br/>
I like the racket and the noise and never tire of
shows;<br/>
And there’s no end of comfort in the mansion of my
daughter,<br/>
And everything is right at hand and money freely
flows;<br/>
<SPAN name="page36"></SPAN><span class="pagenum"></span>And hired
help is all about, just listenin’ to my call—<br/>
But I miss the yellow almanac off my old kitchen
wall.</p>
<p class="poetry">The house is full of calendars from attic to
the cellar,<br/>
They’re painted in all colours and are fancy
like to see,<br/>
But in this one particular I’m not a modern feller,<br/>
And the yellow-coloured almanac is good enough for
me.<br/>
I’m used to it, I’ve seen it round from boyhood to
old age,<br/>
And I rather like the jokin’ at the bottom of
the cage.</p>
<p class="poetry">I like the way its “S” stood out to
show the week’s beginning,<br/>
(In these new-fangled calendars the days seem sort
of mixed),<br/>
And the man upon the cover, though he wa’n’t exactly
winnin’,<br/>
With lungs and liver all exposed, still showed how
we are fixed;<br/>
And the letters and credentials that was writ to Mr. Ayer<br/>
I’ve often on a rainy day found readin’
pretty fair.</p>
<p class="poetry"><SPAN name="page37"></SPAN><span class="pagenum">p.
37</span>I tried to buy one recently; there wa’n’t
none in the city!<br/>
They toted out great calendars, in every shape and
style.<br/>
I looked at ’em in cold disdain, and answered ’em in
pity—<br/>
“I’d rather have my almanac than all
that costly pile.”<br/>
And though I take to city life, I’m lonesome after all<br/>
For that old yellow almanac upon my kitchen
wall.</p>
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