The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1913-10-14
: Little = 5
Bob bic S 5
: Pa : s
By WILLIAM F. KIRK

TIA & Ma was going to a picnic yes
terday, but it was raining wen we
got up & it rained all day. SO we
STAYED in the hotel 1t rained awful
hard. The windows was running with
water & thare was littel rivers out on
the village street that goes past the
littel place ware we are stopping.
Never mind. deer wife & child. sed
Pa to us, thare is sure to be a rift
in the clouds beefoar long, & eeven
if it shud rain all day the grass will
be all the greener in the sunshine to-
morrow.
1t is all rite for you to talk that
way sed Ma, beekaus you can put on
yure rain coat & go out around the
village with yure trends Wen a
bunch of YOU men git in tavern
sumware, Ma sed. you can pretend
that the sun is shining & after awhile
YOU will RELY think that it is nice
day But Bobbie & I had our harts
set on this picnic today, & it will be
hard for us to feel cheerful.
Then Jest wen Ma and me was feel
ing the bluest Missus Black calm in.
She is a lady that is stopping at the
hotel She is a widow. and Pa sed he
guessed her husband was glad he
had went to a other planet TO live.
She is the saddest woman i ever saw
She is all the time ailing.
How do you feel this morning,
Missus Black, sed Ma
Miserabul, thank you sed Missus
Black I am ailing. This gray sky
is the way the wurld ought to look
all the time. beekaus it is a gray
wurld anyway All is sadness. l al
ways think of LongfeIlow's lines.
The vine still clings to the moldering
wall
& at every gust the ded leaves fall.
Can you think of anything moar
gloomy. moar true to life than ded
leaves falling from moldering wall?
she sed to Ma.
1t makes me shiver. sed Ma, let US
talk of sumthing pleasant
For me thare is nothing pleasant, sed
Mas friend. Thare can be nothing
pleasant Wen everything is ded wrong.
Every time ] see the ded leeves fall
ing l think of them falling on neg
leeted graves. doan't you? she asked
Pa
have newer gaiv it much thought,
sed Pa. but I always think it doesn't
matter so much about a grave. I al
ways think that the grave newer held
the wunderful thing we call the mind.
Wen we die that goes away & keeps
on living Maybe it goes to other
wurld & finds a new body to live in
That is what l like to think, sed Pa.
doant believe it, sed Mrs Black
] think we die & go & that is the end
of all. & that we are born to suffer,
suffer, suffer from birth. My tooth
is akeing now, she sed, & wen that
stops l know l win have the quinsy
Bggenn. Oh. deer, what awful thing
is life
sum Iifes is moar awful than 9TH
ers. sed Pa, but 1 for one think this
life isent so terribul. I always think,
wen ] begin feeling blue. sed Pa, of
all the wunderful joys l have had in
the days that are gone. l think how
lucky / have been. Wen l see a poor
old tramp on a bench in the park, /
look at myself & my family, & think
of all the good things that the wurld
fergit all the sugar of thare lives, Pa
sed and maik faces wen the vinegar
is set befoar them.
l guess 1 win be going, sed Missus
Black. I see you peepul do not I'M
derstand what a dredful thing life is.
After she was gone Ma & NEE be-
gan to feel glad, like Pa.