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Poetry |
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Elsie took courses at several colleges, and graduated from the University of Nebraska. Here she lets us see some of her frustration with the often difficult life of a farmer's wife. |
I Went to Ag College OnceI went to Ag College once and learned just how to cook,How to bake pies and cakes like the pictures in a book. How to make a jelly roll yellow as any gold With the jelly dripping from it, sweet and cold. How to stew my vegetables and save each vitamin, Not let them boil away in steam, but keep them all in line. How to cook a three-dish-meal on only one gas jet, And serve them all piping hot, not one cold yet. How to plan our every meal with calories enough, To help us all grow big and strong, and do our daily stuff. But the cellar bins are empty, and the jars are hard to fill, The drouth got our potatoes, and we had nothing to kill. Hoppers ate the garden truck, tomatoes beans and peas, The hot wind seared the fruit and leaves that hung upon the trees. I went to buy some vegetables to balance out the meal, So girls who walk two miles to school would get a fairer deal. Said Daddy after looking in his pocket-book so flat: “No, my dear, cream’s dropped again. We can’t afford all that. We need some sugar, matches, soap, and rice and oatmeal too. The mower needs a section, and the baby needs a shoe. Say nothing of a block of salt for hungry cows to lick, And the reel on the binder must have a brand-new stick.” Well, I say— What’s the use of learning how to cook and plan just so When there’s nothing in the house to cook? —is what I’d like to know. (Unsigned) Return to Top |