Worcester Democrat and the ledger-enterprise. (Pocomoke City, Md.) 1921-1953, 1942-05-15
"Chirps'' ~
from the
Democrats Pen
from the

that little songster which appears
perched at the top of this column
every week, flew the coop, or cage,
whatever you choose to call it, last
week. Just don't know where he
went. but he was found in the COM
posing room and; apparently, longing
as some birds do, for the familiar
surroundings of his or her, Wierd en-
closure. There is an old saying, that
in spring, the fancy turns to thoughts
of love; and, maybe, my birdlet
scared away seeking mate for his
loneliness. However that may be, the
bird is back on the job this week, and
promises good behavior in the future.
Well, sir, I went out to the school
house last week to get my cup OF
coffee sweetened, and, do you know,
they wouldn't let me have a drop
or rather grain; guess that word IS
more applicable to the situation.
And why? Just because l told the
truth. They asked me if l had enough
to sweeten two cups of coffee, and L
told them the true state of the case,
and they said: "No soap!" And that,
too, after / had gone out there on
two successive days, waited for hours
and then sent home in half minute
just for maintaining my reputation
as a veracious young man.
All right, I'll know better next time.
I'm like the criminal who was tried,
convicted, and sentenced to death Tor
wilful murder. The judge, before pro-
nouncing sentence, gave the prisoner
a lecture on the rough road the wicked
travel, tried to point out how much
better off he would be had he gone
straight, and depicted in a graphic
way the horror of the crime and the
desolation it had brought in the
hearts of those who mourned the
tragic ending of the victim.
Of course, in view of what was in
store for the guilty man, any such
talk was, more or less, unnecessary,
but still those men on the bench must
be allowed thei opportunity to dis
play ONE of their oratorical talents,
and to air some of their moral ideas,
so there was no special harm done.
After the judges had finished his
little spiel, he said the awful words
that would have the effect of little
choking sensation in the neck of the
condemned, he asked the culprit:
"Have you anything you would like
to say?"
"No, sah!" said Sambo, "on'y dis:
What you's done say, gwine teach me
a lesson"
So, I've been taught a lesson, and
the next time I attend sugar-ration-
ing party, I'll remember the lesson /
have been taught. When 1 tell the
truth about things, l won't tell it.
Maybe I'll come home with my cof-
fee sweetened.
But, people, do you know, when l
went out to the school house to get
my sugar death sentence, / got it at
the hands of one of these sweet little
school-teachers, whom l would call
extravagant and unpatriotic if she
used any sugar at all. She could look
into a cup of coffee, glance at cake
dough, or just place her lips on the
rim of a lemonade glass, and the
miracle of sweetness would be per-
formed. Some of these school teach
ers got no business with other peo-
pies children: they ought to be-well,
you know what I mean. There are
others who would turn cream sour,
break a mirror, or scare young child
out of yeas growth. I'd like to see
Herr Hitler bound to the apron
strings of one of that sort, wouldn't
he squirm? But, of course, there are
none such in the local schools.
And now, since I've learned les
son or two, 1 wonder what's the best
thing can do about this gas-ration
ing party. If l could only meet up
with that same little schoolteacher,
I'd dress up in my best Sunday-go-to
meetin', smile my best, and maybe
she'd look the othe rway while grab
bed my own ticket. But, "Lawd-a-
massy!" amt as young as I used to
be, so she wouldn't know I was still
living. So, as regards both my sugar
and my gasoline, I've already been
tried, convicted, and sentenced; my
lesson I learned won't be worth a
tinker's dam. I've got to drink bitter
coffee, eat sour dough, take my liquor
straight, and patiently wait till Hitler
and his gang have cried "Kamerad!"
I'm going, then, to buy me an orchard
of sugar cane; Pm going to get me
a million of as wells and I'm going to
tell all these rationers they know just
where they can go to at.