This year,' said Pa, on New Year's night, 'we'll start upon a different plan,
I'm sick and tired of ending years as poor as when those years began;
I'm sick and tired of spending coin before I've really got it earned,
This year we're going to save some dough—that is the new leaf that I've turned.'
Ma didn't say a word right then, an' Pa went on:
'This year we'll try
To cut out all our foolishness, an' put a little money by;
It's terrible the way we've spent the money that I labor for
On things that we don't really need, but we won't do it any more.
''There's lots of ways that we can save, we'll stop the many little leaks
And soon we'll have a bank account—I've thought it out for weeks and weeks;
I'm sick and tired of toiling hard, an' havin' nothing left to show
For all I've done the long year through—this year we'll start to save our dough.'
An' Ma looked up an' said to Pa, 'I'm glad to hear you make that vow,
We ought to save a lot each year; an' listen while I tell you how:
Those poker games you ought to stop, I've always said that they're not right,
Ten dollars that we could have saved you lost at Brown's the other night.
'An' then you cut out shaking dice with friends who ride in motor cars,
We'd save a lot of coin if you'd quit getting stuck for their cigars;
There are a lot of ways to save our money I can plainly see.'
Then Pa got mad an' said, 'That's right, I knew you'd blame it all on me.'
Edgar Albert Guest
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/pa-discusses-economy/
