Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 May 1895 — HOUSE-CLEANING TIME. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HOUSE-CLEANING TIME.

The Spring Poet Muses on Things Now Uppermost in Our Minds,

FATHER, dear father, come home with me now, For ma has some carpets to beat; She’s got all the furniture out in the road, From the front porch clear down to the street.

The stove must come down and be put in the shed, And the yard must be cleared of dry grass, For it’s time to clean house and the devil’s to pay, And the front window needs a new glass. Father, dear father, come home with me now, And bring some bologna and cheese, It s most twelve o’clock and there is nothing to eat, I’m so hungry I'm weak in my knees. All the dinner we’ll have will be scraps and such And we'll have to eat standing up, too. For the table and chairs are out in the yard: Oh, I wish spring house cleaning was through! Father, dear father, come home with me now, For ma is as mad as a Turk:

She says you’re a lazy old thing. And that she proposes to put you to work: T h e r e’s painting to do, and paper to hang, And windows and casings to scrub, For it’s house cleaning time,'

and you’ve got to come home. And revel in suds and eold grub.