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Edgar Guest - The Disgrace Of Poverty
Work rating: Low

The lady what comes up to our house t` wash 
Is awfully poor, an` she`s got 
Three babies t` care for, an` that`s why she works, 
An` that`s why she worries a lot. 
An` Ma says her husband don`t help her at all, 
An` Pa says it`s plainly a case 
Where we should be kind t` the woman, becoz 
Real poverty ain`t no disgrace. 

An` yesterday mornin` I went down t` her
An` told her what my Pa had said, 
An` she started t` cry, an` she dried off her hands 
An` stooped down an` patted my head. 
Then I ast if her husband worked hard like my Pa, 
Or couldn`t he get work t` do, 
Then she wiped off her tears an` smiled as she said:
"What a queer little fellow are you!"

Then she told me her husband was no good at all,
But jes` loafs around all the day, 
An` that`s why she comes up t` our house t` wash, 
So`s she can get money t` pay 
For stockin`s an` things for her children t` wear, 
An` buy `em the food that they eat; 
Coz if she didn`t do it the landlord would come 
An` turn `em all into the street.

An` her husband ain`t sick. He`s as strong as my Pa,
An` I told her that I`d be ashamed
If I was so poor, not t` get out an` work,
Unless I was crippled an` lamed. 
Then she kissed me an` told me t` run out an` play,
But I`m thinkin` as hard as I can 
That sometimes it happens that poverty is
An awful disgrace to a man.
Source
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